{"id":2356499,"date":"2024-10-18T04:26:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T08:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/netflixs-mr-mcmahon-reviewed-professional-wrestling-is-unsafe-at-any-age-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-10-18T04:30:16","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T08:30:16","slug":"netflixs-mr-mcmahon-reviewed-professional-wrestling-is-unsafe-at-any-age-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/netflixs-mr-mcmahon-reviewed-professional-wrestling-is-unsafe-at-any-age-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix\u2019s Mr. McMahon reviewed: Professional wrestling is unsafe at any age &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnetflixs-mr-mcmahon-reviewed-professional-wrestling-is-unsafe-at-any-age-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2356499&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Netflix\u200b docuseries *Mr. McMahon* \u2064explores the life \u2063and career\u2063 of Vincent Kennedy McMahon, who transformed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) into a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/introducing-bentkey-a-new-adventure-in-kids-entertainment\/\" title=\"Introducing Bentkey: A Fresh Kids Entertainment Adventure\">global entertainment powerhouse<\/a>. The six-episode series delves into McMahon&#8217;s business genius while also\u2063 exposing the darker, often troubling culture of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/thousands-sign-petition-to-cancel-travis-scott-2022-coachella-performance\/\" title=\"Thousands Sign Petition to Cancel Travis Scott 2022 Coachella Performance\">professional wrestling<\/a>. From nostalgia-triggering anecdotes about wrestling legends like Cyndi Lauper\u2063 and Hulk Hogan \u2062to the\u2062 industry&#8217;s significant scandals, \u2064the series presents a comprehensive\u2064 view of wrestling&#8217;s evolution from a regional spectacle to a\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/food-stamps-direct-payment-worth-up-to-1691-goes-out-to-indiana-residents-in-three-days\/\" title=\"Indiana residents receive direct payments of up to ,691 in just three days through food stamps.\">multi-billion\u200d dollar business<\/a> by the late 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>The show skillfully combines the story of McMahon&#8217;s\u200b rise with \u2064shocking interviews revealing the industry&#8217;s\u2062 abuses, particularly regarding women and the toxic culture that surrounded the\u200c wrestlers. \u2063Each episode navigates\u200b key events, such as Hogan&#8217;s\u2064 controversial defection to rival WCW, which sparked the &#8220;Monday Night Wars,&#8221; a pivotal moment in wrestling history. <\/p>\n<p>*Mr. McMahon* also educates viewers on wrestling terminology and the blurred\u2063 lines between reality and performance in the sport, showcasing notable incidents and shifts in the industry. As the series progresses, it highlights \u200ca shift in WWE&#8217;s focus towards a more \u2062adult demographic, steering\u2064 away from its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/shawn-levy-will-direct-deadpool-3-starring-ryan-reynolds\/\" title=\"Shawn Levy Will Direct \u201cDeadpool 3\u201d Starring Ryan Reynolds\">family-friendly image<\/a>. Ultimately, while the docuseries aims to evoke nostalgia and entertain, it also confronts the deeply ingrained issues within\u200d the sport, making it a\u2063 compelling watch for\u2062 both fans \u2062and newcomers alike.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-sacff-txt\">Magazine &#8211; Life &amp; Arts <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Netflix&rsquo;s Mr. McMahon reviewed: Professional wrestling is unsafe at any age<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Watching <em>Mr. McMahon<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/netflix\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Netflix<\/a>&rsquo;s glossy new &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/sports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>sports entertainment<\/a>&rdquo; docuseries, the lapsed fan recalls all manner of wrastlin&rsquo; minutiae. Fresh off her best new artist win at the 1985 Grammys, Cyndi Lauper launched a brief second career as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/2825122\/wrestling-and-the-recreation-of-cable\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>World Wrestling Federation<\/a> &ldquo;manager&rdquo; and mascot. WrestleMania II, a strange and unlovely affair, felt disjointed because it was broadcast from three separate venues: in Uniondale, New York; Rosemont, Illinois; and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/los-angeles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Los Angeles<\/a>, California.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The question is whether the six-episode production achieves anything more significant than nostalgia. Its titular subject is, of course, one Vincent Kennedy McMahon, the second-generation wrestling impresario who transformed his father&rsquo;s middling concern into the globe-straddling WWF, now World Wrestling Entertainment. In 1969, the McMahon enterprise was sleepy, regional, and bound by a gentlemen&rsquo;s agreement not to poach talent from competitors. By 1987, the company was strong enough to fill <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/michigan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Michigan<\/a>&rsquo;s Pontiac Silverdome with a paid attendance of more than 93,000.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Vince McMahon in Mr. McMahon (Netflix)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In chronicling this evolution, Netflix&rsquo;s series produces two incontrovertible facts. One: Vince McMahon in his prime was a business genius who could turn a lemonade stand into a Dow-listed megafirm. Two: The whole industry was, to put it lightly, a den of iniquity. &ldquo;We abused the hell out of women,&rdquo; WWE legend Tony Atlas tells the camera in one of many startling interviews. That the company&rsquo;s men hardly fared better is a marker of just how depraved and depressing professional wrestling&rsquo;s culture has long been.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Structurally, <em>Mr. McMahon<\/em> proceeds by weaving between these two extremes, often in the course of a single installment. In the first episode, director Chris Smith (<em>American Movie<\/em>) melds details of McMahon&rsquo;s industry disruption with glimpses of early WWE scandals. (Example: The company lures Hulk Hogan from a rival promotion, and then the Hulkster chokes out talk show host Richard Belzer on live television.) The second episode looks at the enterprise&rsquo;s explosive 1980s growth, as well as the sex and steroids scandals that revealed its gruesome underbelly. For WWE viewers of a certain age, the names thus evoked conjure awe: Jesse Ventura, Sgt. Slaughter, and Greg &ldquo;The Hammer&rdquo; Valentine. Yet even wrestling disparagers are likely to look on with something approaching wonder. McMahon took a ridiculous men-in-tights soap opera and made it into a multibillion-dollar behemoth. How could the story of that success fail to be interesting?&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Though the series makes much of its protagonist&rsquo;s family dynamics, the relationship at its heart may be that between McMahon and Hogan, an amateur bass guitarist-turned-world famous wrestling hero. So close was the two men&rsquo;s bond that, when future Minnesota Gov. Ventura attempted to coax his peers into unionizing, Hogan ran to the boss to tattle. Called as a witness in McMahon&rsquo;s 1994 steroids trial, Hogan assured the authorities that the WWE honcho had never pressured any wrestler to take drugs. Given this obvious affinity, it is something of a shock when, near the end of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jack-black-addresses-controversial-trump-joke-sparks-deportation-warning-is-tenacious-d-over\/\" title=\"Jack Black addresses controversial Trump joke, sparks deportation warning. Is Tenacious D over?\">show&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s second hour, Hogan decamps for rival World Championship Wrestling, owned by business titan Ted Turner. The aftermath of that decision, covered in the series&rsquo;s terrific third episode, saw the inauguration of the so-called Monday Night Wars, in which WWE&rsquo;s storied <em>Raw<\/em> franchise went head-to-head with WCW&rsquo;s competing, and frequently more entertaining, <em>Nitro<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In covering these and other wrestling plot twists, <em>Mr. McMahon<\/em> takes care to bring the casual viewer along, defining the business&rsquo;s sometimes arcane vocabulary words even as it drills into the core of industry operations. &ldquo;Faces,&rdquo; or good guys, and &ldquo;heels,&rdquo; or villains, get their due, but so, too, does &ldquo;kayfabe,&rdquo; a circus shorthand that stands, broadly, for a wrestler&rsquo;s commitment to the &ldquo;reality&rdquo; of the bit. In an evolution that deserves to be studied in undergraduate History of Postmodernism classrooms, professional wrestling in the mid-&rsquo;90s began blurring the line between fiction and real life, presenting, for example, Vince McMahon as &ldquo;Mr. McMahon,&rdquo; a rapacious executive who became, via staggeringly effective &ldquo;promos&rdquo; (in-character interviews), one of the finest heels in the history of the business.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Other kayfabe reversals will be familiar to fans already: the &ldquo;Montreal Screwjob,&rdquo; the &ldquo;Curtain Call,&rdquo; and the airing of McMahon family grievances on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/tv\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>cable TV<\/a>. Offspring Shane and Stephanie McMahon became regular characters in the WWE stable. Yet even for the uninitiated, the narrative and meta-narrative loops recalled on-screen really are fascinating. Argentina had its Jorge Luis Borges. America had its <em>fin de si&egrave;cle<\/em> pro-wrestling storylines.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Things take a turn when, in the fourth episode, WWE drops all pretense of appealing to families and begins to gear its programs toward the coveted 18-to-34-year-old male demographic. What had once been a violent but essentially cartoonish wrestling product became overnight a crotch-grabbing, top-snatching fantasia of obscenity, misogyny, and gore. To be confronted, now, with the resulting &ldquo;Attitude Era&rdquo; is to yearn for the comparative decorum and respectability of a Tijuana brothel. I lived through those pro-wrestling years and occasionally watched, and even I, an unshockable TV critic, was horrified by what the producers managed to dredge up from the archives.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Did reality cross lines with fiction here as elsewhere? Given what we now know of WWE&rsquo;s culture, the answer seems unquestionably to be &ldquo;yes.&rdquo; Since at least 1992, McMahon has fended off charges of sexual harassment and misconduct, a pattern that culminated in a January &rsquo;24 lawsuit by former employee Janel Grant. Accused now of &ldquo;trafficking,&rdquo; as well as sexual assault, McMahon is almost certainly finished as a pro-wrestling executive and icon. To be sure, the now-former WWE chairman deserves his day in court. Watching Netflix&rsquo;s series, however, one is heavily inclined to believe the allegations against him.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And so <em>Mr. McMahon<\/em> concludes, with two final hours of mergers, resignations, triumphs, and defeats. I wouldn&rsquo;t want to see the series again, but I grant that it has something compelling to say about American appetites and aversions. Only a great and terrible country could make a man like Vince McMahon rich. Indeed, professional wrestling itself lives inside that tension. I&rsquo;m glad I once watched it. Just keep it the heck away from my children.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Graham Hillard is editor at the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal and a <\/em>Washington Examiner<em> magazine contributing writer.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Netflix&#8217;s Mr. McMahon reviewed: Wrestling is risky at any age<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":956,"featured_media":2356500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/LA.TV_1023.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[43262,5158,43263,7289],"class_list":["post-2356499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-mr-mcmahon","tag-netflix","tag-professional-wrestling","tag-review"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/LA.TV_1023.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2356499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/956"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2356499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2356499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2356500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2356499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2356499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2356499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}