411’s Mr. McMahon Episode One Report: ‘Junior’

-Well, this series was enough to make me pay for Netflix for at least the next month. I am going to try to get two episodes done each night while also doing my normal Main Event, Level Up reviews. I’ve seen some of the early reviews from people on this site and others and I am curious to see what we are getting here. It has to be better than the awful Nine Lives of Vince McMahon episode Vice did, where it was just a clip show of Dark Side of the Ring episodes. We also know that Vince himself is trying to get out in front of this and sway opinions. Others have noted Vince and WWE will only pull back the curtain so much and we may never get a full story on Vince McMahon. I paid my money, so let’s get to it!

-Run Time: 51:50

-This series is rated TV MA which makes sense considering who we are discussing.

-We start with Vince McMahon sitting down in a ring, ready to be interviewed. We also see others who will appear, getting ready for their interviews: Cody Rhodes, Rock, Steve Austin, Shane McMahon, Trish Stratus.

-“Beginning in 2021, over 100 hours of interviews were filmed with Vince McMahon, his family, business associates, and some of World Wrestling Entertainment’s most popular stars.”

-Vince says he is good, “I guess.” He doesn’t like talking about himself and this is strange for him. “I will try to do the best I can.”

-We hear various off screen voices saying Vince is the PT Barnum of wrestling. Vince says nobody really knows him and he still hasn’t quite figured it out himself. Hulk Hogan says he isn’t sure if anyone knows Vince McMahon.

-Stephanie McMahon says people know who Vince is, but don’t know who he is. HHH says that Vince will show people what he wants them to see. Dave Meltzer says very few people are in control of a world and “Vince McMahon was.” Eric Bischoff notes Vince did things people thought were impossible and never took prisoners. Bret Hart says he loves Vince, but he was a guy that lied to him and let him down with his lies. Shane McMahon says his dad gets the rap that he wants.

-“Before a final interview with Vince McMahon, breaking news halted production.” Here we go!

-We get footage from ESPN’s Get UP where they break the news that Vince stepped down amid allegations he paid off a former employee, who he had an affair with. We meet Ted Mann, who is a reporter from the Wall Street Journal, and he says it all started with a tip that McMahon took advantage of a former employee. He was told that tip was only scratching the surface.

-Joe Palazzolo, reporter for The Wall Street Journal, says the story in June 2022 kicked off a series events that let to other NDA, government investigations, Vince stepping down, Vince returning, Vince selling the company, and the lawsuit with all the graphic things Vince has been accused. That led to Vince resigning on January 28, 2024. That would be the Grant lawsuit.

-“The majority of the following interviews, including with Vince McMahon, were filmed before the sexual misconduct allegations were made public.”

-Vince says he wishes he could tell us the real stories because “holy shit.” He will give us enough so that it is semi-interesting. “I don’t want anyone to really know me.”

-That was just the opening tease as now we get the true opening with the credits. As noted Bill Simmons of ESPN 30 for 30 fame is an executive producer. “Where does the line between Vince McMahon and Mr. McMahon end?”

-Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea) says you have to live it to comprehend what is going to be said. “You’re not going to get it.” Tony Atlas (Anthony White), in a cut-off shirt and tie, explains wrestling as turning fantasy into reality. We get highlights of WWE moments from the 80s until now. Bret Hart says people call it fake and they are wrong as he sees what he did as an art form. “When they are there in the building, they want to believe it is real.” Preach!

-Triple H (Paul Levesque) notes that wrestling fans are viewed as stupid because they don’t realize it’s not real, but he says they are smart enough to know it is a show and buy into the characters and stories. Bob Costas says it is a colorful soap opera with heroes and villains. Sharon Mazer, author, says pro-wrestling matters and is part of American culture and nobody talks about it as mattering. She feels Vince’s impact is largely ignored, yet it does affect the world around us.

-We cut back to 1985 when NBC did a story on Vince McMahon and the WWF. Look at young Vince! He says he got his start in the business because of his dad. Paul Heyman first met Vince Sr in MSG when he was 15 years old. “He presented himself as the Pope of Madison Square Garden.”

-Vince didn’t know his dad until he was 12 years old as he grew up in a trailer park in North Carolina with his mom and abusive stepdad. He never heard a word from his dad while all that abuse was happening. He saw his dad for the first time and he had a glow around him. He ran up expecting a hug and all he got was a pat on the back. “That was different.” He admits he fell in love with his dad very quickly. I am so proud to say that my sons and I say we love each other multiple times a day. They need to know their father loves them. Vince says they never had the conversation about why his dad was never in his life those first 12 years.

-David Shoemaker says Vince came from nothing but when he saw his dad, he had something to aspire to and that was his way out.

-Vince says he didn’t watch much wrestling until he met his dad. He immediately fell in love with the business. He and his dad talked business as that is what they had in common.

-Linda McMahon says she met Vince she he was 16 and she was 13. There are some fascinating pictures of Vince and his wife and parents popping up during everyone talking and I just wanted to mention them. I will probably go back and rewatch this a few times just because of the photos. Linda says Vince always wanted to be in the business. Vince bothered his dad enough that he sent him to work in Bangor, Maine, which was the northern most part of his territory. Vince says he made Bangor a success, so Sr was impressed.

-They had TV and the announcer wanted more money. Vince Sr told Vince he was now the announcer. We get some audio of Vince in Hamburg, PA on Jan 7, 1976 as he asks his dad if this is quick enough. Bruce Prichard says Vince was a horrible commentator, but he had emotion and told stories. Vince realized he had to explain to the audience the story happening in the ring and compares the business to a movie, book, or play. You need interesting characters both good and bad. Vince breaks down the meaning of heel and babyface and how there is always a big finish. “The formula is simple, but not that easy to do.” That was perfectly said. As he talks they show Larry Zbyszko famously turning on Bruno Sammartino. Great example of a simple and easy story for fans to get that drew a lot of money.

-Vince Sr. wanted out of the business and wanted to sell to someone. Gorilla Monsoon was his first choice as he was a partner already. They show the famous Monsoon vs. Muhammad Ali bout from 1976. Look at younger Gorilla! So much different than Grandpa Gorilla I was used to on commentary in the 80s and 90s. Vince says Gorilla was the heir apparent and he could feel the tension right away. Vince made a deal with his dad and offered to pay for the company in payments and if he missed one, Sr would get to keep the money and get the business back. That appealed to Sr and the stock holders because nobody thought Vince would make it.

-Linda says they took over the company and were robbing Peter to pay Paul. He was able to make all the payments on time and it shocked everyone. Linda says Sr didn’t want to make it easy on Vince as he wanted him to know what it was like to struggle. Sr now worked for Jr and their visions of pro-wrestling were totally different. Vince: “I don’t like the term pro-wrestling. I don’t like that term even today.” No kidding! He wanted to grow beyond pro-wrestling.

-We get a history lesson of the territory system and we see the map. I really need a copy of that map to hang in basement. Vince had the WWF, which was the northeast territory. You didn’t cross the imaginary lines, but once Vince had control, that’s exactly what he did. It pissed off a lot of people, but Vince didn’t care. Sr was very much against it and told Vince not to rock the boat. Other promoters started telling Sr that his son would end up in the bottom of a river. Vince didn’t care as “they didn’t own anything, and I was competing with you.”

-Eric Bischoff worked for Verne Gagne in the AWA (Minneapolis region) and he says Verne saw Vince as The Devil. The top talent in various territories took the money and exposure of Vince’s WWF.

-Bret says it was cutthroat as Vince would steal the top talent in each place and then go back to those areas and run against them with their former stars. They show various wrestlers cutting promos in one territory and then showing up in the WWF right after. Cool! Vince says he was not taking anything away from anyone. He was building as this was America and if you can’t compete with him, “tough.”

-He was successfully competing for a bit and decided he wanted to do things his way. His father had Bob Backlund as his champion and Bob was too milquetoast for Vince’s liking. He was looking for someone with more charisma and we see Dusty Rhodes. Vince says he was a possibility and we are treated to a snippet of a Dusty promo. Cody Rhodes says he was told by Dusty, his father, that he didn’t believe in it, and it seemed too large of an endeavor. Vince says Dusty didn’t take advantage, so he kept looking for someone that was larger than life.

-Vince says he first met Hulk Hogan when he was Sterling Golden. He was working for Sr, who gave Hogan a name change as he didn’t like Sterling Golden. That gives the world, Hulk Hogan! My dad and stepdad liked to remind me that Hulk Hogan was a bad guy in wrestling at one point. Not sure why they would always tell me that. Hogan says he was brought in because he looked believable going up against Andre The Giant. We see Hogan slam Andre, years before WrestleMania III. Hogan mentions Shea Stadium was sold out with him and Andre. Well, I mean, Larry and Bruno headlined that show (1980), but that’s our Hogan.

-Hogan gets offered a part in Rocky III and Sr told Hogan he was a wrestler and didn’t do that stuff. He tells Hogan if he does the movie he will be fired. Hogan does the movie and it was one the smartest decisions he ever made. We get Rocky footage and I will never not love seeing Rocky footage.

-Verne Gagne called up Hogan and asked him how quick he could get to Minnesota. Hogan was now a massive babyface that the fans were quickly getting behind. Vince had dollar signs in his eyes and wanted to bring Hogan back to the WWF. Meltzer says Hogan knew where the money was, and Vince was the place to go.

-Vince had to get the WWF Title off Backlund and to Hogan, but couldn’t have them wrestle each other. This is why God created transitional champions and in steps The Iron Sheik. Vince mentions Sheik was one of the most disliked heels they ever had and there was a lot of Nationalism in America at the time. There were American hostages in Iran and the fans could pay money to see Sheik get his ass beat. Prichard says it doesn’t age well, but you can say the same about movies with the way they portrayed Germans, Japanese, and Russians. BACK TO THE FUTURE FOOTAGE OF DOC BROWN BEING GUNNED DOWN. THE LIBYANS! Basically it was a time we hated everyone that wasn’t American. Vince says you can’t take the values of today and look back and apply them to what happened. He didn’t think of what they did back then as a big deal.

-Sheik beats Backlund at MSG and a month later, everything changes. EYE OF THE TIGER! They spent some money on this documentary. Hogan says Vince chose the winners and losers, but Hogan called the match in the ring. He admits to jumping Sheik before the match and didn’t tell him he was going to do it. He was just feeling it and going with the crowd. Hogan hits the big leg and history is made. It can’t be stated enough how massive this moment was in wrestling and pop-culture history. Meltzer: “If you take Hulk Hogan out of the equation, I think Vince fails in his expansion.” He credits Vince as being better at making stars than all the other people in the business.

-Vince says his dad told him he was proud of him for beating all the promoters. Those friends he had weren’t really his friends, so “fuck em all.” Vince says that was one of the biggest moments of his life.

-Vincent J. McMahon dies at 69, and Vince says the day before, his dad told him that he loved him for the first time. That was the only time and Vince said it felt so good. He gets a little emotional and says he really cared about his dad and loved his dad. Tony Atlas: “I don’t really think he liked his father to be honest with you.” Okay, whoever edited that, you win! Tony says every idea Vince had drove his father up the roof and drove the wrestlers up the roof. Heyman says that Vince Sr had a lack of willingness to accept where the industry was heading. Tony: “It was not wrestling.”

-Vince wanted to cater to a younger audience and didn’t care if people knew it was scripted. Vince wanted National and that gets him on USA Network. Tony says Vince was never in the wrestling business and only the entertainment business.

-That brings us to the awesomeness that was TNT (Tuesday Night Titans). Chicken noodle soup for my soul! Tony thinks Vince wanted to use wrestling as a stepping stone to other stuff. We see Vince on David Letterman’s third anniversary show with Bob Costas, and Vince killed it as he had a blast being on Letterman.

-MTV! Did you know that MTV used to play music videos and not Jersey Shore all day (I am not hating as I love Jersey Shore)? Cyndi Lauper was a massive pop star and met Capt. Lou Albano on a plane. Why isn’t Lauper in the WWE Hall of Fame? They were able to pull Cyndi into the WWF family and that brought in MTV. They did two shows on MTV and Vince used Cyndi to help get more attention on their women’s division. Wendi Richter is here and says she got a call out of the blue from Lauper asking if she could be with her at ringside. She credits her success with the fans to Lauper.

-The biggest feud was Piper/Hogan and they brought Mr. T in as he and Hogan became friends off Rocky III. So we have WWF + MTV + Mr. T and how the hell was any other promotion supposed to compete with this? I mean they had Andy Warhol on WWF TV!

-Vince was loving every second of running the business, but Linda convinced him that he needed a vacation. He went to the Caribbean for two days and then came back to announce they are going to run a major show every year like the NFL has with The Super Bowl and it’s going to be called WrestleMania. Linda realized Vince didn’t enjoy a second of the vacation and was only thinking of his business.

-WrestleMania: March 31, 1985: I just watched this show two nights ago as I couldn’t sleep at night. They flash Super Bowl XIX logo and I just have to point out my 49ers pissed all over Miami. That was a battle of Western PA quarterbacks: Montana (Ringgold High School) vs. Marino (Pittsburgh Central Catholic).

-Oh, sorry back to WrestleMania as it was set to be on closed circuit TV and they were promoting the hell out of the show. They even got Hulk Hogan and Mr. T to co-host Saturday Night Live. Again, how was anyone else going to compete with this?

-John Stossel! Here we go! Part of the media blitz involved John Stossel, working for ABC 20/20 interviewing some of the wrestlers. Hogan notes that he was told that Stossel was there to see if Hogan was as popular as everyone claimed, but asked him if wrestlers cut their heads with blades. Hogan told him that was barbaric and laughs as he had scars on his head. Hogan ran to Vince and told him Stossel was looking to expose the business. Tony Atlas says that Vince told the boys Stossel was going around telling people wrestling was fake and how he wished someone would do something to the guy. Hogan says he never heard Vince say that he wanted someone to put John in his place. Tony: “He didn’t tell us, but he said I wish.”

-Enter David Schultz who SLAPS THE PISS OUT OF STOSSEL’S MOUTH for saying on camera that wrestling is fake. Dark Side of The Ring did an episode on Schults and my review is here. Atlas says everyone, including Vince, celebrated. David was getting pats on the back and people were buying him drinks. Hogan says they were protective of the business and wrestling is not fake. Predetermined, but not fake as he notes he has had 23 surgeries in the last 20 years, so if it was fake, he didn’t get the memo.

-Stossel sues as WWF is getting the attention they want, but that also leads to attention from those that don’t know wrestling. That leads to Hulk Hogan putting Richard Belzer, a TV host, in a headlock on his show while promoting Mania I, and Belzer gets choked out and cracks his head on the floor. He also ends up suing and Hogan says Vince was pissed.

-Meltzer says that Vince has told the story that if Mania failed, they were in financial ruin and he says that was “very possibly true.” Stephanie McMahon says Vince and Linda mortgaged everything they owned. Shane says he was a teenager and didn’t know the family finances. Vince just kept telling Shane that it was going to work.

-Work it did as they hit a GRAND SLAM with WrestleMania I. Hogan says Vince was on a high and was “vibrating.” Eh, probably not the best term. Meltzer says that Vince won the war with that one show.

-Everything exploded after WrestleMania and wrestling entered a Golden Age behind Hulk Hogan. Hulk says it made wrestling mainstream and we see the cover of Sports Illustrated that featured Hogan. When I went to college and checked out the library for the first time, I found that edition of SI before I did anything else.

-All that success brought eyes to Vince and his product and the bad press and scandals were on the way. That is our tease of what is still to come.

-“In 1987, John Stossel settled his lawsuit against David Schultz and Titan Sports (WWE).”

-“In 1990, Richard Belzer settled his lawsuit against Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, and Titans Sports (WWE).”

-We close with about 3 minutes of credits.

-So far so good and this will probably be the most enjoyable episode because there wasn’t anything scandalous. It was also the dawn of the Hulk Hogan era which is my childhood, and the focus was on Vince building the WWF and how he dominated the other promoters. The footage they have access to plus all the inserts from other movies and getting licensed music is wonderful to see as it makes this more than what WWE can do on their own. The interesting part about Vince was the relationship with his father and how that shaped him. You also have to know Vince is a carney and most of the talking heads are well, so they only let you know what they want to let you know. We likely won’t hear the real truth about Vince until he is gone and those who know are the sordid details are able to speak freely (if they even choose to then). They did a solid job of trying to explain the crazy world of pro-wrestling to people who may watch this show and have no real knowledge of our crazy pseudo sport. For hardcore fans there was probably nothing new learned, but I still found it worth watching, and as mentioned I will likely watch it back a few more times. Five more episodes to go. Thanks for reading!