Dating back to its announcement in 2020, there were some obvious flaws in the idea of a Netflix docuseries focused on Vince McMahon.
For one, McMahon — who may not have even realized what a documentary entails when he agreed to participate in one — isn’t exactly a reliable narrator. For another, neither are most of the people he’s spent the last 50 years of his life around.
Between Hulk Hogan, Bruce Prichard and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to name a few, this wasn’t exactly a docuseries filled with talking heads who have reputations for telling the truth. Pro wrestling is a world that blurs the lines between fiction and reality, while embellishments — if not outright lies — have a way of turning into fact over time.
And yet, one could argue that the final product, Mr. McMahon, is one of the most honest looks at the industry’s modern history a mainstream outlet has produced.
How? Enter Dave Meltzer.
While McMahon, his family and former employees were certainly given space to tell their versions of WWE’s history, director Chris Smith enlisted Meltzer as a much-needed truth teller for the project. The most obvious example of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter publisher’s value came in the series’ second episode, which includes the monumental event that was WrestleMania III.
“They’ve said 93,000 for so many years, they probably believe it,” Meltzer said in reference to the show’s attendance.
On cue:
Prichard: “93,000 people.”
Hogan: “93,173 people.”
McMahon: “We held the record for 93,000 people in that building.”
Meltzer: “Yeah, it was actually 78,000 people in the building.”
NAH THIS PROBABLY THE FUNNIEST CLIP IN THE WHOLE VINCE MCMAHON DOCUMENTARY
WHO LET DAVE MELTZER COOK??? 😂
(Mr.Mcmahon: The Documentary)
— FADE (@FadeAwayMedia) September 25, 2024
WrestleMania III‘s actual attendance has long been a source of controversy and there are a variety of factors that make it unlikely we’ll ever know how many people were actually in the Detroit’s Silverdome on that March 1987 day. Meltzer, for his part, reported as early as 1990 that the announced 93,173 figure was a “work” (fake) and all indications are that, if nothing else, that number was inflated to at least some degree.
Obviously WrestleMania III‘s exaggerated attendance is barely even a blip on McMahon’s resume and as far as controversies go, it hardly registers in comparison to the Ring Boy scandal, Rita Chatteron’s rape allegation, the steroid trial, Owen Hart and Chris Benoit’s deaths and the sex trafficking lawsuit that led to the former WWE chairman’s resignation. Still, the clip illustrates how those who live in the pro wrestling world are willing to let even the most mundane exaggerations turn into fact, and why having someone like Meltzer to keep them accountable present is so necessary.
Meltzer isn’t featured prominently in the docuseries, but he’s in it enough to prevent the overarching narrative from veering too far into the fantasy land that many of the other interviewees seemingly reside in. The Ringer’s David Shoemaker plays a similar role, although he was admittedly used more to push the story forward and provide necessary contexts.
One of the most telling scenes in the entire project comes in the sixth and final episode, in which Prichard takes aim at both Meltzer and Shoemaker by name. Moments later, the current WWE executive breaks the fourth wall by telling the interviewer that he thought the early cuts of the project he saw “sucked,” that it was a “gotcha piece” and that it was missing the “human side” of his then-boss.
Two days later, the episode then notes, the sex trafficking and abuse lawsuit against McMahon was made public.
Without Meltzer — and to a lesser degree, Shoemaker — the project very well could have been shaped by the likes of not only McMahon, but underlings like Prichard and dozens of wrestlers who spent their careers attempting to impress the disgraced ex-chairman. Perhaps it says more about the state of previous sports — and especially wrestling — documentaries — that Meltzer’s willingness to set the record straight stood out as much as it did throughout the series’ six episodes. But it was certainly a role that he was tailormade for as the preeminent pro wrestling journalist of the last 50 years.
