411’s WWE: Made in America Report

-Written: 6.4.26
-Source: USA Network
-Run Time: 42:40

-This show dropped last Friday after SmackDown and I was set to review it, but forgot all about it. Thankfully, they have it replaying on USA Network and I was able to set the DVR for an airing. I saw some reviews on social media and well, it’s a WWE piece celebrating themselves and America. I think I have a good idea how this will go.

-This is billed as a USA Network Original.

-HHH: “WWE and USA go hand in hand because in many ways, we are America’s greatest export. The ultimate American spectacle.” He continues that it is America at its best.

-Opening!

-Tom Rinaldi is our narrator!

-We start with “Living in America” playing. Here’s Mayor Kane who says WWE has had an impact on our country and around the globe. Booker T says it is amazing to see how WWE has evolved.

-We travel back to the early 80s withe rise of cable. WWE was a regional company and in 1983 USA Network debuted All American Wrestling. That’s my childhood right there! That airplane that would fly by to inform me where they were heading for each show is steal burned into my memories.

-Coming off the heels of the Iran Hostage Crisis we get The Iran Sheik as the top heel in the WWF. He demanded the Iranian National Anthem being played along side The Star Spangled Banner. Sheik beats Bob Backlund for the WWF Title and America needs a hero. Enter Hulk Hogan! Steph says Hulk was the ideal American Wrestler and he beats the Sheik in short order to launch Hulkamania in the WWF.

-We get a rundown of Hulk Hogan in the 80s and how it was the biggest thing ever. Well, for me and most kids like me it was. We see video of The Rock, as a kid, cutting a Hulk Hogan promo. We see the WWF action figures and I really wish I would have kept mine.

-HHH talks about the explosion of MTV and how WWF partnered with them. Cyndi Lauper (should be in the WWF Hall of Fame) was the perfect fit according to Hulk Hogan. Cyndi says it was awesome and helped her career. Steph talks about The Rock N Wrestling Connection. It was a chance to blend the best of music and entertainment with WWF. They talk about Hulk Hogan’s cartoon and we see the celebrities that started showing up on WWF TV.

-The next step was to bring in Mr. T. So far this is more a WWF history report than anything dealing with the WWF and America. Mr. T talks about being on SNL with Hogan and that leads to WrestleMania. Everyone talks about how big the event was and T says he will never forget it. Steph says it was the key launching pad that took WWF to the top in the 80s. The brand continues to explode and we make sure to cover Mania III and 93173. That debate will never end!

-WWE in the 80s is compared to America’s fascination and love of big budget blockbuster movies. We get Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom footage. Also footage of Terminator and Rambo. Cody talks about superheroes and how WWE characters were a little more real because you could get up close and see them in person at the shows. Princess Bride footage of Andre and Piper talking about being out of bubblegum. Jesse Ventura “ain’t got time to bleed.” NO HOLDS BARRED! Savage with Regis! Hulk Hogan on The Arsenio Hall show, but not that episode. Mr. Perfect on Double Dare. Oh man, I hope he crushed it there! Hulk Hogan and Andre destroy records with 33 million people watching their rematch on NBC. The NES Game which I had and it wasn’t good, but I didn’t care because it was wrestling.

-We jump to 1991 and The Persian Gulf War. It was the first time we had a war with a 24 hour news channel. We are told the WWE was paying attention and thus we get Sgt. Slaughter becoming an Iraqi sympathizer. They call it controversial, but savy. That’s probably not the best way to put it. We need an American Hero and Hulk Hogan gets the call again. We see Slaughter burning Hogan’s shirt as even they realized burning an American Flag would be too much.

-WrestleMania VII: Hogan and Slaughter discuss the match and we get black and white footage due to Hogan bleeding. Well, muted more than black and white, but definitely changed. I am shocked they didn’t mention the “bomb threats” that moved the show indoors.

-We jump to 93 and Lex Luger slamming Yokozuna on The USS Intrepid. It was a pretty awesome visual and Lex was off as the next Hulk Hogan. Not really, but they tried. The Lex Express took him across the country and they play Vince yelling Lex Luger has won the match with him being carried around the ring at SummerSlam. Not mentioning he won by count-out and it added to his “choker” label.

-Let’s jump to something that isn’t discussed all that much: The Monday Night Wars! HALL: YOU WANT A WAR, YOU’RE GOING TO GET ONE. Hogan dropping the leg on Randy Savage and forming the nWo. Man, we are coming up on 30 years since that moment. More Hogan as he has been the star of this documentary. Nash talks about teaching Hogan about where 4 Life came from and gangster rap. WCW crushed WWF for 83 weeks!

-WWF countered with Steve Austin! Steve knew they were in competition with WCW and wanted to beat them. Steve resonated with American audiences because they wanted to stick it to their boss.

-South Park and Grunge were the thing as WWE started mirroring American society. That leads to The Attitude Era and I am glad they are talking about this often overlooked era. Kane calls The Rock the epitome of the Attitude Era and paired with Austin they had two of the greatest of all time.

-WWF ended up getting a Super Bowl commercial and Olympians started becoming WWF Superstars: Mark Henry and Kurt Angle. They shoot over to Jesse Ventura becoming Governor of Minnesota next. Back to the celebrities as Dennis Rodman, Jay Leno, and Mike Tyson all get involved. As we near a new century, only one company would survive.

-Year 2K is here and WWE was at Times Square with WWF New York. The Rock was still the biggest star as Austin is kind of a footnote in this one between Hogan and Rock. The Rock goes Hollywood and he helps WWE end the Monday Night War. The WWE is riding high and then in Sept of 2001 life in America changed.

-Sept. 11, 2001: I was just leaving a class at Cal U of PA and saw what was happening on a TV in the commuter center. We were then told to go home as classes were cancelled. The NFL and MLB cancelled their games, but WWE held SmackDown two days later in Houston, Texas. Austin says he was wondering if they were paying enough respect and letting the country mourn long enough. Vince told Steve that someone has to get back to work and send out a message. You know Vince was salivating at the idea of being the first one back. It’s a Vince thing to do. He wanted to entertain Americans. JBL talks about them being the first mass gathering and how they could have been a target. He talks about the security that was present with armed guards and dogs.

-Lilian Garcia CRUSHES her rendition of The National Anthem. She was worried if she could do it as she felt the pressure. She breaks down a bit talking about the moment. We see various wrestlers on stage with tears in their eyes. Booker says they had a responsibility to do their jobs and it wasn’t about angles. It was about wrestling. Austin knows everyone there was proud of their efforts to entertain.

-Back to Hulk Hogan who becomes Mr. America. See, Hogan and Rock the two biggest stars. Soon after the WWE started Tribute to The Troops. It started with a show on an Army Base in Iraq. Angle says they wanted to show respect to the troops for everything they do for our country. Mark Henry says it was so much fun and talks about meeting military members.

-John Cena says he loves the idea of The United States of America. He sees people who serve this country as heroes. He admires and is inspired by their level of commitment. Booker calls Cena that All American Boy. He has always been that guy who is the overachiever. He will show up first and leave last. Taker calls John the personification of Americana.

-We get Michigan vs. Ohio State footage and Brady vs. Manning. The idea is rivalries and in WWE the fans got an iconic rivalry between The Rock and John Cena. Well, I guess Cena gets put on the same level with Rock and Hogan in this one. Cena says for one night it was the two best in their prime. Rock says the end goal was to put on the biggest match in the history of the business. That’s nice, but it wasn’t Hogan/Andre. To be fair though, it still holds the record of biggest PPV in WWE history. Rock gets the win to pop the crowd and set up John Cena’s tough year before Twice in a Lifetime.

-Oh, we need to get to the women. Stephanie talks about the #GiveDivasAChance social media push. Women were getting more chances as people wanted to see women in more prominent roles. They were more than Divas. They were professional wrestlers. The Women start to steal the show as they are given more chances. They then get their own MITB, Rumble, and PPV. Booker loves seeing the women go out and make the men step up their game.

-WrestleMania 35: Charlotte, Becky, and Ronda close the show as for the first time the women are in The Main Event. That was our last marathon Mania as it went well past midnight on the east coast. Seth says it changed the entire industry for women and Charlotte agrees.

-Pandemic 2020: Coronavirus shuts down the world and WWE has to find a way to pivot. Luckily they had a performance center with rings and cameras. We see HHH giving a speech to the crew. We get the pandemic era with shows in an empty building and then The Thunderdome with virtual fans.

-Cinematic Wrestling: We cover the Firefly Funhouse Match. Cena says no idea was off limits and it was a mini movie. We see Taker/Styles boneyard match. They just went for it and really, I loved both matches for different reasons.

-This era also led to the rise (finally) of Roman Reigns. Cena says Roman was one of the few guys that realized the pandemic environment. He realized it was better to be more nuanced and patient. To be fair, Roman was sitting at home for months (not blaming him at all) and could sit back and see what was working and not.

-Roman dominated and we needed another hero to take down heel Samoan? Enter Cody Rhodes! The son of The American Dream. We get a Dusty promo where he notes he is The American Dream. Cody talks about being The American Nightmare and how that evolved into him putting America on his tights and jackets. Cody tells us a little known fact that his dad was never WWE Champion. Cody finishes the story at Mania XL in an amazing piece of business that still gets me fired up.

-We are going to close with Lilian Garcia signing America The Beautiful. They have Lilian in Nashville on a stage to sing in celebration of America’s 250th Birthday. As she sings we get patriotic footage spliced in with Hogan and Duggan waving flags and military men saluting a flag. Cena carrying a flag to the ring. Logan Paul with a flag. Pyro! More troops and WWE superstars together. Taker on his bike with a US Flag! It ends with Hogan posing in front of the US Flag at Mania 21.

-We get one last video package to close things out as Cena says WWE is an image of America. Taker says WWE has become a top form of entertainment all over the world: Italy, Australia. The last image is of the Hulk Hogan statue with an American Flag in Times Square.

-First, I appreciate all the nostalgia. I also like that they can just pull-out movie footage and South Park footage when needed. For the most part this ran as more of a WWE history piece than a look at how America and WWE have influenced each other. We got a little bit of that with the WWE and America in the 80s and the Attitude Era. I am shocked they didn’t bring up Cena announcing the capture and killing of Bin Laden. That was right there, but perhaps they don’t want that associated with Cena or them anymore. There was a lot of focus on Hogan, Rock, and Cena with some on Austin, Roman, and Cody. I am a sucker for shows like this so I got what I wanted out of it. I’ll never be critical of Lilian singing at the post 9/11 show as she CRUSHED what had to be an emotional experience. Overall, I was expecting more bragging and, in your face, American Spirit and I kind of wish they had just gone all out with that. Instead, it was a solid watch that breezed through nearly 40 years of WWE. On that note they once again want you to think it all started in the 80s and forgot about Bruno and what he did for Italian Americans and the people in the northeast. I guess that was only regional though. Small gripes aside, this was fine and some will like it, some will scoff at it, and others will just say “meh” and move on with their day. Thanks for reading!