Netflix 'Mr. McMahon' Docuseries: 10 Things We Learned About Wrestling's Most Polarizing Figure

Netflix's new docuseries, Mr. McMahon, released on Sept. 25, and people are getting an inside look at the life of Vince McMahon, the former CEO and owner of WWE, and the character he created.

The six-part docuseries begins by letting viewers know the original idea for the program was much different than the final results. Six hours of footage were used, including interviews with McMahon and some of his former employees prior to the sexual assault allegations that were made public in April 2022. However, things changed once the allegations came out, and McMahon reportedly canceled his final interview for the docuseries.

What fans got as a final product was a multi-layered analysis of McMahon and his relentless ascent to the top of the professional wrestling mountaintop in connection to his alleged sexual misconduct accusations laid out by several people, including former WWE employee Janel Grant. The lawyer for Grant recently released a statement saying the docuseries doesn't tell the full story of who McMahon is.

Professional wrestling often blends reality with fantasy, and what the Mr. McMahon docuseries does is explore how much of his character was real and fictional when it came to certain situations within the company over the years.

After watching the entire docuseries, Complex put together 10 things we learned about professional wrestling's most polarizing figure.

Vince McMahon Had Complicated Relationships With His Stepfather and Biological Father

In the first episode of the docuseries, McMahon shared that he didn't know who his biological father, Vince McMahon Sr., was, nor did he know his last name before meeting his dad when he was 12 years old. Up until that point, McMahon says his stepfather physically abused him every day, and his biological father was nowhere to be found.

When he eventually met his real father, McMahon hoped to have a warm embrace, but that wasn't the case, as his dad barely showed him any emotion. Regardless, McMahon said he still loved his dad tremendously despite never conversing with him about his absence when he was a child.

The connection McMahon had with his dad was even more complex as they never had a true father-son relationship and only spoke about business. Because of that, McMahon's passion for the business world grew and pushed him to want to help his father run the WWE and eventually purchase the company from him. At one point, McMahon claimed he didn't think his father wanted him to succeed in the business.

Vince McMahon Was Hit With Sexual Assault Allegations as Early as the '80s

The explosive lawsuit filed by former WWE employee Janel Grant against Vince McMahon was made public and contained vile acts allegedly committed by the wrestling promoter. In Mr. McMahon, that wasn't the only time Vince or the WWE had been hit with allegations of sexual assault. Some of the first cases were as far back as the '80s, such as the ring boy scandal. Described in the doc, it was a group of teenage boys brought in by a man known as Mel Phillips to help put up and take down the ring who claimed top WWE executives like Pat Patterson sexually assaulted them.

McMahon claimed the allegations were false, but he was viewed as protecting the business, especially when it came to Patterson, one of his most trusted employees. Another allegation came from the company's first female referee, Rita Chatterton. According to Rita Marie (her ring name), McMahon raped her and told her she would be blackballed if she didn't give in to his demands. Due to his popularity, people ignored the allegations and looked at Marie as someone trying to get famous. However, McMahon reportedly reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with Chatterton.

Vince Threatened to Fire Wrestlers That Were Trying to Unionize

Hulk Hogan was Vince McMahon's first global superstar in the company, and he became a force to be reckoned with thanks to his Hulkamania persona in the '80s and '90s. Since he was a draw, which led to more money for the company, Hogan became one of McMahon's closest confidants as both men wanted to see the company excel.

At one point in the company's Golden Era, WWE Hall of Famer Jesse Ventura tried to unionize the wrestlers as their grueling schedules and the job's physical demands took a toll on their bodies. At the time, there was no job security in professional wrestling, and so many wanted protection in case something happened to them.

Hogan got word of what Ventura was trying to do and felt he was trying to "undermine" McMahon. He went ahead and told McMahon what Ventura had planned, which led to the boss threatening to fire anyone who attended a meeting Ventura had scheduled to put the union in place. According to McMahon, Ventura was never going to be able to get every wrestler on his side, so he claimed he knew no union would be formed.

The Mr. McMahon Character Was Inspired by the Rich People Vince Hated Growing Up Around

Vince's Mr. McMahon character was known for being an evil boss that did anything he could to screw over his employees for the sake of his greed. According to Vince, the character was inspired by the rich people he saw around him when he was younger. Vince despised those people as he grew up extremely poor and felt the rich kids thought they were better than him as they always flaunted whatever they had and made him feel worthless.

Tapping into the Mr. McMahon character was easy for Vince as he knew what he didn't like and channeled that energy to become someone that people would hate. He also revealed the character's iconic walk and theatrics were inspired by his favorite wrestler, Dr. Jerry Graham, who was known as a flamboyant villain.

Vince McMahon Explains Why He Kept 1999 Over The Edge PPV Going After Owen Hart Died in the Ring

Owen Hart fell to his death as he was being lowered from the rafters at the Over The Edge pay-per-view event in 1999, and the accident rocked the professional wrestling world. Vince decided to keep the show going even though Hart had just died, and wrestlers competed that night even while Hart's blood was still on the ring mat.

According to Vince, he made the call to keep the show going because fans didn't see Hart drop from the rafters as it happened while the arena lights were turned off. He figured the people came to see a show, not someone dying in the ring, so they would get exactly what they paid for.

"Had it been me who was splattered on the mat, as Bret said. I would want the show to go on. So get me out of there and let the show go on. I'd do it with me, and to this day, I would," Vince said in the docuseries.

Vince McMahon Wanted Daughter Stephanie and Triple H's Wedding to be Aired on PPV

Vince was willing to put on a show for fans, and that meant putting together storylines that would really grab their attention, even if it meant bringing his family life into the mix. However, not all of those storylines were a home run and were rightfully turned down, such as the idea he had to air his daughter Stephanie McMahon's wedding to Triple H on pay-per-view. Being the businessman that he is, Vince felt the moment would bring in the big bucks, but Steph squashed the idea.

In the docuseries, Vince often came off as someone who would get his payback from anyone who told him no, and that seemed to happen with his daughter. Six days before her marriage, Steph was booked for a street fight against her father at the No Mercy pay-per-view. The match saw Vince throwing Steph around and even choking her with a lead pipe.

Vince Doesn't Believe CTE/Concussions Played a Role in Some Wrestler's Deaths

In the early to mid-2000s, an alarming number of wrestlers were dying as a result of drug overdoses or suicide. One of the more shocking deaths was the Chris Benoit tragedy in 2007, when the former champion killed his wife and son before committing suicide on himself. Former WWE wrestler and neuroscientist Chris Nowinski led an initiative to study Benoit's brain and saw that he had suffered from CTE as a result of all the concussions he had throughout his career.

Vince did reach out and pushed for Nowinski to teach his employees about CTE, but that's as far as his support went. There was a point in the interview where Vince downplayed concussions, such as when The Undertaker suffered one in the middle of his Wrestlemania 30 match with Brock Lesnar and claimed he didn't remember much of the bout. Vince stated Taker didn't remember, not because of the concussion but because of the emotion of the fight being his first loss at the big event.

Vince also claimed Benoit went "nuts" during that fateful weekend in 2007, and he even downplayed wrestler's mental health playing a factor in some of their deaths. According to Vince, wrestlers were dying young because they were mixing pills with steroids and other drugs, which put intense stress on their hearts. He also mentioned how recreational drug use played a factor and implied the deaths were the responsibility of the wrestlers who died.

Vince Turned Down His Son Shane's Idea to Purchase the UFC

Before the WWE merged with the UFC to become the TKO Group Holdings, Inc., Vince had an opportunity to purchase the mixed martial arts company in the late '90s when it went through a down period. Vince's son, Shane McMahon, found a potential deal that would've given his dad ownership of the fighting league, and he felt they could grow the UFC into a legitimate brand with all the resources they had. Vince said he turned it down because he didn't like the proposed business plan and that UFC fighters had a limited life cycle compared to the made-up characters in WWE.

The decision not to buy the UFC appeared to light the flame that would burn Shane's relationship with his father and lead to his eventual exit from the company. WWE Hall of Famer and ECW founder Paul Heyman recalled a time when Vince and Shane had a tense argument over a creative decision that led to the elder McMahon telling his son that he would have to kill him if he wanted to get an idea off the ground and handed him a knife to do it.

According to Heyman, Vince said Shane would have to prepare to "get rid" of him the same way he would've got his father out of the way when he didn't want to do things a certain way. Shane always thought he would be next in line to run the WWE company, but that went to his sister, Stephanie, and his eventual exit from the company. However, Shane did return in 2016 for a memorable run with the company.

Shane's Wild Stunts Were Done to Get Vince's Respect

Shane McMahon was known for pulling off some of the craziest bumps in WWE history, such as being thrown off the Titantron or being suplexed through a plexiglass panel several times and landing on his head. According to Shane, he did all those stunts to get his father's approval, as he was always tough on him and felt he could never make him proud, similar to how Vince wanted to do the same with his dad.

He recalled a time when he witnessed how ruthless his father was when he was playfighting with him and lost after Vince grabbed his ribs and pulled his hair. However, Shane finally had a touching moment with his dad when he returned in 2016 and wrestled The Undertaker in a thrilling Hell in a Cell match at Wrestlemania 32. At the end of the fight, Shane got a tearful hug from Vince and told him all he wanted was his respect.

Vince Has Always Strived to Be Under Control With Everything in His Life

Throughout the docuseries, viewers see that Vince is a complicated person and wants success by any means necessary regarding business. He stopped wrestlers from forming a union, screwed over two of his top superstars, Wendi Richter and Bret Hart, and even ran storylines about him cheating on his wife Linda and selling his daughter Steph off to an evil force, all for the sake of giving fans a show. That drive for power seemed to create a person who wanted control, especially for someone like Vince, who lived in an abusive household as a kid.

He's dished out millions of dollars in settlements for various lawsuits over the years, and there were times in the docuseries where he appeared to carefully craft an answer in a way or defended his company from those that targeted it or had a problem with him. However, there were times when viewers saw Vince losing control and acting out of character, such as an interview he did with Bob Costas regarding his XFL football league being a complete failure.

Vince admitted that Costas got to him at that moment as he was seen telling him to "shut his mouth" and got in his face. There was another part where Vince seemed to lose control as wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer spoke on the former WWE CEO not defending himself in the way he usually does when the sexual assault allegations were made public a few years ago. In any other controversy, Vince stood against his competition and fiercely defended his company, but things were different once former WWE employee Janel Grant filed her lawsuit.