We’re going to give the mailbag a break this week as last night I binged the entire six-episode series “Mr. McMahon” on Netflix. My quick review of the series? It’s an incredibly uneven mix of incredibly interesting stuff merged with tired old stories told by tired old carnies we’ve all heard a thousand times. What the series does well is unearthing things even >>I<< have never seen before, like ancient footage of Vince I didn’t know existed. That is the kind of stuff I like – things that are new and different. Hearing about the Monday night wars again? Please no. Hearing Vince talk about riding around with Dr. Jerry Graham? Yeah, he’s done that before but that’s the kind of things I would want.
If, that is, I ever wanted to hear anything about Vince ever again. And I’m not sure I do. To be honest, after watching this and reliving a lot of things that not only Vince but many, many others in this company did over the years really has me questioning why I’d ever want to support them again in any capacity. I harbor no ill will towards those of you that do, just not sure I personally will.
The last thirty minutes are a very hard watch, but they are by far the most interesting part of the story. And because of that, this series probably should have been delayed so they could get more of this, the most crucial part of the story, included instead of just cramming it in at the last possible minute so they could get it released. Maybe they’ll do a season two or whatever, but you have to question what kind of PR spin Netflix would apply to such a thing if they were to create it. After all, they just dumped billions into the company, so the easy narrative would be to do a “bad man gone, everyone in WWE is now good” whitewashing.
So yeah, that’s my two cents. Feel free to give change. And now, as a little bonus, here are all the notes I took as I watched the episodes. They’re in order as I watched this, with no editing – it’s just stream of consciousness stuff here. But I think you might find it interesting. As always, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
“I love Vince and I respect him, but he often lied to me and let me down with his lies.” – Bret Hart
Wow Linda has had some work done. But she doesn’t look bad like, say, Shania Twain who I recently saw and didn’t recognize at all.
Bruce Prichard just seems like the biggest phony ever. Like I know a lot of what he says is true but he’s so insincere I tend to not believe a word he says.
Vince has always had the weirdest fashion sense imaginable. Like from day one. Zubaz are nowhere near the wackiest crap this man has ever worn.
Ah Hulk Hogan. Ten seconds in and he already is telling wacky stories. I know folks hate Hogan these days (and I get why), but his total Paul Bunyan tales never fail to amuse me.
Tony Atlas is a great story teller. I don’t know that I believe any stories he tells, but I can’t stop listening.
Paul Heyman is also a great story teller. I also don’t believe most of what he says either. I’m starting to notice a trend with these wrestling folk.
Nice to see that Cyndi Lauper made this show, but they’ve never bothered to induct her in the WWE Hall of Fame. Despite being a lynchpin for the whole rock & wrestling thing that helped launch the WWF into the stratosphere. Have I ever mentioned how much of a shame the WWE Hall of Fame is?
Dear God I don’t need to see Vince in Speedos ever, ever again.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the SNL with Hogan and Mr. T. How on earth is that possible? I really should, could be INDUCTION worthy.
Dr. D sighting! I wasn’t expecting to see him on this show. Love that guy, so much fun talking with him and Blade back on old WrestleCrap Radios.
Steph is just like Prichard – I believe nothing she says. Probably biased from back when she compared 911 to the government threatening to destroy her dad. That was a segment on a show nearly 25 years ago, it was like 30 seconds, and I need to induct it somehow.
I don’t believe anything Shane says either, but he isn’t as annoying as his sister. That’s pretty much what I’ve always thought about him. I’m sure he’ll say something stupid, but through one episode he hasn’t yet.
Nice of ep 2 to start with STAND BACK, one of the WrestleCrappiest moments that ever crapped. I never noticed Vince staring at the backside of the dancers which is super creepy now.
So funny to think that Jesse was trying to get a union going nearly 40 years ago, and still to this day there’s no union in this business. Probably would have saved a few lives as they likely would have forced the schedule back then to not be quite so insane and thus led to a lot less pain killer usage.
LOL Hogan still claiming that he didn’t know if he was winning at Mania III. I am in tears laughing so hard at that. This man is such a gimmick. There will never be another like him. Keep telling those stories Hulkster!
Dave there to kibosh the lie of 93,000 people. But he’s right – they’ve told that lie so many times people just believe it. I love that Dave is there as the fact checker. There will never be another like Dave either, for all the polar opposite reasons.
NO HOLDS BARRED DISCUSSION. When folks ask what I would want to be a fly on a wall for…man…to be in that hotel room where Vince and Hulk penned that masterpiece. Can you imagine what didn’t make it to the final script? THAT’S WHAT I WANT TO KNOW.
Seeing this Slaughter thing so close timing wise timing wise to the Iron Sheik thing…even though they were seven years apart IRL, I guess I can see why they thought this would work. But the world had changed and as often happened, Vince didn’t notice that.
Good Lord, folks claiming that Dr. Zahorian was some outsider is an amazing stretch. And it’s not just Vince, but also his lapdog Prichard saying the same thing. Hogan at least admits that he should have told the truth on Arsenio. I’m not sure Hogan even knows how to tell the truth, but that would have been a good time to start.
Phil Mushnick on why he had something against Vince: “Because he’s a dirtbag!” Best line so far of the show. I laughed so loud Mrs. Deal asked if I was ok. AMAZING!
I always think that the whole Jimmy Snuka thing is something that is far, far seedier than the steroids thing. I still to this day can’t understand how there haven’t been books, movies, and more about that one. Even here they just kinda brush over it, which honestly is baffling to me.
Ugh, the more I hear Bruce the more I never want to hear from him again.
The last 20 minutes of this show makes me question how we all could have supported this company for so long. Tony Atlas’ “he grabbed my pecka!” story, whether true or false, tells you all you need to know. The Rita Chatterton stuff is disgusting. This is all incredibly gross.
And seeing all those guys that were against Vince…but wound up going back to him…I just lose respect for a lot of these folks. Talking not just Bret, but Superstar Graham, Bruno, all of them.
Vince’s neck brace always makes me laugh. Even more so that Vince is of course denying he had that on for any reason other than surgery. Sure. Whatever.
This whole Moolah-Wendi Richter thing has never, ever made sense to me. How on earth Wendi didn’t know it was Moolah is idiotic, and the whole they screwed her to get the title of her is even more ridiculous.
“Lex was ok.” That’s what I thought at the time too. Amazingly, having talked to him a couple times I find him an absolutely fascinating guy and love chatting with him.
It’s amazing to see clips of young Shawn and then seeing current Shawn is crazy. Now he looks like your uncle who works at Jiffy Lube. No offense to the guy, I totally understand not aging well.
Seeing these early Nitro clips make me so, so sad. That show in its early years was so incredible because it was DIFFERENT. To this day I will absolutely credit Bischoff for that. Nitro made the business BETTER. That’s what competition does in any industry, pro wrestling included.
Wasting time with Billionaire Ted and curtail call segments on this is dumb. They brushed over Snuka likely killing his girlfriend in 90 seconds and we’re spending precious minutes on end with this stupid stuff.
As I noted a few weeks ago, the whole idea of Scott Hall being a rip off of Razor Ramon while never acknowledging Razor was a complete rip off of WCW’s Diamond Studd years earlier is always absurd.
Seriously shut up Bruce. Just please never speak again.
I love how everything Hulk did was apparently either going to be the greatest thing in his career or was going to destroy it. Never any middle ground brother!
This thing has seriously hit the skids. Now we’re just getting the same old tired stories from the same old tired carnies. Boring.
The footage of early Eric Bischoff at his WWF tryout…man, he looks startlingly like Cillian Murphy as the Scarecrow in Batman Begins. Like crazy like him. It’s almost uncanny.
More wasted time with Montreal. I know you have to include it but having seen a far better show about it in Wrestling with Shadows makes this pointless.
See, this stuff about Vince and Jerry Graham is interesting. It’s not what we’ve seen a thousand times before. Love this stuff.
But…it’s crazy what a change has happened in this series. Eps one and two were interesting. Three was a waste, and this is shaping up to be even more boring and the winning side telling their version of history. This isn’t interesting at all, this is a WWE produced DVD from 20 years ago. Come on guys, get this back on track please.
And now we get Owen. Even Prichard can’t spin this. You can tell he’s trying, but he can’t do it. I’ve not seen that footage of JR telling people that Owen died in years, maybe ever. I know I tried to shield myself from that. Wow I wish I had never seen this. Everything I see I question how on earth I supported this company for so many years.
Finally into ep five, hoping this picks up from the dregs of three and four. This is leading off with Steph and Shane. So weird to see Shane reffing, then backstage, and then performing and now just like his dad totally exiled from the company. Not saying Shane should have been the heir to the throne, just that I feel a bit for him there as I had a friend who was in a family business that basically was also exiled.
Ugh now we’re back to the Steph-Hunter crap, all storyline garbage. The dumb bark like a dog stuff that was horrible even back then. Back to it being a WWF DVD. Blech.
Speaking of blech, Vince defending himself about the Playboy interview is all kinds of gross. How many times have I used the word “gross” in these notes? I really should get a thesaurus.
And now we get the tired old Time Warner excuse for WCW’s death. Really? Seriously? How on earth did that make it on here? I have a book y’all need to read. Thank God Dave is there to at least give a quick refute on that one.
LOL Vince defending the WWF name lawsuit. Dude, you signed an agreement and you ignored it. He’ll never stop playing the victim card.
Now we’re back with more storyline crap. This series is all over the map, going from interesting stuff to just the most boring junk we’ve all heard 87 times before. I’ve heard people say this should be like a 10 part or more series. Thanks no. I watched all those DVDs, don’t need to see them again.
Good for Patty admitting that she didn’t want to make out with Ashley Massaro and then lost her title as punishment.
Steph telling us that she won’t tell us the storyline she rejected then Vince explaining that he wanted to impregnate her character. I had heard that story before but just seeing that back to back, with Vince being almost excited about this idea…how long has it been since I used the word “gross”?
Hunter almost smiling and talking about how family businesses never wind up with the son taking over the company…that reminds me so much of him lying to Julie Hart’s face in Wrestling with Shadows. Just a master manipulator and the kind of guy I cannot possibly cheer.
Now the stuff with Vince potentially buying UFC and Vince burying Shane over the idea…again, fascinating. Different. Not something we’ve heard ten billion times.
Paul’s story of Vince giving Shane a knife and telling him to stab him is equal parts absurd and sounds like something that was completely exaggerated. Did I mention Paul is a great storyteller? There’s your example right there.
Ok, finally to episode six. The finale. Let’s see what we get.
Vince apparently has three computers in his brain. And apparently he’s thinking about sex right now. Probably not something you probably should have said with the amount of skeletons in your closet.
Benoit time. Story I’ve always heard was that they did not know what was going on the beginning of that night. So I can kinda give them a pass for that night. Discussion of concussions is up next and this is at least interesting. Vince defending that Benoit wouldn’t have concussion damage working the style he did is the epitome of burying your head in the sand, as is Austin saying that CTE doesn’t exist. Chris Nowinski comes off well here. Can anyone give him Tony Khan’s number?
Vince with Armen Keteyian…holy smokes, that is one horrible look. Why did we only get a 3 second clip of that? Now I have to hunt that down as well.
Now it’s the end of the streak. Vince didn’t think that Taker was concussed, but rather just confused. Meanwhile Taker explains that he went to the hospital and Vince was there! So someone is lying here. I’ll let you decide who that would be here.
Man…getting Cody was the smartest thing this company has done in years. Not only did they get their next mega babyface, they have an incredible spokesperson. He knows how to play the audience, and I don’t mean just a wrestling audience.
Are we seriously getting the whole “Stephanie led to women’s wrestling getting a chance” card again? Thankfully I think we’re only getting like 30 seconds of that, I am very grateful for that.
Shane recalling when he came back and getting teary-eyed about it is kinda depressing. Somewhere I hear Bruce Springsteen belting out “Glory Days” in the background. Shane becoming a stunt man, whether he was doing that to impress Vince or whatever, is really sad. And then he’s out of the company entirely. It would be nice if he could just walk away from the business entirely and just be happy with his family. Let’s hoping that’s what happens.
Having Hunter show up immediately after that stuff with Shane….wow. Just…wow.
And now…with 30 minutes left…Vince says he will never retire. He’d rather die. Hogan also says Vince will never retire. Cena says the same. Everyone says the same. And yay, we get the worst stunner ever following the McAfee match.
We wrap up with all the scandals of the last two years. Crazy to think it was the Wall Street Journal that started the downfall. Was Phil Mushnick a writer there? That was a joke. Seeing Vince come out to the ring after all the allegations hit and everyone cheering…that is one of the worst looks for wrestling fans ever. It wasn’t shocking to me, like, at all. But man.
Shoehorning all this into less than a half hour is a total disservice. There is so much drama here with the board voting, Steph leaving, then coming back. The company being sold. Those texts. Those texts. The story with Ashley Massaro.
THAT is the story here. THAT is what needs to be discussed. THAT is what needs to be documented. The release of this should have been delayed. Maybe they’re planning for a season two, I don’t know. But they have left so much of this story on the table.
And THIS is the story that needs to be told. The question is…will the company that just paid WWE billions actually tell it? And if they do, will they tell it as “bad man gone, WWE good”? Time will tell.