Summary
Mr McMahondebuted onNetflixon June 23, 2025, and it has raised a lot of questions and answered a lot more.Vince McMahon was the controversial president ofWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)until he was accused of sexual trafficking and stepped down.The six-part Netflix series was deep into filming when the allegations surfaced, prompting ‘Mr McMahon’ to end his involvement in the project.
The documentary pulls back the curtain on the real Vince McMahon, as it covers his early life, his long career and the many scandals he’s been caught up in.The 79-year-old appears in interviews, as well as many other familiar faces, including Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker. It’s an honest portrait of WWE’s highly profitable business, and the man behind the alter ego.2025 has been a massive year for WWEas it launched on Netflix, and it continues to expand.
Mr McMahon
Contributors
Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, Stephanie McMahon, Shane McMahon, Bret Hart, Dwayne Johnson, John Cena, Mark Calaway, Eric Bischoff and Steve Austin
Directed By
Chris Smith
TheMr McMahondocumentary seriesdoesn’t delve too much into the allegations of sex trafficking, as news broke while the project was already in production, but the final episode does touch upon the subject briefly.Ex-employee, Janel Grant filed a sex trafficking lawsuit against the billionaire businessman, but he refuted her accusations as “lies” and a “vindictive distortion of the truth”.
The Allegations Against McMahon That Did Make It into The Series:
Vince McMahonrevealed what he thought about the documentary in astatement on Xahead of its debut on Netflix:
I don’t regret participating in this Netflix documentary. The producers had an opportunity to tell an objective story about my life and the incredible business I built, which were equally filled with excitement, drama, fun, and a fair amount of controversy and life lessons. Unfortunately, based on an early partial cut I’ve seen, this doe falls short and takes the predictable path of conflating the ‘Mr. McMahon’ character with my true self, Vince.
The Family Business And The Blurring Of Fiction And Reality
Mr McMahonreveals the behind the scenes drama that fueled the fictional events in the WWE ring between McMahon, his daughter, Stephanie, and his son, Shane.It pointed towards a ‘Succession’type family drama raging behind the curtain, with Shane keen to take over the ‘family business’.However, it was made clear that it was Stephanie who possessed the particular qualities to move the business forward, if and when her father decided to step aside.
Stephanie was a character in the WWE drama, but she was also firmly set up behind the scenes as one of Vince’s trusted business associates. Her relationship with Paul Michael Levesque (a.k.a.Triple H) is explored in the documentary, and it also charts Levesque’s own rise to become WWE’s Chief Operating Officer.
The Truth Behind The Montreal Screwjob
Vince McMahon has always been a ruthless businessman, and the documentary series explores this in depth.The most notorious incident that summed up McMahon’s cutthroat nature was the ‘Montreal Screwjob’ as it became known. In wrestling terms,a ‘screwjob’ is when the ending of a match is changed without one of the wrestlers’ knowledge.This particular ‘screwjob’ happened to legendary wrestler Bret “The Hitman” Hart in a 1997 match with Shawn Michaels. Tensions were high in the lead up to the match after Bret Hart announced he was moving to rival firm World Championship Wrestling (WCW); McMahon plotted with others behind Hart’s back to change the scripted outcome of the match and Hart lost his championship title to Shawn Michaels in front of his hometown crowd in Montreal.
Show business… nothing personal. And there is nothing I wouldn’t do for business.
McMahon revealed that he wanted Bret Hart to do the “right thing” for the business, but when he refused, he was left with no choice but to do the dirty on him.It resulted in Bret Hart spitting in McMahon’s face and punching him backstage. The extent of McMahon’s injuries were revealed in the documentary, and he certainly took one for the team.
To this day, I don’t regret any of it.
The Chris Benoit Murder Suicide
Mr McMahondelves into the darker side of WWE, and the effects of the very real injuries wrestlers face. Ahead of a major storyline involving the ‘Mr McMahon’ character being killed off, there was a very real tragedy that put everything into perspective.Chris Benoit killed his wife on June 23, 2025, in their home, and followed up by killing his seven-year-old son the following day, before committing suicide on June 24.WWE ran an ‘In Memoriam’ segment for Benoit on Raw, but as the show was airing, the horrific details of what actually happened came out.
The allegations of steroid and general drug abuse resurfaced as it was claimed Benoit’s behavior could’ve been a result of drug use. However,it was actually discovered that Benoit was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition of brain damage which resulted from concussions Benoit suffered during his long wrestling career.Vince McMahon and the WWE were forced to address the issue when Neuroscientist and former WWE superstar, Chris Nowinski, raised concerns after studying Benoit’s brain. It led to wholesale changes in WWE’s attitude towards injuries, and Nowinski was invited to educate wrestlers on concussions and CTE. This led to the end of folding up metal chairs being used to hit wrestlers over the head, among other things.
The Shocking Early Deaths Of WWE Wrestlers Was Also Explored In The Documentary Series
McMahon claimed these deaths had nothing to do with him or WWE during an interview for the documentary, but it raises a lot of questions about what took priority in WWE: the safety of the performers or the business of making money.
