Mr McMahon Netflix doc Thread

[SuperBacon]

Astros summed it up best

 

[d-d-d-dAz]

I watched a bit more. I don't know why.

My two main takeaways beyond what's already been discussed are;

- all the old wrestlers tedious, performative 'I don't know how much I can say because we were MAD us' at the start of all their interviews is utterly pathetic.

- I didn't mind him as a voice generally, but thought Tony Atlas actually gave the bleakest insight into how awful and misogynistic the locker room would have been. The other stuff people were talking about was so big and dramatic it's hard to take any day to day lessons about what it was like, but when he almost flippantly said how terrible they'd treat girls on the road, and then in the same episode was utterly aghast that Pat Patterson may have grabbed his pecker in the locker room, you just realise how much they 'othered' women. 'Open season on the girls, brother, but anyone even looks at me funny and I'm gonna murder em'

I worry if, in spite of myself, I watch all of this that I may never watch wrestling again.

From what I've seen, unsurprisingly, Cody comes off the best. And Bret.

"I was a real artist..."

Edited September 27, 2024 by d-d-d-dAz

[herbie747]

Heyman always thinks he's smarter than he is. Pulling a smug face after every comment he makes as if he just dropped some profound epiphany.

 

He's such a slimeball and his entire schtick is decades outdated. 

[LaGoosh]

Heyman is such an endless bullshitter. The master of talking forever while saying absolute nothing of any note whatsoever. He's been doing the same promo for over a decade now. An overrated, tired, smug little scumbag.

[DEF]

16 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Heyman is such an endless bullshitter. The master of talking forever while saying absolute nothing of any note whatsoever. He's been doing the same promo for over a decade now. An overrated, tired, smug little scumbag.

Whilst I absolutely agree I can also whole heartedly believe that insane story about Vince screaming at Shane. Sounds exactly the kind of mental Vince is and also that I'm sure Heyman was told to say it.

I pretty much hated the doc. It's a mildly entertaining history lesson (that we all knew anyway) but it's unforgivable how little they go into some of those scandals and instead put over the companies agenda. There's no way in hell I'm comfortable with the Vince beat WCW story being given more time than any of the countless deplorable things he's done. Talk about having your cake and eating it.

[The King of Old School]

I imagine showing this to any non wrestling fan would be both cringe and embarrassing.

[d-d-d-dAz]

12 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

I imagine showing this to any non wrestling fan would be both cringe and embarrassing.

It's Tiger King, isn't it? If you were part of the animal conservation community you probably thought Tiger King was really dull as you knew it all and then some; but, if you weren't, you could watch, gawk and laugh at the silly little man and his weird little ways.

I think the cringe and embarrassing is part of the appeal, it's baked in to what they wanted from this. It's a little bit funny, it's a little bit embarrassing and there's a thin veneer of sinister running throughout, which is the Tiger King formula. All the allegations that came later have definitely ruined the documentary for them, as it's tipped the balance and made the whole thing feel a little trite and insubstantial.

It's probably the only documentary in the world where the makers were genuinely quite annoyed when a big story broke in the middle of development. 

Edited September 27, 2024 by d-d-d-dAz

[hallicks]

I’m only up to episode 2, I don’t think this episode is too much of a company shill piece overall. Phil Mushnick gets a lot of time, Vince and Pritchard come across terribly, not just on the Rita Chatterton bit but also the Mel Phillips scandal, Tony Atlas buries them (and himself) with his “that’s how it was” explanation.

Vince is just utterly repugnant. Watching him talk makes me feel gross. 

[Jacko]

Is this the first time wwe and the wrestlers have commented on Benoit publicly since the aftermath of the murder suicide ?

[digforvictory]

Anytime I've heard Paul Heyman speak in the last few years he comes across as an absolute fucking weirdo.

It's like he's cutting a promo constantly, he can't just talk like a normal person. Obviously he's a scumbag and a conman and one of the biggest carnies in wrestling history but yeah, he just comes across as unsettlingly weird now whenever I hear or see him.

Edited September 27, 2024 by digforvictory

[Merzbow]

Plus he looks like he smells even worse despite wearing what I bet are far more expensive suits these days.

[The Gaffer]

1 hour ago, The King of Old School said:

I imagine showing this to any non wrestling fan would be both cringe and embarrassing.

I don't think so. I mean...it seems to be made for them. As the wrestling person in my circles, I've gotten one or two messages on it already along the lines of "Have you seen this? It's mad shit."

I'm amazed when fans still do the whole "Wrestling is so embarrassing" thing. I genuinely think it's misreading culture. People largely don't care. It's just another ultra monetised fandom now. When it gets covered in pieces like this, the uninitiated usually flock to revel in the novelty and insanity of it all. 

In fact I can see in hindsight of how they put it together now how this thing has probably primed some of their new Netflix audience, waiting in the wings. 

"Holy shit, they actually have full episodes of that fucked up Raw thing on it now!"

[Chili]

He's a curious one Heyman. Basically I think he's a conman who is has hustled his way through life that he has his patter down, but while the industry is full of carnies, he's a much smarter carny than a lot of the wrestlers themselves. He's obviously one to tell them what they want to hear. He also has an absurd amount of confidence when he talks and knows enough cute little analogies that to some thick plank wrestler, he's like how they viewed Kane or Val Venis as 'smart' before we all realised. He's also probably half worked himself into his TV character for realises after over 40 years, so he almost can't help everything he says sounding like a shite monologue from a Sky Atlantic show.

On the flip, I actually found Tony Atlas to be a very interesting contribution to this on the basis that I don't think he has the capacity to lie much, a bit of a fibber, but I think he'd burst into tears and admit if he actually lied.

[Devon Malcolm]

Heyman is arguably the greatest non-wrestling talent in wrestling history, and is still the best performer around at what he does. I have absolutely no desire to hear anything from him outside of wrestling angles. He was typically stupid on this.

Dave Meltzer came across well, further proving that he's an invaluable historian while simultaneously being a completely worthless present day journalist.

[wandshogun09]

God, after all the Vince stuff, Austin’s wallybrained CTE comments and so on, I somehow forgot about Tony Atlas saying that about the abuse of women back then. On the one hand, he’s probably one of the only wrestlers being truly honest about that. But fuck me, the casual way he said it was horrible. It’s like he didn’t realise he was actually being filmed.

100% in agreement with all the Heyman stuff in here. Genuinely can’t bear listening to him these days. The smugness and delusions of grandeur are too much for me and anytime his sweaty, bulbous head darkened my screen during this I groaned. He’s just a better dressed Ted Hankey.