Mr McMahon, the six-part Netflix documentary detailing the meteoric rise and fall of WWE’s eponymous dictator, dug deep into the various disgraces that have plagued McMahon’s life, from continuing 1999’s Over The Edge pay-per-view with the mat splattered in the blood of Owen Hart to the steroid scandal that put the brakes on the Golden Era to the more recent saga of his retirement, return, and rebuttal against his critics.
Featuring an ensemble of talking heads, the roughly six-hour deep-dive into the wreckage behind the scenes at WWE pulled out some questionable quotes. Between Hulk Hogan’s rampant lies and Bruce Prichard’s incessant defending of his long-time boss, the cameras also caught some more callous quotes – namely from Vince McMahon himself.
“I Don’t Really Regret Anything In My Life”
Vince McMahon Lives A Life Free Of Regrets
Date Of Birth |
Place Of Birth |
August 24, 1945 |
Pinehurst, North Carolina |
Vince McMahon claimed in the documentary’s third episode, Screwjob, that he has lived his life without regret. This is a common saying within the older generation – but it perhaps shouldn’t be a line uttered while partaking in an interview for a documentary that’s designed to highlight the various scandals that said person has been at the helm of.
While the McMahon patriarch claimed to have no regrets from his almost eight decades on Earth in response to being asked if he wished he’d hired future WCW President, Eric Bischoff, as an announcer, the series explored issues more complex and more real than hiring your soon-to-be competition.
“The Portrayal Of Women Within The Industry Was Progressing”
Paul Heyman’s Recollection Of The Women’s Evolution Was Iffy
- The Women’s Evolution is believed to have kickstarted in 2015.
- Paul Heyman claims it began when WWE moved to a PG product in 2008.
- WWE shied away from inhumane storylines and match stipulations, but there was a long way to go.
Not every quote caught on-camera was based on the reality of Vince McMahon’s real-life depravity; many focused on the goings-on in WWE. Episode six, The Finish, showed brief snippets of WWE’s female Superstars, then known as Divas, from the time of the company’s move to a TV-PG product. Beth Phoenix, Melina, and Michelle McCool were among those featured, while Paul Heyman rewrote history with his talking head speech:
“The timing of the Women’s Evolution coincided with the PG Era shift. The portrayal of women within the industry was progressing.”
Paul Heyman discussed WWE’s Divas era with rose-tinted glasses. He’s correct in the sense that female talent were getting progressively more chances to shine at the time – but it wasn’t in WWE. They were very much still treated as eye candy, for lack of a better term, and would be until 2015 at the earliest.
“We Abused The Hell Out Of Women, All Of Us Did”
Tony Atlas Uttered Some Haunting Lines In The Series
- Anthony ‘Tony Atlas’ White was a regular talking head throughout the series.
- He was one of a few who didn’t hold back.
- ‘Mr USA’ claims women were seriously abused, including by him.
WWE Hall of Famer Tony Atlas shared some ghoulish memories throughout the documentary, but the second episode provided his two most grotesque. The first saw the real-life Anthony White openly admit that he partook in the abuse of women within WWE’s inner circle, almost jokingly saying that, if the full extent was to ever be exposed, he and the others involved would be viewed as some of the “worst human beings” on Earth.
Not even five minutes later, Atlas chimed in again when the series highlighted the long alleged misconduct of Pat Patterson. Claiming to have had his “pecker” (his genitals) grabbed by the former WWE executive, he added that he had no one to complain to, with Pat being the booker at the time and thus, Vince McMahon’s right-hand man.
“All I Know Is She Came Back To Work”
Vince McMahon Can’t Recall A Lawsuit Filed Against Him
Date Of Birth |
Place Of Birth |
WWE Tenure |
Notable Accomplishments |
August 8, 1967 |
Jacksonville, Florida |
1996-1999, 2003-2004 |
|
Rena Greek, now Rena Lesnar and better known professionally as Sable, was a hot commodity during WWE’s Attitude Era. Though she changed earlier misconceptions that female talent couldn’t wrestle, she was soon assigned a character that played into the actuality of her having posed for Playboy before departing the company in June 1999.
She cited unsafe working conditions and sexual harassment as her reason for moving on, and filed a $110 million lawsuit against the company. Sable, though, would resurface in sports entertainment four years later, with her lawsuit being directly mentioned on-screen by Stephanie McMahon. In reality, Vince McMahon has forgotten the specifics of why, exactly, Sable sued him, noting that “she came back to work”, almost as if to say that refutes the claims of the lawsuit.
“I Have No Sympathy For People Like That, So Go Die”
Vince McMahon Has A Stern Approach To Retirement
Date Of Appointment |
Date Of Retirement |
February 21, 1980 |
July 22, 2022 |
The notion of retirement in professional wrestling is nonexistent, as wrestlers, unlike other sporting athletes, can’t resist the temptation of adorning spandex and being slammed across the squared circle. Vince McMahon, like many he employed, retired before returning, lasting less than six months before he sought another slice of the business empire pie.
This is perhaps because in the series’ final part, the ex-WWE Chairman expressed his deep-rooted opinion of people who seek retirement. He claimed to have “no sympathy” for anyone who hung up what they traded in all their life and for them to “go d*e” in a statement recorded before his own July 2022 retirement. Needless to say, McMahon found enough sympathy for himself that he returned in January 2023 to sell the company that was performing enormously well in his absence.
“As Long As You Are Drawing Money, You Will Be Champion”
The Rock Had A Firm Stance On Vince McMahon’s Perception Of Skin Color
Black WWE World Champion |
Number Of WWE World Title Reigns |
The Rock |
|
Booker T |
|
Mark Henry |
|
Kofi Kingston |
|
Bobby Lashley |
|
Big E |
Vince McMahon has long had allegations of racism hanging over his head, both in reality and in fiction; storyline-wise, it took McMahon 35 years following the creation of the WWE Championship to strap up a black performer, that being The Rock. According to ‘The Final Boss’, though, Vince didn’t see color, only drawing ability:
“Vince, and I know this for sure, he was always about, ‘I don’t care what color you are, you could be black and green and purple, you could be a unicorn for all I give a s***, as long as you are drawing money, you will be champion’.”
This, naturally, is a false take from one of Vince McMahon’s longstanding allies. McMahon was infamously reluctant to push black wrestlers over white wrestlers, directly uttered the N-word on a WWE pay-per-view, and has famously had a petulance for maintaining wrestlers’ pushes irrespective of their money-drawing ability. Diesel, for instance, was WWE Champion for 358 days during what is widely considered to be WWE’s lowest period financially.
“Vince Thrives Under Pressure And Thrives Under Healthy Competition”
A Former WWE Writer Claims That Vince McMahon Needs The Opposition
- Brian Gewirtz was a writer for WWE between 1999 and 2015.
- He claimed that Vince McMahon “thrives” under the pressure of competition.
- McMahon bought his competition, WCW, in 2001.
The Attitude Era is still to this day perceived as the sports entertainment group’s finest era. Brian Gewirtz, who began as a writer for the company during this time, has credited this success to McMahon having competition, that being World Championship Wrestling, going so far as to claim that pressure and competition “brings out the best” in Vince McMahon.
True as it was for the battle against WCW, the lack of a legitimate competitor for almost two decades allowed Vince to maintain comfortability atop the Mount Rushmore of professional wrestling. The launch of All Elite Wrestling in 2019 coincided with one of WWE’s most dire twelve months, a creatively cataclysmic year that would continue, truthfully, until the takeover in 2022 by Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque.
“I’m Not A CTE Guy, Just Don’t Believe In It”
‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin Shared His Odd CTE Theory
- CTE stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
- It is a condition that causes the brain to rot internally due to continuous blows to the head.
- Professional wrestling has been changed for the better following a 2007 tragedy.
Professional wrestling was rocked to its core in June 2007 when Chris Benoit, regarded as one of the most technically sound wrestlers in history, ended the lives of his wife Nancy, their son Daniel, and then himself in an incident that has been linked to CTE. Benoit was known for his stiff blows to the head and for using his cranium as a weapon, having practised in the use of a Diving Headbutt as his signature move.
Despite extensive research having been done into the disease, including by ex-WWE wrestler and Netflix talking head Christopher Nowinski, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin doesn’t believe in it. He claimed to not be “a CTE guy” when the aforementioned incident was discussed in the documentary and was seemingly joined in his disbelief by The Undertaker, who refuted WWE’s juxtaposition to a TV-PG product banning the use of unprotected chair shots to the head.
“Always Looking For That Pat On The Back From My Dad”
Shane McMahon Got Emotional When Discussing His Paternal Relationship
Date Of Birth |
Place Of Birth |
January 15, 1970 |
Gaithersburg, Maryland |
The McMahon family dynamic across all three generations was discussed at length during the six-parter, with Vince claiming to have forever been chasing his father’s approval after taking over the family business. He achieved that, finally, as Vincent James McMahon told his only son that he loved him one day before he passed away.
Vince, Jr., it would seem, carried that same character trait with him, as Shane – the eldest of his two children – was “always looking for that pat on the back” from his father, hence why he was forever keen to take risks nobody else would. Returning to WWE in 2016 after a seven-year absence, Shane, at last, found his euphoria, being embraced by his father following a Hell in a Cell match vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 32. Shane was teary-eyed while recalling the heartwarming embrace.
Vince McMahon Refuted The Historical Accusations Made Against Him
“Once You’re Accused Of R*pe, You’re A R*pist”
- Rita Chatterton, a former WWE referee, accused Vince McMahon of sexual misconduct.
- She alleged McMahon r*ped her after she denied him oral sex.
- McMahon settled a lawsuit in December 2022, though he maintained his innocence.
The investigation into numerous hush money settlements made by Vince McMahon, which prompted McMahon’s swift exit from WWE and indeed the public eye, wasn’t the only instance of his involvement in sexual misconduct allegations. He was alleged by Rita Chatterton – a former WWE referee – of r*pe after she refused to perform oral sex on him. Vince McMahon, though, had a chilling take on the documentary’s second episode:
“Once you’re accused of r*pe, you’re a r*pist, but it was consensual, and actually had it been a r*pe, the statute of limitations had run out.”
A lawsuit filed by Rita in December 2022, one month before McMahon returned to power, was settled by Vince the same month. He claimed his innocence in the case and was reportedly settling to “avoid the cost of litigation”. The two statements – the one made on the documentary regarding the statute of limitations and the one where he claims he was an innocent party – hardly go hand-in-hand, needless to say, and the former only further implies his guilt.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)