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REVIEW: Mr. McMahon documentary shows no difference between Vince as a person and his TV character

October 7, 2024
<p>Photo Illustration by Maya Kolton. Created by Zachary Balcoff.</p>

Photo Illustration by Maya Kolton. Created by Zachary Balcoff.

American businessman Vince McMahon created one of the biggest sports brands and companies in the United States with World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE.

With the amount of success McMahon saw in his time as WWE CEO, the Netflix documentary Mr. McMahon released Sept. 25 revealed a dark story of how one of the most successful figureheads in sports was also someone who would do anything to keep it that way. 

The documentary, directed by Chris Smith and produced by Bill Simmons, tells the story of how Vince grew up with very little and became a successful businessman. It covers every major event in WWE history and every scandal that followed McMahon, particularly the current lawsuit accusing him of sex trafficking a former employee.

I am a big fan of WWE and knew McMahon regularly played the part of a scripted character. This persona was alas portrayed as a ruthless, power-hungry boss who would do anything necessary to stay at the top.

For non-WWE followers, this was to trick them into thinking the real-life McMahon was a normal, respectable person, but that wasn't the case. Many of his former wrestlers would describe the “Mr. McMahon” alias and Vince McMahon as the same person.

"Exactly the same person," Hall of Fame wrestler Hulk Hogan said in the documentary. 

"He was a guy that often lied to me and let me down with his lies," Hall of Fame wrestler Bret Hart said.

While I was watching the first couple episodes, I noticed McMahon would show a lack of self awareness and understanding his mistakes when making decisions. McMahon always tried to make himself look like a victim, whether it was lamenting former World Championship Wrestling owner Ted Turner for stealing his wrestlers — which McMahon often did — or being on trial for giving his wrestlers steroids.

While on trial, McMahon wore a neck brace so people would have more sympathy towards him. 

"I used to view him as an admirable businessman and a character that I would see weekly, but still out of touch with current-day," psychology senior Noah Lee said. "Now, I view him as a sick individual that will put any morals aside in order to receive monetary gain."

McMahon loves to control the narrative and wants to convince the viewer he's not as unbearable as he's made out to be. This was always his goal since becoming CEO and the documentary showed each way he controlled the narrative and silenced voices. 

"I think he is someone who follows and creates the guidelines of a toxic work environment, and him stepping away from the current state of the wrestling industry is for the better and I think it should stay that way," games and interactive media junior Gabrielle McWright said.

By the time the documentary was in production, accusations of sexual misconduct came out against McMahon, who declined to appear on the documentary. He stepped away from WWE amid the accusations.

Mr McMahon does a fantastic job providing hours of evidence and footage of scandals and deceitfulness that shows the "Mr. McMahon" persona is less of a character and more of a reality. 

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