Mr McMahon – What does the new Netflix documentary series reveal?

Key takeaways

• Netflix’s ‘Mr McMahon’ documentary briefly addresses the controversial allegations against Vince McMahon.

• The series explores McMahon’s ruthless nature, including the infamous ‘Montreal Screwjob’.

• The darker side of WWE is explored in depth, including the Chris Benoit tragedy, raising concerns about the wrestler’s safety.

Mr. McMahon debuted on Netflix on September 25, 2024 and raised many questions and answered many more. Vince McMahon was the controversial president of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) until he was accused of sex trafficking and resigned. The six-episode Netflix series was in the middle of filming when the allegations emerged, leading ‘Mr. McMahon’ to end his involvement in the project.

The documentary pulls back the curtain on the real Vince McMahon, covering his early life, his long career, and the numerous scandals he has been caught 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 huge year for WWE as it launched on Netflix and continues to expand.

The accusations against Vince McMahon

He Mr. McMahon documentary series It doesn’t delve too deeply into the sex trafficking allegations, as the news broke while the project was already in production, but the final episode briefly touches on the topic. Former employee Janel Grant filed a sex trafficking lawsuit against the billionaire businessman, but he refuted her allegations as “lies” and a “vindictive distortion of the truth.”

The accusations against McMahon that made it to the series:

• Rita Chatterton was the first female WWE referee and accused McMahon of rape. McMahon suggests that it never happened and that it was a “consensual” relationship. He filed a defamation lawsuit against Chatterton, but withdrew it last year and paid him a multimillion-dollar settlement.

• The United States government took McMahon to court on charges of illegally distributing steroids. He was found not guilty in that case.

Vince McMahon revealed what he thought about the documentary in a statement about before its debut on Netflix:

I do not regret having participated in this Netflix documentary. The producers had the opportunity to tell an objective story about my life and the incredible business I built, which was equally full of emotion, drama, fun, and its fair share of controversy and life lessons. Unfortunately, based on an early partial cut I’ve seen, this range falls short and takes the predictable path of combining the ‘Mr. McMahon’s character with the real me, Vince.

The family business and the confusion between fiction and reality

Mr. McMahon reveals the behind-the-scenes drama that fueled the fictional WWE in-ring events between McMahon, his daughter Stephanie and son Shane. He pointed towards a ‘Succession’ type family drama that unfolds behind the curtain, with Shane eager to take over the “family business.” However, it became clear that it was Stephanie who possessed the particular qualities to take the business forward, should her father decide to step aside.

Stephanie was a character in WWE drama, but she was also firmly established behind the scenes as one of Vince’s trusted business partners. His relationship with Paul Michael Levesque (aka Triple H) is explored in the documentary and also charts Levesque’s own rise to become WWE’s director of operations.

The truth behind the Montreal scandal

Vince McMahon has always been a ruthless businessman and the docuseries explores this in depth. The most notorious incident that summed up McMahon’s ruthless nature was the ‘Montreal Screwjob’, as it became known. In terms of wrestling, A ‘torture’ is when the ending of a match is changed without the knowledge of one of the fighters. This particular ‘torda’ happened to legendary wrestler Bret “The Hitman” Hart in a 1997 match with Shawn Michaels. Tensions rose in the lead-up to the match after Bret Hart announced he was moving to rival company World Championship Wrestling (WCW); McMahon conspired with others behind Hart’s back to change the outcome of the match script and Hart lost his championship title to Shawn Michaels in front of his hometown crowd in Montreal.

Show business… nothing personal. And there’s 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 had no choice but to do the dirty thing to him. This 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 it certainly took a toll on the team.

To this day I don’t regret anything.

The murder and suicide of Chris Benoit

Mr. McMahon delves into the darker side of WWE and the effects of real injuries wrestlers face. Before a major storyline involving the death of the ‘Mr. McMahon’, there was a very real tragedy that put everything into perspective. Chris Benoit killed his wife on June 22, 2007 in their home, and then killed his seven-year-old son the next day, before committing suicide on June 24. WWE ran an ‘In Memoriam’ segment for Benoit on Raw, but as the show aired, gruesome details of what really happened came to light.

Allegations of steroid and general drug abuse resurfaced when it was claimed that Benoit’s behavior could have been the result of drug use. However, In reality, Benoit was found to be suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain damage condition that 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 expressed concern after studying Benoit’s brain. This led to radical changes in WWE’s attitude towards injuries, and Nowinski was invited to educate wrestlers about concussions and CTE. This led to the discontinuation of metal folding chairs being used to hit wrestlers on the head, among other things.

The shocking early deaths of WWE wrestlers were also explored in the docuseries

• Mr. Perfect (died at 44)

• Eddie Guerrero (died at age 38)

• British bulldog (died at age 39)

• Test (33 years old)

• Owen Hart (34 years)

McMahon claimed that these deaths had nothing to do with him or WWE during an interview for the documentary, but it raises many questions about what took priority in WWE: the safety of the performers or the business of making money.