Insane Insights From Mr. McMahon - Episode 5: Family Business

This is episode five of the Netflix Mr. McMahon documentary. This documentary is focused on Former WWE Chairman Vincent McMahon. At one point, he was on top of the wrestling world, but now his legacy is rotten, and it's such a fall from grace. This episode is titled "Family Business," and it talks about the business relationship between the McMahon Family.

10. Vince was Abused As A Kid

Vince McMahon's childhood was not a great one. It was covered in an episode about how he grew up poor in a trailer park, but it was also revealed that he was abused as a kid by his mother especially. Vince stated, "My childhood was what it was". He got beaten so much that he had the attitude of if anything bad happens to you, “get rid of it. Throw it the fuck back there and keep going forward.” it's obvious that what happened in his childhood shaped him to what he was today including the bad that Vince is known for.

9. Vince Wanted To Broadcast Stephanie's Real-Life Wedding On PPV

Triple H and Stephanie McMahon got married in real life in 2003. A fascinating fact about their wedding is that Vince wanted to capitalize on it by broadcasting the wedding live on PPV. Stephanie shot that idea immediately and Vince was not happy about that claiming she was selfish. As punishment, Vince decided to book Stephanie in a street fight 6 days before her wedding day. What a stubborn piece of work Vince is.

When Linda found out she was not happy finding out. She even threatened Vince with a divorce if anything happened to Steph in the match. Linda's probably going to need a divorce lawyer today depending on how the Janel Grant case goes.

8. Shane McMahon Had A Real Problem With The Trish Stratus Mistress Story

The documentary introduces Trish Stratus who is one of the greatest female professional wrestlers in the business. She was a fitness model and that got her into WWF as the women were there for sex appeal.

One of the first storylines they gave her was being Vince McMahon's mistress. He was cheating on his wife via storyline and she was pleasing him in front of Linda McMahon. Linda McMahon was okay with the storyline and Vince claimed everyone else was too.

That's not the case as Shane McMahon was not a fan of it. He had a big problem with how his mother looked in the story. When the producers went after Vince for the lie, he just chuckled and claimed Shane is more "conservative".

7. That Barking Like A Dog Segment

If there is one segment that Trish Stratus is often asked about is the "Dog Barking Segment". What happened was that Trish was forced by Vince to strip, get on all fours, and bark like a dog. That's not all as Vince in the segment says “I used to have a female dog and that b**** did everything I told her to do.”. What a disgrace and it's disgusting that the fans were cheering while this segment was happening.

According to Trish, she knew the backlash that was coming but she knew where the end goal was along with the money they would make. It is still a very disturbing and disgusting segment WWF did at that time. Knowing all the stuff Vince is dealing with legally, it's something WWE wants the fans to forget about.

6. The Sable Controversy

Sable was one of the most popular professional wrestlers in the WWF during the attitude era. During the peak of her career in WWF, she left the company in 1999.  A big reason why is that she sued the company due to sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions.

Vince claims that he doesn't remember the lawsuit. The lie detector is going off right now as he's full of it. Vince has a strong relationship with Sable's husband Brock Lesnar. It's obvious he's not going to say anything bad about Lesnar's wife at all. While Sable returned to the company they strangely put her in a romance affair story with Vince, which is so bizarre and it's probably why she isn't in the WWE Hall of Fame today.

5. Vince's Interview With Playboy

Vince had with Playboy Magazine in 2001 and made 3 interesting admissions. The first is that he admitted to having multiple affairs with his wife Linda. The second is the claim that he is a human being is not who the Mr McMahon's Character. The third, and most stunning admission is that Vince admitted that he did the interview honestly.

That's a pretty damning thing to admit in that interview, but it gets worse the more it goes. A key statement by Vince in that interview not mentioned in the documentary was how he got court-marshaled at military school. The reason why was that he gave laxatives to his Colonial's dog and he thought it was funny. There is nothing funny about drugging anyone or anything, that just makes you an absolute piece of garbage.

4 The Other Failures Of Vince

Vince McMahon may be a professional wrestling genius, but when it comes to his other business ventures it was a disaster. The three main mentions were The WWE casino, WBF, and XFL. The XFL in 2001 was a colossal failure too and an embarrassment to the game of American Football. Even the lawsuit against the World Wildlife Federation was another failure by Vince as they lost the WWF name and had to rebrand. Vince wanted to keep moving forward and discussed one of his rules is to "don't sell", especially when it comes to his failures.

3. The One Angle Stephanie Refused

Stephanie McMahon was very open to doing storylines in the WWE that would go too far. However, there is one story that she refused to do and it's pretty distasteful. Stephanie McMahon in real life got pregnant and Vince had the idea to do a story that he was the father of her baby. By the way, Vince is chuckling and laughing while he explains. Vince is sick and twisted for even wanting to do an idea like this. The worst part and this wasn't mentioned in the documentary, but when Stephanie refused, Vince then asked if it would be Shane to be the father instead of him. Stephanie declined that idea as well.

2. The Moment Shane's Relationship With Vince Started To Sour

From all the stories about the McMahon family, Shane always comes across as the nicest and most ethical of the family. Many called him the black sheep of the family. Many figured that Shane was going to take over the company, but that all changed the moment UFC came into play. Shane McMahon wanted to buy the UFC when the company was having issues. Vince was dead set on not buying it and claimed "We are in show business and that's a sport...". Says the same man who wanted to start a football league in 2001. UFC blew up and their relationship got sour.

1. The Shane and Vince Fight

Shane and Vince's relationship got worse and they would constantly fight over creativity. Paul Heyman tells the story about a fight they had and Vince was angry. He decided to hand Shane a knife and point to his heart. Vince then told Shane that the only way you would get it your way and "If I don't get out of your way, be prepared to get rid of me like I did with my dad." Wow, talk about taking it too far and being stubborn. It's no wonder Shane decided to leave the company in 2009. Vince at the end of the episode advises the audience to "never bring their family into business".

My Thoughts On Episode 5

Wow, now that was a crazy episode. Going into what Vince said on never bringing family into business, that's great advice. I have personally seen how a business run by a family can ruin relationships. It's just not worth it at all to have any family member or close person to work with you.

Vince is an absolute stubborn person and he legit is sick in the head for that story he wanted to do with his daughter and livestream her legit wedding on PPV. One thing is for sure, the abuse he suffered as a kid had an impact on him and how he ran his business/family.

Linda McMahon comes across as a total enabler in this documentary, not only for staying with the guy with the affairs, but also allowing that Trish Storyline and other things to happen to keep Vince happy. She is no innocent party.

Shane McMahon was the only one I felt bad for in this episode. He really did not get treated well in the business and it has to eat him alive that they never bought UFC. I hope he is doing well and who knows if he shows up on AEW television.

Overall, this was a well-made piece, and arguably the best one made so far in this documentary series. The next episode is the finale and it is titled "The Finish".

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