Mr. McMahon (miniseries)
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Article ImagesMr. McMahon is a documentary television miniseries that explores the influential yet controversial career of Vince McMahon. It is directed by Chris Smith, renowned for his work on Tiger King, with executive producer Bill Simmons and Zara Duffy, recognized for her contributions to Mission Blue. The documentary series featured numerous prominent figures from the world of professional wrestling, including Hulk Hogan, Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Paul Heyman, Bret Hart, Eric Bischoff, Shane McMahon, and Stephanie McMahon. It also included media personalities such as businesswoman Kay Koplovitz, professional wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer and other key individuals, providing a wide range of perspectives on McMahon's career and legacy. This is the first six-part documentary series on Vince McMahon.[1][2]
Mr. McMahon | |
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Genre | Documentary |
Directed by | Chris Smith |
Starring | |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
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Running time | 60 minutes |
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Original release | |
Network | Netflix |
Release | September 25, 2024 |
All six episodes of the series were released on September 25, 2024 on Netflix.[1]
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) saw unprecedented success and significant challenges during Vince McMahon's time at the helm.[3] It features insights drawn from over 200 hours of interviews, including conversations with McMahon (before his resignation), his family, business partners, wrestling legends, and journalists who exposed the sexual misconduct allegations against McMahon. The series was directed by Chris Smith, with Bill Simmons and Zara Duffy serving as executive producers.[4]
- Vince McMahon (Founder, former chairman of the board, WWE, WWE Hall of Famer)
with
- Tony Atlas (WWE Hall of Famer)
- Stone Cold Steve Austin (WWE Hall of Famer)
- Eric Bischoff (Executive producer (1993-1994)/Executive vice president, World Championship Wrestling, WWE Hall of Famer)
- John Cena
- Bret Hart (WWE Hall of Famer)
- Jimmy Hart (WWE Hall of Famer)
- Paul Heyman (Former Owner, Extreme Championship Wrestling, WWE Hall of Famer)
- Hulk Hogan (WWE Hall of Famer)
- Kay Koplovitz (Founder, USA Network)
- Linda McMahon
- Shane McMahon
- Stephanie McMahon (Former chairperson, WWE)
- Dave Meltzer (Founder & publisher, Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
- Shawn Michaels (WWE Hall of Famer)
- Phil Mushnick (Sports columnist, New York Post)
- Bruce Prichard (Executive director, WWE)
- Cody Rhodes
- Wendi Richter (WWE Hall of Famer)
- The Rock (Board member, TKO Group Holdings)
- Trish Stratus (WWE Hall of Famer)
- Triple H (Chief Content Officer, WWE, WWE Hall of Famer)
- The Undertaker (WWE Hall of Famer)
One of the central themes of the series is a discussion about how close Vince McMahon the person is to "Mr. McMahon", the character he portrayed on-screen in the WWE. While Vince McMahon is adamant the two are distinctly different, the vast majority of those interviewed for the series commented they felt they were one-in-the-same, or closely overlapped.[5] Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter has suggested this was a major source of frustration for McMahon upon his viewing of an advanced screening of the series, and is what led McMahon to denounce the series one day before its release.[5]
The series was released on September 25, 2024 at 3:01 A.M (ET)[6], on streaming platform Netflix.[7] The trailer was released on September 5, 2024.[8]
Vince also had Endeavor C.E.O. Ari Emanuel, his new partner in TKO, chime in on his behalf, also voicing concern about the doc’s treatment of Vince’s alter ego, ‘Mr. McMahon,’ which ended up being the title of the doc.
Netflix refused to let the project go, and then this past January, the worse McMahon scandal broke, when a former employee sued alleging terrible abuse.
- Matthew Belloni of Punk wrote on his newsletter 'What I'm Hearing'.[9]
On September 24, Vince McMahon issued a statement on X, describing the documentary as "deceptive" and claiming it was intentionally misleading viewers by creating confusion around key events.[10] Reportedly, McMahon has also expressed interest in purchasing the rights to Mr. McMahon to prevent its distribution, aiming to ensure the documentary is not widely seen.[11]
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, John Anderson noted that Phil Mushnick of the New York Post described McMahon as a "dirt bag," and encourages viewers to evaluate the portrayal of his scandals. Anderson suggests that Smith offers a relatively honest portrayal of McMahon, with insights from figures like Hulk Hogan and John Cena on his enigmatic personality and the parallels between wrestling and contemporary politics.[12]
Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, who participated in the series, generally praised it upon release, feeling that it contained no major inaccuracies or embellishments aside from the recounting of Hulk Hogan vs. André the Giant at WrestleMania III.[5] Meltzer did, however, feel that in episode 3, more emphasis should have been given to the fact that Bret Hart had creative control of his character in WWF, and that this was an important aspect in understanding why the Montreal Screwjob was so controversial.[5] One exclusion Meltzer observed was that in episode 2, it is not shown that Linda McMahon received a tip-off that the person supplying the WWF locker room with steroids was under investigation, and subsequently that person was not hired to be a staff doctor. This helped Vince McMahon avoid conviction in the steroid trial.[5]
Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 71 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[13]
- ^ a b Hudspeth, Christopher (August 30, 2024). "Mr. McMahon Doc Series Is an Unflinching Portrait of WWE Founder's Legacy". Netflix. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
- ^ Ankers-Range, Adele (August 30, 2024). "Netflix Announces Vince McMahon Docuseries About WWE Founder's Legacy". IGN. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
- ^ Van Horn, Shawn (August 30, 2024). "'Mr. McMahn' Documentary Guide: Release Date, How To Watch & More". The Sportster. Archived from the original on September 18, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
- ^ Otterson, Joe (August 4, 2024). "Vince McMahon Docuseries Sets Netflix Premiere Date". Variety. Archived from the original on September 26, 2024. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Garrett Gonzales, Dave Meltzer (September 25, 2024). "Wrestling Observer Radio: Mr. McMahon docuseries review (episodes 1-4)". Wrestling Observer Newsletter (Podcast). Archived from the original on September 25, 2024. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
- ^ Mendoza, Jordan (September 24, 2024). "Netflix's 'Mr. McMahon': What to know and how to watch series about Vince McMahon". USA Today. Archived from the original on September 26, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
- ^ Figuerga, Dariel (August 29, 2024). "Netflix's Sure-To-Be Controversial Vince McMahon Documentary Finally Has A Release Date". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on September 26, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
- ^ Zucker, Joseph (September 6, 2024). "Video: Vince McMahon WWE Documentary 'Mr. McMahon' Trailer Released by Netflix". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
- ^ Rueter, Sean (September 24, 2024). "Report: Vince McMahon tried to buy 'Mr. McMahon' docuseries back from Netflix". SBNation Cageside Seats. Archived from the original on September 25, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
- ^ Otterson, Joe (September 23, 2024). "Vince McMahon Slams Netflix Doc 'Mr. McMahon' as Deceptive': 'A Lot Has Been Misrepresented' to Leave Viewers 'Intentionally Confused'". Variety. Archived from the original on September 24, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
- ^ Graham, Chris (September 24, 2024). "Report: Vince McMahon tried to buy back the rights to 'Mr. McMahon' Netflix series". Augusta Free Press. Archived from the original on September 26, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
- ^ Anderson, John (September 24, 2024). "'Mr. McMahon' Review: Wrestling With Scandal". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on September 25, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
- ^ "Mr. McMahon: Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved September 25, 2024.