The long-awaited docuseries about the life of WWE mogul Vince McMahon has hit Netflix – Mr. McMahon. The man who created the term sports entertainment has had a turbulent life.
Everyone in the world has been interested in the story of McMahon, but he has remained private about it for years. Now that McMahon has stepped away, amid allegations, the timing is perfect to look back at his life.
Netflix has put together a 6-part series looking at his run from humble beginnings to building the global juggernaut that WWE has become. Over the next few weeks, we will examine each episode and Vince McMahon’s career’s highest highs and lowest lows.
Mr. McMahon Episode 1 Review
The humble beginnings of Vince McMahon were something that wasn’t reported on much. McMahon discussed that he grew up in a trailer park with his mother and stepfather and didn’t even know his last name until he was 12.
There was rampant abuse from his stepfather and, although it doesn’t justify McMahon’s actions, it does open a window into the mind of the boss. Once McMahon rekindled with his father (Vincent James McMahon), he tried to work his way into his father’s company.
To begin with, McMahon’s father was cold and distant towards his son. Their relationship was based on business alone, not exactly the warm atmosphere that McMahon may have hoped for.
His experiences throughout his young life were harsh and not very nurturing. It was behavior that could have shaped McMahon’s actions later on in life.
Again, this is not a justification but an explanation of what McMahon had grown accustomed to. McMahon broke into the business when a ring announcer refused to go on at a show in Bangor, Maine.
Vince McMahon Sr. threw his son into the job, and he struggled at first. Hearing some of his first announcing gigs was interesting.
McMahon stumbled over his words a lot and seemed flustered. Not a great start but it got his foot in the door and started his passion for sports entertainment.
Once McMahon Sr. decided it was time to sell the company, his son seemed the logical option, but it was reported that Gorilla Monsoon was the one his father wanted. This sparked competition and anger between McMahon and Monsoon, but it was short-lived as McMahon took over the company from his father.
When McMahon took over, his aspirations started a change in the company. He was interested in tossing aside the territory formula that wrestling had and started to build his brand nationally.
He was able to offer more money to star talents from other territories thus pillaging these organizations of their biggest draws. It was a model that had every promoter despising McMahon.
His cutthroat tactics were much maligned but, in his interview, he didn’t seem bothered by it. His justification for doing nothing wrong is yet another look into the psyche of a troubled man.
As national expansion continued, McMahon needed to find a star to lead the charge. His father was high on Bob Backlund, but he lacked the charisma that McMahon was looking for.
That is when Hulk Hogan came across the desk of McMahon. Hogan was the prototype of what McMahon wanted and was soon pushed as a huge star.
Hogan became the biggest name in the wrestling world and his popularity brought in mainstream media like MTV. It was a connection that would fill arenas across America and would help to build toward McMahon’s big gamble.
WrestleMania was a huge gamble for McMahon. He leveraged most of his life on the event’s success and, because of a mainstream connection and larger-than-life stars, he was able to achieve this.
WrestleMania pushed WWE into the international spotlight and the company never looked back. One last note on the first episode of Mr. McMahon was the two lawsuits that were filed against WWE, one by John Stossel and the other by Richard Belzer.
Both were due to violence towards reporters who questioned the realism of the product. It is an interesting note to see that, even from the beginning of his reign, Vince McMahon had to deal with scandals.
It is a topic that will be examined more in-depth in episode 2.
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