All language subtitles for Mr.McMahon.S01E02.NF.WEB.H264-SexTrafficker.en[cc]

[audience cheering]

[backing vocalists] ♪ Baby! ♪

[upbeat music playing]

[audience cheering]

♪ I was just a boy ♪

♪ Everybody told me ♪

♪ What I should do, who I should be ♪

♪ Ain't never understood
The kinda man I am ♪

♪ I do my own thinking ♪

-♪ Got a lot of big plans, stand back ♪
-♪ Stand back ♪

♪ I'm a man running wild ♪

♪ Heading for the top ♪

♪ Never slowing down
And I'm never gonna stop ♪

♪ Along the way you're gonna see
A lot of men drop ♪

♪ Baby, watch them drop ♪

♪ Baby, baby ♪

♪ Headed for the top, stand back ♪

♪ Stand back ♪

♪ Stand back ♪

♪ Stand back ♪

♪ Stand back! ♪

-Woo!
-[crowd cheering and applauding]

[applause fades]

-[bell ringing]
-[crowd cheering]

[Gorilla Monsoon]
Every man for himself in there!

And the Hulkster at this moment
cleaning house on The Honky Tonk Man!

Look at him!

Professional wrestling.
It's always been popular,

but lately it's been emerging
from second-rate arenas

to attract a whole new generation of fans.

[crowd cheering]

[Dave Meltzer] '84 and '85
was a very pivotal year in wrestling.

Things were changing rapidly.

WrestleMania I was very, very successful.

Vince was ahead of everyone when it came
to understanding how to market

and had the more modern product,
and he had the bigger stars.

[reporter] This once-scorned pastime
has grown so trendy

that NBC will soon begin
a regular late-night television program

combining rock, comedy, and wrestling.

[upbeat music playing]

[McMahon] Saturday Night's Main Event
was on NBC late night

whenever Saturday Night Live
takes a break,

And had a big impact
on the perception of the business.

That was a real big deal
to be on network television.

My love, my life, wrestling,
is on network television.

-[commentator 1] Look at that!
-[commentator 2] My goodness!

-[screams]
-Oh my God.

That was crazy.

[Gorilla Monsoon] Oh yeah!

Hogan scoops him up!

[exclaiming]

[Prichard] When you look
at pivotal moments in our industry,

Saturday Night's Main Event
was a huge coup.

[crowd cheering]

So, WrestleMania is this huge success,

and they start doing more TV shows,
more live shows.

Now they're out there every night,
touring the country.

But you're doing all of this
on the backs of the wrestlers,

who have to work twice as hard
to make the business grow.

We wrestled seven days a week.
I don't know if people knew that.

We had no time off.

[Jimmy Hart] It was seven days a week,
52 weeks a year,

and so it was a pretty hard grind.

-[Gorilla] No, he's not going to...
-[Gene Okerlund] Over the top rope!

I wish they'd given me, uh,
a few more days off a year.

[Meltzer] They could have been better
at managing the schedule,

especially in the late '80s,
when it was just a disaster.

...do the video package.

[Meltzer] The schedule now,
I don't think it's that bad.

They're on guaranteed contracts,

so they're not under the same pressure
to perform while hurt.

In the '80s,
if you were hurt and didn't wrestle,

you were not paid.

Because of that,
you wrestled hurt all the time,

and the injuries got worse and worse
and worse, and you used painkillers.

It was brutal.

But at that time, it was about capturing
the most amount of money,

and that is how they did it.

Wrestlers, as a group,
were often exploited.

These wrestlers were not unionized.

They didn't have medical protection.

There was definitely a need
for a union in wrestling.

That's what Jesse Ventura
was trying to do.

Please welcome Jesse "The Body" Ventura.

[applause]

[Terry Bollea]
Right before WrestleMania 2,

Jesse was trying to start a union
and undermine Vince.

I'm here to make sure
that Vince McMahon tells it like it is...

[Bollea] I was
on Vince McMahon's team all the way,

so I went straight to Vince,
said, "Jesse's stirring shit up, man."

"You know,
he's trying to start a union here,

and you're gonna have bunch of wrestlers
walk out on you at Madison Square Garden."

"Just letting you know what's up."

Hulk Hogan double-crossed Jesse

and ratted on all the guys
that were trying to get a union going.

Hulk Hogan stooged him out.

Hogan ratted him out.

The whole thing was a sham,

something, uh, he pulled out of the air,

mostly like, I don't know,
"We should get together."

And quite frankly,
no one in the locker room

would ever get behind Jesse.

So what Vince would do,
he called each wrestler, one by one.

He's like, "I know about the meeting."

"Everybody that shows up for this
will not have a job in the morning."

So nobody showed up.

It was almost always acknowledged
that these guys will never go for it.

These guys will never stick together.
And the wrestlers would tell me that too.

"We say 'boycott WrestleMania'
all together,

and half the guys are gonna
go back and do it and undercut us."

Unionizing never happened.

And I think it's less likely to happen now
than it was right before WrestleMania 2.

[announcer] WrestleMania 2.

What the world has come to.

[McMahon] WrestleMania I was such
a success, so what do you do to top this?

Oh. I know.

We'll have an event from New York,

we'll have one from Chicago,
and we're gonna have one from LA.

Three shows in one day?

Okay. It's kind of impressive.

WrestleMania 2 and the three cities,
that was a disaster.

To try to send a signal
from three different cities?

It felt like we weren't in control.
Vince could not be in all three places.

Beg your pardon?
We have technical problems.

I just remember after that, Vince goes,
"We'll never do that again!" You know?

[indistinct]

[Shoemaker] WrestleMania 2
was a success in that it made money

and that it wasn't a total catastrophe.

[commentator] Beautiful...

[Shoemaker] But even if it was
a commercial success,

it wasn't a spectacle
on the level of WrestleMania I.

So WrestleMania III, then,
was like. "Hmm."

"What am I gonna do?"

I knew there was a very large stadium
in Pontiac, Michigan.

It seats 93,000 people
or something like that.

It was almost like,
"Wow, could you really do that?" [laughs]

I thought,
"With the right attraction we could."

That involved Andre the Giant.

[Gorilla] Andre the Giant,
ladies and gentlemen,

is the only undefeated superstar
in professional wrestling.

Hogan versus Andre.

[commentator] Another headbutt,
and Hogan is in trouble.

[McMahon] Even though they had met
many times in the past,

in order to sell tickets,
we would sell it as if they had never met.

But I had to convince Andre
to come back to the business.

[Bollea] At the time,
Andre's health was failing him.

He needed crazy back surgery, as I recall.

[McMahon] Andre did a film in the UK...

Were you burned by acid?

...and was gonna cash his chips in.

"Done as much as I can in the business.
I'm hurting. I can't move. I'm in pain."

So I went over in the middle of that film,
said, "Andre, here's what I want to do."

"I want you to get the operation
that you refuse to get,

and I want you to come back

and draw the largest crowd
that's ever been drawn."

"How many seats, boss?" "93,000."

[mimics Andre's laughter]

He laughs.

I said, "No, Andre, I'm serious."

"You versus Hogan with the way
we can present this, you as the heel."

Because he'd never been a heel, a bad guy.

He was always a babyface.

So he thought about it, and...
"Okay. I'll get the operation."

[Andre] I'm here for one reason.

To challenge you
for a world championship match

in the WrestleMania.

[crowd cheering]

Are you or are you not
gonna fight him in WrestleMania III?

Yes or no?!

Yeah!

[cheering]

It was such a huge promotion.

They're talking about it
all over the world.

Heavyweight champion Hulk Hogan
to defend his crown

against challenger Andre the Giant.

[reporter 1] So great is the lure
that WrestleMania III

will draw the largest audience

ever to witness an indoor sporting
or entertainment event

in the history of the world.

We sold 93,000 seats.

[reporter 2] We're expecting fans from
France, Germany, Africa, South America,

the Orient, all over the world.

[bell ringing]

Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the magnificent Silverdome...

[crowd cheering]

...and welcome to WrestleMania III!

[cheering intensifies]

And now, the Queen of Soul,

Ms. Aretha Franklin!

[crowd cheering]

[playing "America the Beautiful"]

♪ Oh, beautiful... ♪

[Gorilla] Take a look, Jesse, it's unreal.

History will be made here this afternoon
at the Pontiac Silverdome.

Little Beaver just gave Bundy
a shot in the boiler.

Rowdy Roddy with a sleeper.

From behind with a cane!

-Bombs away!
-[Ventura] He got him!

Oh! He broke his guitar!

[Gorilla] And Alice Cooper is inside.

[Ventura] He keeps holding pythons!

[Gorilla] The Stars and Stripes
pinned on the end of that equalizer.

♪ ...shining sea ♪

[crowd cheering]

[McMahon] There were
a lot of great attractions

underneath this huge main event,

but it was Hogan and Andre
that drew that house.

Sooner or later, you gotta live and die,
and you gotta face the truth.

And for you, Andre the Giant,
it's time to face the truth, brother.

[Okerlund] Hulk Hogan has never met a man
bigger than him, stronger than him,

and with a burning will inside,
more than Andre the Giant.

[McMahon] Andre never told Hogan

whether or not
he would allow Hogan to win the match.

And Hulk kept coming to me,
"Did you talk to Andre?"

I said, "I did." "Well, what did he say?"

I said,
"There's not gonna be any problem."

You couldn't force him to do anything.
Come on. He's a giant.

[Bollea] I sat
in the locker room with Andre.

I would say, "Hey, boss, any idea what
we're doing out there?" "Don't worry."

Finally got a hold of Vince,
I said, "What's gonna happen?"

"What am I doing out there?
Am I winning or losing?"

He goes, "Andre will do the right thing.
Don't worry." What does that mean?

[crowd cheering]

[Gorilla] This is
the main event of the evening.

He weighs 520 pounds.

Andre the Giant!

And now, his opponent, Hulk Hogan!

[Bollea] When I walked out
to the Silverdome,

I just couldn't believe how full it was.

I said, "This is either gonna be
the easiest thing I've ever done,

or this is gonna be a total disaster.
There's no in between."

[Ventura] This is the biggest match
in the history of professional wrestling.

[Gorilla] The irresistible force
meeting the immovable object.

[Ventura] Look at the size of the giant!

Up!

[McMahon] We had this giant, and we had
this individual with so much charisma,

who was almost a superhero. [chuckles]

And the two of them colliding,
it was awesome.

-[crowd cheering]
-[Gorilla speaking indistinctly]

During the match, it was the first time
I realized how bad his back really was.

I told him in the ring,
"Boss, stay close to the ropes,"

because I knew
he couldn't get back up on his own.

But we got through the match,
and then out of nowhere, he goes, "Slam!"

And I went, "What?"
And when I said, "What?" he came at me.

[thud]

[Bollea] After I slammed him,
I dropped the leg and covered him.

I didn't know if this was gonna be
a one-two kickout.

I had no idea
if I was gonna win or lose the match.

[interviewer] Until when?

[Bollea] Until Andre didn't kick out.

[Gorilla] It's over! It's over!

[Ventura] Unbelievable! I never thought
it could be done, Gorilla Monsoon.

That moment in time,
it's just something very, very special.

[Gorilla] World Wrestling Entertainment
heavyweight champion, Hulk Hogan!

[Ventura] Listen to the emotion!

[crowd cheering]

[McMahon] That's probably
the greatest attraction we've ever had.

That's something
I'm very, very proud of today.

WrestleMania III is a key part
of the WWE and Vince McMahon mythology

and story of wrestling,

that Andre the Giant
passed the torch to Hogan.

The reality is Hogan was a bigger star
than Andre before that match happened.

[Gorilla] Hulk Hogan,
electrifying this capacity crowd!

"Andre had never lost."

[Ventura] The first time in 15 years
Andre the Giant had ever been defeated.

Nah, Andre lost.

-[Ventura] Andre is out!
-[Gorilla] He's out! I can't believe it!

"Andre had never been slammed."

Been slammed probably
25 times before that. Maybe more.

[Gorilla] Oh! Look at that!

[thud]

They've said 93,000 for so many years,
they probably believe it.

93,000 people.

93,173 people.

We held the record
for 93,000 in that building.

Yeah, it was actually
78,000 in the building.

[Shoemaker] I don't know why
this is one of the greatest controversies

in pro wrestling history.

I think the truth is probably
somewhere in the middle,

and I'm not sure that it matters at all.

Nothing that any wrestler,

that anybody involved in wrestling
tells you, should be regarded as fact.

But regardless
of the real attendance figure,

WrestleMania III was an enormous success.

[upbeat music playing]

[Gorilla] History is made here
in the Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan,

and that guy right there
has made history all over the world.

[McMahon] A victory for Hogan at that time

would build him greater as an entertainer

and an athlete
and representation of our brand,

but of course,
the brand comes up that way too.

♪ I am a real American ♪

♪ Fight for the rights... ♪

WrestleMania III changed the business,
and it launched me into superstar stratus.

["Real American"
by Rick Derringer playing]

[Robin Leach] He is the most famous

and successful professional wrestler
the world has ever seen.

His name alone can generate
millions of dollars of revenue,

and when he performs at indoor arenas,

he has attracted bigger crowds
than the Rolling Stones and even the Pope.

[White] When Hulkamania was running wild,

he gotta be
the most popular person in the world.

You book Hogan on the card,
the building sold out. That was it.

♪ I am a real American... ♪

[Bob Costas] He was a figure
of national fame.

You didn't even really have to be
someone who regularly watched wrestling.

Hulk Hogan had broken through.

[crowd cheering]

[Stephanie] At that time, Hulk Hogan...

That's all anybody talked about
was Hulk Hogan,

so I do remember feeling
a little bit of resentment as a kid,

because my dad never got the credit

that he deserved for creating all of this.

After...

[White] Every word that came out
of Hogan's mouth was Vince talking.

[McMahon] Better stock 'em
on your shelves.

Make sure you've got plenty of 'em
right on your shelves.

Hogan and Vince were like one person.
Vince came up with the idea, Hogan did it.

[Bollea] Every single thing was Vince.

When he would tell me stuff,
I'd be, "Eh, I don't know, man,"

but I'd do it anyway,

because everything he did turned to gold.

[announcer] With wrestling superstars...

It's like having a real match
right in your own home.

[McMahon] This huge swell of fans
and what have you

that we now had, middle-class America,

it's like, "Let's bring this together
and let's sell it."

You can start by getting in shape
with a Hulkamania workout set.

[announcer] 1-900-454-HULK.

[all] Yay!

[reporter] One of the most
remarkable success stories

has been written by the WWE,

as marketing merchandise
grossed over 200 million last year alone.

I'm Vince McMahon...

[reporter] The man behind the magic,
the man behind the mic

is Vince McMahon, Jr.

[White] Vince never stopped.

He didn't complain
about the hours he worked.

He's a workaholic.

As Hogan was out
doing the shows and drawing the money,

Vince was out setting up other stuff.

[McMahon] At that time,
because of the success that we had,

Hogan wanted to be part of Hollywood.

And I'm going, "Kill myself.
I'm gonna lose Hogan to Hollywood now."

And I said, "Terry, you're going
to do a film, I'll do one with you."

I knew nothing about filmmaking.

So Terry and I decided,
"Well, all right, we'll go write a movie."

It was basically Vince and I spending two,
two and a half days, in a hotel room

writing the whole script.

Didn't know what the hell we were doing.
We were just having fun.

[announcer] The movie! The Hulkster
as you've never seen before!

No Holds Barred!

-[yelling]
-[clattering]

It's not the world's worst movie...

[groaning]

...but uh, it wasn't great.

What's that smell?

Dookie.

[Prichard] It was pretty hokey.

Dookie?

I thought, "I'll do this great movie,
and everyone's gonna wanna see it."

Not exactly the way it worked out.

[sobbing]

[McMahon] It didn't prevent Hogan
from then going to Hollywood,

but it delayed it for a while.

[interviewer] When did you notice
Hulkamania was starting to fade?

You know, I go back,
and I look at WrestleMania VI.

[Gorilla] The Hulkster
putting his title on the line

against the Ultimate Warrior...

At that time, for Hogan, his star
may have been fading a little bit.

Do you want to live forever?

[McMahon] You can't stay on top
every day, every year.

It was probably time for Hogan
to be on the bench for a while.

Hulk's getting older,
and you need something new.

[Gorilla] The Ultimate Warrior!

[Prichard] And Warrior
had a groundswell of popularity.

[Gorilla] Listen to the ovation, Jess,
for the Ultimate Warrior!

[Bollea] The Ultimate Warrior
was built better than me,

and his colors were brighter than me.

The only problem he had
was he wasn't in love with this business.

It was a situation, behind that
shiny object, there wasn't much go.

But I did what Andre did for me.
I passed the torch to him.

[Gorilla] He's impervious to those moves!

[Ventura] Unbelievable!
Hogan has never had anyone do that!

[crowd cheering]

[Gorilla] Look out! The big splash win!

[Ventura] Two! And out! He got him!

[Prichard] Warrior became the champion
and was very popular with the audience.

As popular as Hulk? No.

[crowd cheering]

[Prichard] As time went on, Warrior wasn't
all that we had hoped he would be,

and he was not a popular person backstage,

so immediately you look at,
"Oh my God, we need to move back to Hulk."

We had this storyline, uh,
in which Sergeant Slaughter,

who was a big, huge fan favorite...

[man] Sergeant Slaughter

[McMahon] ...he was
a Marine Corps drill sergeant

and a great American,

so he, as a babyface, a good guy
in the parlance of our business,

was turning into a bad guy.

And, like any good organization,
you're always like,

"What can I take from pop culture?
What's happening out in the world,

and how can we present it
in a different fashion?"

So, there was a lot of heat,
as we call it, with Iraq and USA.

Troops and civilians
on edge in the Middle East.

So, okay, good.
Then we can capitalize on that.

[Sergeant Slaughter] Atten-hut!

[Okerlund] My guest this week,
ladies and gentlemen,

is the former United States military man,
Sergeant Slaughter.

[Ventura] Yeah, Sergeant "DD."
Dishonorable Discharge.

[McMahon] Sergeant Slaughter
sort of was drafted

into the Iraqi culture, so to speak,

and now he wanted to represent Iraq.

I will take the flag

of the brave Iraqi country

and raise it high in the air!

[McMahon] We had this big storyline going
with Hogan versus Sergeant Slaughter,

USA versus Iraq, and it was working.

It was working really well.

And then all of a sudden,
from a reality standpoint...

ta-ta-ta-dum.

Iraq invades Kuwait. We have Desert Storm.

As I report to you,

air attacks are underway
against military targets in Iraq.

[Prichard] Having Sarge
as an Iraqi sympathizer,

it was way too fresh,
way too new and in the now.

It was like, "Wait a minute.
I've got a relative over there,

or a niece, or something like that,
that's serving our country."

The audience didn't want to see it.

[Bollea] We got to the point where

Sergeant Slaughter
was getting death threats at home,

they wanted to kill his wife and his kids,

so as far as telling a wrestling story,
it worked awesome.

I just thought that,
"Phew, boy, this was a risky move here."

Americans could die in this thing,

so change it up,
back off with the story line a little bit,

but still have the match.

[Gorilla] Once again,
the largest pay-per-view audience

in the history of pay-per-view.

Aw, no! Give me a break here!

It's not over yet!

Hulkster tearing it to pieces!

You're not gonna do that
to the United States of America.

It's over!

[crowd cheering]

[Gorilla] He got him! He got him!

At the end of the day,
the great American won.

[Gorilla] He did it for
World Wrestling Entertainment

and for the United States of America!

The wrestling of the early to mid-'80s,
I liked it a lot.

I was very amused by it.

But it took a nastier turn
somewhere down the line,

and at some point,
it ceased to be something

that I was comfortable
being involved with.

[McMahon] You learn from everything,

and since you have no control
over world events,

you have to be very careful
associating yourself with events

in the real world.

Anything can happen, so don't go there.

[Prichard] So we move back to Hulk,
and there wasn't, "Thank God Hulk's back."

The audience was tired of Hulk,

at least Hulk in that role
of being the All-American, being the hero.

They were sick of him.

And on top of that,

there started being
the whispers of the Dr. Zahorian trial

and whispers of all this other stuff.

In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania next Monday,

a doctor will go on trial
charged with prescribing anabolic steroids

to several professional wrestlers.

[reporter] Dr. George Zahorian
has been indicted by a federal grand jury

on 15 counts
of distributing muscle-building steroids.

To my right, Dr. George Zahorian.
Thank you for joining us this week...

[McMahon] Dr. George Zahorian
was appointed

by the Pennsylvania State
Athletic Commission

as the doctor of note for WWE.

We had nothing to do
with who was appointed.

His role was
to make sure that all the laws

of the state athletic commission
were followed.

He would be in our locker rooms
and things of that nature,

and he began
to sell steroids to our talent.

At that time,
steroids were part of the culture

because all the stars during
that time period had the perfect bodies,

and so it was the norm.

You know? Like people
go to Starbucks before work,

people took steroids
because they were wrestlers or actors

or baseball players
or hockey players or football players.

[Costas] It was an era where steroid use
in sports ran amok.

If you just looked
at the wrestlers themselves,

they went from, you know, a burly guy
who could plausibly be introduced

as having come off
his grandpa's farm in Iowa,

built his muscles
from hoisting bales of hay,

to these guys who were like cyborgs.

The WWE reeked of steroids.

It's obvious.

[Okerlund] Now you tell me
he ain't ripped.

Dr. George Zahorian would come,
and he would have steroids and painkillers

and sleeping pills and different things

that he would then prescribe
and sell to the talent.

He would check you for your match.
Blood pressure, pulse rate, and all that.

And it's like,
"I need a few other things,"

and then you'd negotiate
for your steroids and your pills.

[McMahon] It wasn't illegal
to buy steroids from a physician.

I bought some from him.

But it was illegal
to prescribe them just to sell them.

[Prichard] Steroids, early on,
they were legal.

However, when they became illegal,
that's when it became an issue.

[Shane McMahon] Following Reagan's era
of the war on drugs...

[Reagan] Just say no.

[Shane] ...the laws started changing,

and at some point,

steroids were categorized
as a Class III substance.

[Prichard] The feeling was that
doctors were prescribing them

not for the purpose
that they were intended for.

[McMahon] So George Zahorian was arrested
by the federal government.

The government came down hard on him
and sent him to jail.

It's hard to believe
what's occurred today.

All of the media hoopla
behind the steroid trial

definitely came
at a really bad time for Vince.

We had just started the WBF,
the World Bodybuilding Federation.

Here comes
the World Bodybuilding Federation.

I've always enjoyed
bodybuilding and physiques,

so I thought maybe
I could get these bodybuilders

to perform various routines

and add a lot
of entertainment value to it.

Turned out not a good time to do that,

because bodybuilders,
all they do is take steroids.

So, the writing's on the wall.
This is not gonna work.

I decided, "Well, let's fold this."

At that time, there was a lot of heat,

and I felt like,
boy, I'm getting hit from all sides.

Most of us think of professional wrestling
as harmless entertainment

and Hulk Hogan as the King of the Ring.

But was there a sinister side
to his success?

[reporter] Dr. Zahorian testified
he had treated Hulk Hogan

for a serious steroid abuse problem.

After the Zahorian trial, Vince ended up
being pressured by the media

to start steroid testing.

When you see this symbol,

you can be assured
of drug-free sports entertainment

that you and your entire family
can be proud of.

I held a press conference and said,
"Hey, look, I took steroids."

"Not anymore."

"We're gonna establish
protocols and procedures

to make certain
that none of our performers do either."

World Wrestling Entertainment
will be the standard-bearer

for drug-free sports and entertainment.

[upbeat music playing]

[McMahon] The same day,
Hulk Hogan went on The Arsenio Hall Show.

Your name came up recently
when a doctor got himself into trouble.

-Have you heard about this?
-Yeah, I've heard about it.

I remember talking with Vince
about going on Arsenio Hall.

He thought it was a bad idea.

My suggestion to him is to come clean.

That's not what happened.

I'm not a steroid abuser,
and I do not use steroids.

It was like, "Oh God, please. You know.
Just tell the truth. It's so much easier."

[reporter] Hulk Hogan
went on The Arsenio Hall Show

and told everybody
that he only took steroids three times.

He lied like a dog.

I myself injected him personally.

I injected Hogan with steroids many times.

I self-destructed my own self, you know.

That was one of the worst decisions
I ever made was not listening to Vince.

When you do stuff like that,
uh, and don't tell the truth,

then it's an open door
for people to come get you,

and, unfortunately, we were
caught in the crosshairs of that as well.

I was never assigned to cover wrestling,

but pro wrestling was so highly rated
on TV it was hard to ignore,

and I slowly began
to feed it into my column.

There was a newspaper columnist,
Phil Mushnick, with The New York Post.

Try to be nice here,
but there's nothing nice to say about him.

He seemed to be
on a vendetta against the company

and Vince in particular.

Phil Mushnick was digging
for anything he could.

I don't know why he has a vendetta,
still does, against our company,

against our form of entertainment.

Against me. I don't know why.

'Cause he's a dirtbag.

[tense music playing]

[Mushnick] What Vince had
by running wrestling

is that it's wrestling.

So the real reporters, for the most part,

"It's wrestling. We don't wanna
waste our time covering it."

And Phil Mushnick
was the one guy to cover it,

and he wrote very strongly against Vince.
Stronger than I would write.

Back then, no one had seen
anything written critical of pro wrestling

in mainstream media.

And when I first wrote this stuff,
my mailbox was stuffed with messages,

and they essentially all read the same.

"You don't know the half of it."

"You don't know
how truly bad it is within the ring

and within the locker rooms."

And I returned some calls,
and it was mind-blowing.

[Shoemaker] You know,
as wrestling becomes more popular,

naturally,
people are interested in the stories

of what's going on behind the scenes.

And pulling back the curtain
in the pro wrestling world

can be pretty shocking.

You know, the stories of depravity,
of sex, of violence, of drug use...

We would have been looked upon,
in today's society,

as some of the worst human beings
walking the face of the Earth.

I mean, we abused the hell out of women.

All of us did.

You know, they was like a toy for us.

You don't have to do a lot of research
to understand

that being a woman in or around

the pro wrestling world
at this point in history

was not necessarily a safe place to be.

I hear some horrible stuff
about women in wrestling.

Horrible.

With us now, ladies and gentlemen,
"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka.

[White] For example,
the Jimmy Snuka thing.

When that girl got killed.

In 1983, Jimmy Snuka...

[crowd cheering]

...was the most popular wrestler
in the company at the time.

Something happened in a hotel room
in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

His girlfriend hit her head and died.

The forensic pathologist who investigated
thought it was a homicide,

but, at the time,
no charges were ever filed.

"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka.

Was the power of Vince involved in that?

I think that Vince had a hand
in making it go away.

I mean, exactly what, I don't know.

And hell, brother, is gonna be hot.

Hot, brother.

No doubt.

At this point, most fans didn't know about
these darker stories about pro wrestling.

Phil Mushnick was one of the first people

to really bring this out
into the public's face.

[Meltzer] Phil Mushnick
was vigilant against Vince.

He had told me once, and he said,

"I've got a story. The day I write it,
they may have to close the doors."

A battle royale in professional wrestling
over new allegations of sexual harassment

by top officials in the sport.

This growing scandal
could put wrestling down for the count.

There was so much going on at the time,

and one accusation
is that someone from our organization

was coming on to someone on the ring crew.

[Mushnick] The ring boy scandal began
with a fellow named Mel Phillips,

who was what they called a ring boss.

He would bring with him ring boys.

In too many cases,

these ring boys were underage,
and they were being sexually abused.

[reporter] Former ring boy Tom Cole

says that top WWE executives
sexually harassed and abused ring boys,

the teenagers hired to put up
and take down rings at matches.

Mel Phillips was a total pedophile
that preyed on young boys,

and if these young boys weren't complying
with their requests for sexual favors,

they weren't hired.

And then I learned
there were others involved.

Terry Garvin, an executive in Connecticut,

and Pat Patterson,
one of McMahon's top executives.

Here at ringside, Vince McMahon
along with wrestling great Pat Patterson...

[Prichard] In a business
that was very homophobic,

Pat was gay, and openly gay.

But Pat prospered
and became a top guy everywhere he went.

I was grabbed on numerous occasions
on my testicles, on my buttocks

by Pat Patterson
of World Wrestling Entertainment,

and Terry Garvin propositioned me
when I was 16,

offered me cocaine and all kinds of drugs
to have sex with him.

When I refused, I was let go
from the company when I was 16.

I think, uh, Vince is guilty of aiding
and abetting the ring boy scandal.

At best, he's guilty of rank neglect.

[McMahon] Phil Mushnick
was trying to build this whole case

of how rotten the company was.

He didn't care how he did it.

He didn't care whether
he hurt the people that were involved

on one side or the other.

He just wanted to write
this salacious piece about WWE.

It was a pedophile ring!

Three of these guys were all in on it.

These were real kids
being sexually abused on McMahon's watch.

I do think
there was a lot of turning a blind eye

to some of the things that were
going on, but I don't think anybody...

could ever prove anything.
It was like, how do you prove it?

[Meltzer] And eventually
Vince settled with Tom Cole.

Mel Phillips and Terry Garvin,

they were let go
and never worked there again.

Pat Patterson resigned,

but during that period,
Vince and I talked.

He goes, "One of the three was innocent."

And I go, "Who?"
And he goes, "Pat Patterson."

And I go,
"Why is he gone if he's innocent?"

He goes, "You don't understand
running this business."

"It's a gay witch hunt, and he had to go."

Most people in wrestling that were around

believe that Patterson
never acted unprofessionally,

and, uh, months later, Patterson was back.

In regards to the allegations
made against Pat,

nothing has ever been substantiated,
and I just don't believe them.

-Please, not me.
-He's doing home movies, Patrick.

None of it rings true. The others?

No comment.

[White] We all knew
Pat was doing this stuff.

I didn't like Pat because he kept
grabbing my pecker in the locker room.

-[interviewer] He what?
-He would grab my pecker.

Yeah.

[interviewer] Did you guys complain?

To who? He's the booker.

He's the number two guy in the office.
To whom?

-[interviewer] Vince.
-[chuckles]

[laughs]

You know nothing
about the wrestling business, don't ya?

[chuckling] There's nobody to go to, son.

You either take it, or you're going home.
Who are you going to complain to?

[interviewer] Vince.

For what? To get fired?

He needed Pat more than he needed me.

[Meltzer] Pat was like the savant
of professional wrestling,

and he was Vince's right-hand man
when it came to booking

and was very,
very valuable in the company.

[interviewer] Did Vince protect Pat?

[White] I wouldn't say he protected him.

I would say... he protected the business.

These allegations are absolutely absurd
that have been raised.

[reporter] McMahon insists it's all just
a conspiracy to wreck his business.

It seems as though
they're all ganging up on us,

all at one time.

[reporter] There's no sign
the charges have done any harm.

No, wrestling, or whatever this is,
has survived scandals before,

and there is no reason to believe
this one too won't be drowned out

by all those fans who couldn't care less.

[Mushnick] What reaction there was
was meager from legitimate media.

Those who seemed to eat it up
were the scandal shows,

like the Phil Donahue kind of show.

[Donahue] Here you are being accused,
Mr. McMahon,

of presiding over an organization
that looked the other way

while sex harassment activity
was taking place.

I'm one of the few people
who enjoys confrontation.

If there is a situation like Donahue,

I have no problem confronting someone,
especially when they're lying.

You did a horrible job.
That's the only reason why you were fired.

Donahue was an opportunity
to stand up for himself.

I don't think
it went the way he wanted it to.

[Hodgson] Sexual harassment
is running rampant...

[Donahue] Where were you all these years?

[Graham] His father blackballed me.

[Hodgson] I didn't sleep with your VP.
Two weeks later, I'm fired.

I don't know that that happened.

Whether it was a good decision
or a bad decision

at that time, at this time...

I did it.

[Meltzer] I was sitting right next
to Vince. He was not comfortable.

At one point, he whispers to me,
"This is the longest hour of my life."

-It's not the truth.
-Okay.

-You lie about this to children!
-You're finished.

I don't buy it.

-[applause]
-Got it. Well...

[clears throat]

[Prichard] I think that this
was one point in his life

that everything
was kind of coming down at once.

There was a bit of frustration
in what he couldn't control.

Oh my gosh.
There was so many scandals going on

with who was dating who,
who was sleeping with whom.

[interviewer] Do you remember
any of those?

[sighs] Well, you know...

You know what? I'm trying to be
really cautious on doing this.

I don't know
what they want out in the open or not.

I know there was some girl
that I think was a referee, girl referee,

that had claimed that
Vince had, uh, sexually assaulted her.

[announcer] For the first time ever,
a lady referee.

[Meltzer] I remember
Rita Marie the referee,

because there was only one female referee
in wrestling at that point in time,

and it was her.

Vince was definitely trying to push her
as the hot blonde woman ref

as a character in his soap opera.

[McMahon] Rita Marie,
ladies and gentlemen,

the very first ever lady referee
in World Wrestling Entertainment.

Hopefully, we'll be seeing more of her
in time to come.

When you're accused of this,
accused of that,

and there's this deluge of things,
"You're this, you're that,"

one of the things was an alleged rape,
uh, that never happened.

I was forced into oral sex
with Vince McMahon.

When I couldn't complete his desires,

he got really angry.

Started ripping off my jeans.

Pulled me on top of him
and told me, again,

if I wanted
a half-a-million-dollar-a-year contract,

I had to satisfy him.

And if I didn't satisfy him,
I was blackballed.

I was scared.

My wrist was all black and blue.

He just didn't stop.

[McMahon] Once you're accused of rape,
you're a rapist,

but it was consensual, and actually,
had it been a rape, um,

the statute of limitations had run out.

So it's all kind of crap like that
that people are digging up

and trying to find something on you.

[Meltzer] Vince did sue her over it,
and he sued Geraldo Rivera,

but the general public, I think
they just thought that it was all sleazy.

People looked the other way.

God, I just hope somebody listens.

They just thought it was a woman
making up a story on a rich guy.

Rita, what do you expect to get now?
I mean, what do you want?

Did you just wanna come on Geraldo?

They were very, very negative on her.

[Mushnick] It just
didn't resonate with a public

that it should have resonated with.

This was the biggest guy in cable TV.

Nobody wanted to look a little deeper.

They didn't wanna look.
They didn't wanna know.

[Meltzer] Most newspapers
ran away from it or wouldn't touch it

because it's wrestling, it's beneath us,
but Phil was not, um, dissuaded by Vince.

He kept going and going.

And I do think that
the negative headlines and attention,

that did lead to the indictment,
it did lead to the trial.

The Justice Department
has indicted the most powerful man

in professional wrestling in this country.
Not a wrestler,

but the man who runs
World Wrestling Entertainment.

The charge,
illegal distribution of steroids.

[interviewer] Do you know what triggered
the federal government to look into you?

Well, I think Phil Mushnick,
uh, triggered all of this,

and whether he had any connections
to the federal government, I don't know.

But again,
that's where it seemed to, uh, to begin.

I was an FBI informant.
I admit to that. You know why?

The FBI would read what I wrote
and then act on it.

[Meltzer] When the indictments came,

there were no indictments or anything
on the ring boy story

or Rita Chatterton.

There were steroid indictments.

[reporter 1] The three-count indictment
charges that he conspired

to defraud the government

by possessing and distributing steroids
through Dr. George Zaharion.

-Morning, guys.
-[reporter 2] Mr. McMahon.

[reporter 3] It was not a good morning

for World Wrestling Entertainment
owner Vincent McMahon.

On this day, he was in federal court

entering a plea of not guilty

to charges that he bulked up
his wrestlers with steroids.

[reporter 4] Prosecutors say McMahon,
who admits being a former steroids user,

is a corporate drug pusher.

McMahon's lawyers, on the other hand,

say the wrestling mogul
is the victim of a government witch hunt.

Sometimes life isn't fair,

and, unfortunately, for me,
I believe this is one of those instances.

The federal government
and the Justice Department

can be the biggest bullies.

They have unlimited resources.

The average person can't afford
to buck the government. They just can't.

So that's why so many people cop a plea.

They wanted me to cop a plea.

[Prichard] He would have
to plead guilty to some charge,

but he would pay a fine
and everything goes away.

I wouldn't do it.
I wasn't guilty of anything.

I said, "Fuck yourself."

[reporter 4] If convicted,
McMahon could face up to 11 years in jail

and $500,000 in fines on each count.

Right before the trial,
Vince had neck surgery,

so he goes into the trial,
and he's wearing a neck brace.

My impression was
that it was not an operation

that he needed to do at that moment.

[McMahon] A lot of people thought,
"He's wearing this thing

because he's trying
to invoke some sort of sympathy,

you know, from the jury."

[chuckling] That was not the case.

[Shoemaker] It's impossible to not think

there was some sort
of storytelling contrivance behind it.

I mean, in pro wrestling,
bad guys would wear those neck braces

because they knew the crowd would boo them
for like, being overly dramatic.

It's not a facade. I'm... I'm not well.

With Vince, everything is a show,

even in the midst
of this very serious trial.

I mean, there's a lot at stake here.

[Kay Koplovitz] It was a tense time.

If he was proven guilty,

that would have been a problem for us,
and they would be off the air.

[Bollea] During that time,
there was a lot of turbulence

and instead of people cheering me nonstop,

I'd hear a couple boos here.

Instead of, "We love Hulk Hogan"
or "Hulkamania Live Forever,"

I'd see a sign up that said,
"Did you take your shot today?"

[crowd clamoring]

[Bollea] And so I didn't feel like I was
in control of the crowds anymore.

And that's when I told Vince
I needed to go.

And it was not an easy conversation.

[McMahon] And whether or not
this is your last match,

I'd like to say that
on behalf of all of us, your Hulkamaniacs,

thank you for the memories,
and thank you for Hulkamania.

Thank you.

I don't think people fully appreciate
how dire things were looking.

All the scandals
were all piled on at the same time,

and it was a great opportunity
for our competition to make a move.

[bell ringing]

[McMahon] At that time,
Ted Turner, who owned WCW,

he was my biggest competitor.

I've been involved
with the wrestling business

since we started televising it
back in, I think, '73.

[Shoemaker] Ted Turner is one
of the pioneers of cable television.

Obviously founded TV networks
like CNN, TBS, TNT.

And he was one of the first people

to broadcast
professional wrestling nationwide.

[Bischoff] We were the number two
wrestling promotion in the world.

Good morning, America, and welcome to WCW...

We might as well have been number 202.

That's the distance between WWE and WCW.

[indistinct]

[Bischoff] The type of program
and the content that WCW was producing

prior to me being hired
as executive producer

was just a really bad imitation

of what WWE was successful at.

There was no vision.
There was no strategy.

There was just
throwing things up against the wall

and hoping something would work

as long as it looked
something like what WWE was doing.

I had been following the steroid trials

and the controversy and everything
that went on as a result of that.

I was very well aware
that Hulk had left WWE

and was going to pursue
television and movies.

And, coincidentally,
I was down at Disney-MGM Studios

shooting my show for WCW

while Hulk Hogan was at Disney-MGM Studios

shooting a show
called Thunder in Paradise.

[Bollea] Here comes Eric Bischoff
wandering over to the set,

and he said,
"We really would love to have you

consider coming back to wrestling."

"We know you're filming the TV series."

"Even if part-time..." I said,
"Let's talk." You know? Let's talk."

I was not happy with the acting and being
locked up in a trailer most of the day.

Just wasn't me.

[Bischoff] Hulk was torn,
because he loved wrestling,

he missed it,

but he also had
two very, very young kids at home,

and it was really important to him
to not be on the road 300 days a year,

and WCW provided Hulk
an opportunity to do both.

The nature of our contract was,

you may have a total
of 30 appearances a year

as opposed to 300.

Ted Turner was giving these guarantees.

"We'll give you a million dollars a year."

"How many days do you work?"
"How many you want?"

"I wanna work, uh, 100 days."
"Okay. You got it."

Where at WWE, I know when we were there,
it was seven days a week, 52 weeks a year.

I just looked at it as,
"I have this amazing opportunity."

"I'm gonna put my salesman hat on
and get this guy to join WCW."

[Bollea] When I left
and I had the meeting with Vince,

and it was an emotional meeting,

I actually told Vince,
"I will never run against you."

Because that was a concern.

[McMahon] He said, "I'm gonna go off
and do movies and things like that,

but I do want my release."

"But you're not gonna compete?
You know? You aren't gonna..."

"No. Absolutely not."

So, um, it was one of those things
where I gave him his release,

and next thing you know,
he's with the other guys.

WCW is about to dominate the globe
in professional wrestling.

That's why we're here today,

to sign the contract for a match

between two of wrestling's
biggest superstars,

Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair.

[McMahon] We had a very close
personal relationship.

I took him, and of course,
and made this huge star out of him.

And then from there, he decides
he wants to flip to our competition

and no longer be associated with you.

So, sure, emotionally, it hurt.

It broke my heart, you know. I mean, damn.

[Shane] Hulk Hogan's defection to WCW,
right there in the middle of the trial,

that was an enormous slap in the face.

Even to this day.

That was taboo in my book.

[Prichard] Vince viewed Hulk as a lifer,

but Hulk was offered
a better deal with Ted Turner,

offered guaranteed money with Turner.

"Money talks,"
as the expression goes, I guess.

[Prichard] Hulk's looking at it also like,

"Man, I don't know if Vince
is gonna be there after the trial."

"I don't know if there's even
gonna be a company there to work for."

[reporter] It's another day in court

for World Wrestling Entertainment founder
Vince McMahon.

Vince McMahon was charged with
conspiring to beef up his brawny wrestlers

with anabolic steroids.

This case should go on for several days,

and interest is expected to peak

when a pro wrestler
by the name of Terry Bollea testifies.

Of course,
he goes by the name of Hulk Hogan.

Wrestling insiders say that Hogan
will be the government's star witness

and testify against McMahon
at his trial in May.

[Bollea] After I left the WWE,

the government wanted me
to be their star witness.

I was told that if I didn't say
what they wanted to hear,

the target of the investigation
would be directed to me,

and I might do 17 years.

[Meltzer] Hogan didn't want to testify
against Vince. They forced him to.

They basically had something on Hogan
and they wanted Vince,

and so Hogan had to.

The conviction rate
in cases like that was very, very high,

so at that point, it was like,
"God, the odds look against Vince."

I think a lot of the stuff in there
is evidence

of what I believed all along
has proven to be true...

I was there for two weeks, and I could
tell that Vince was scared to death.

Vince was in serious,
serious problems at that point.

[McMahon] I truly believe
in the law of the jungle.

Something's weakened,
then you want to pile on it and kill it.

So, at that time,
it was coming from everywhere.

How could I possibly
stand up to that and hold up, you know?

The law of the jungle. I get it.

[Bollea] I was granted immunity,

and I said, "Well... cool.
I got it. I know what I'm gonna say."

[intense music builds]

[music fades]

[closing theme music playing]