As a federal criminal investigation hangs over former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Vince McMahon, a new documentary series on Netflix offers a rare look at the man credited with turning professional wrestling into a cultural juggernaut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McMahon sat for hours of interviews before abandoning the project amid sexual misconduct allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The series only briefly touches on the lawsuit filed against McMahon<\/a> in January by former WWE employee Janel Grant, who accused him of sexual abuse and trafficking. McMahon has denied<\/a> any wrongdoing, and the lawsuit is on hold<\/a> pending the federal investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When he does address the scandals and controversies that have dogged him for decades, he expresses few regrets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He brushes off an allegation levied<\/a> by former referee Rita Chatterton that he raped her in 1986. \u201cOnce you\u2019re accused of rape, you\u2019re a rapist. But it was consensual,\u201d he says in the series. \u201cAnd actually, had it been a rape, the statute of limitations had run out. So it\u2019s all kind of crap like that that people are digging up and trying to find on you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n McMahon blames New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick, a frequent critic<\/a> of WWE, for his 1993 federal indictment on allegations of steroid distribution. (He was acquitted<\/a>.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n He stands by his decision to continue a pay-per-view event 25 years ago after wrestler Owen Hart died in a stunt gone wrong<\/a> \u2014 as other wrestlers body slammed one another in a ring still stained by Hart\u2019s blood. \u201cHad it been me who was splattered on the mat,\u201d McMahon elaborates, \u201cI\u2019d want the show to go on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And McMahon dismisses the explanation that wrestler Chris Benoit suffered from chronic concussions<\/a> that could have led him to kill his family and then himself in 2007, but after that, he says, he stopped the wrestlers from hitting one another with steel chairs in shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the docuseries, McMahon speaks in a subdued manner \u2014 almost a gravelly whisper, compared with the growling roar he was known for on a microphone in the ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though he delves into his career, McMahon seems reluctant to explore his childhood at length, other than to suggest it was abusive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m not big at looking backwards at all,\u201d McMahon says in the series. \u201cI\u2019m not sure whether or not I\u2019m afraid to look back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of the interviews in the six-episode series, which Netflix will release Wednesday, were recorded two years ago \u2014 before McMahon\u2019s 2022 resignation as WWE CEO<\/a> due to revelations he had paid $12 million<\/a> to four women to secure nondisclosure agreements related to claims he engaged in sexual misconduct. The docuseries notes that McMahon canceled the remaining interviews after The Wall Street Journal broke<\/a> the news about the misconduct allegations and payments. Grant, who filed the suit against McMahon this year, did not participate in the documentary, according to her attorney, Ann Callis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n McMahon said in a statement<\/a> Monday that based on an early partial cut he watched, the docuseries \u201ctakes the predictable path of conflating the \u2018Mr. McMahon\u2019 character with my true self, Vince.\u201d He accused the producers of using \u201ctypical editing tricks\u201d to \u201csupport a deceptive narrative\u201d and said he hoped viewers will \u201cremember that there are two sides to every story.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n A question repeatedly asked during the series is how much difference there is between McMahon, the person, and \u201cMr. McMahon,\u201d the on-screen character that was born during the late 1990s \u201cAttitude Era\u201d of WWE, which was known for pushing into R-rated territory. Several WWE stars in the series concede that the way women were treated in the Attitude Era<\/a> would not be permitted today, and some, like Shawn Michaels, suggest that perhaps they should have toned it down back then. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But McMahon defends the decisions made at the time. In spite of storylines that involved rape, simulated deaths and women being forced to strip their clothes, he describes it in the series as \u201cstill family-friendly \u2014 maybe more for an adult family, just not young kids.\u201d And he adds that those scenes with scantily clad women were ratings hits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When McMahon himself appeared as part of the WWE storylines and scenes in that period, he was shown cheating on his wife and soliciting sexual favors from women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When McMahon is asked in the fourth episode of the Netflix series what similarities he has with the Mr. McMahon character, he responds, \u201cNone whatsoever.\u201d But in the sixth episode, he admits some overlap. \u201cI\u2019m wondering myself, now, which is the character and which is me,\u201d he says. \u201cI guess maybe it\u2019s a blend, and I would suggest that one is exaggerated a little bit, but I\u2019m not so sure which one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n