All language subtitles for Mr.McMahon.S01E06.NF.WEB.H264-SexTrafficker.en[cc]

[intriguing music playing]

I have... not two different brains.
I have, like, computers in my head,

and sometimes they work against me.

I have one computer
talking to you right now,

and there's another one going on with me
thinking something completely different.

And then there's a third one sometimes.

If I wanted to tap into it, I could.

And so, it's difficult for me sometimes
to pay attention to things.

It's bothered me through the years
because all I wanted to be was normal.

I wanted to fit in.

But... I deal with it

because... that's who you are.
Just deal with it, Vince.

It doesn't matter whether you want
to be this way, want to be that way.

Here's where you are.
You're different. Be different.

And you know the expression,
"Fuck the world." So...

That's where I am now.

[interviewer]
What's the other brain thinking about now?

Um... something having a lot of fun, uh...

and it's involving sex.

[music fades]

[crowd cheering]

WrestleMania.

Every year...

[crowd continues cheering]

Shut up!

[crowd exclaims]

Coming out of the Attitude Era
and into the 2000s,

Vince McMahon was still a hugely important
on-screen character for the company.

But without Austin, they were always
in search of something for him to do.

[bell rings]

And now it is time

for the Battle of the Billionaires,
Hair vs Hair match!

♪ Money, money, money, money ♪

[announcer] Here comes the money man!

Look at that man right there,
Donald Trump.

[McMahon] So many celebrities
come into our business and have a blast.

And Donald was one of them.

Donald had always been a fan.

So, I went to Donald, and I said,

"I have this idea."

"What if we each have a wrestler
that represents us at WrestleMania?"

And if Donald Trump loses,
then I shave his head.

Of course, if I lose, same thing.

The Donald Trump-Vince McMahon
Battle of the Billionaires Feud,

it was the biggest pay-per-view audience

in the history
of pro wrestling pay-per-view.

It was a giant, giant attraction.

[announcer 1] Hey, look at this!
Donald Trump!

[announcer 2] Trump! Donald Trump
taking down Vince McMahon!

[announcer 1] Oh my God!

I was entertained by Trump
when he was on the show.

Come on up here.

[Meltzer] His ability to speak
to wrestling fans was excellent.

To me, they look like
a very smart group of people.

[crow cheering]

He was kind of perfect for the role.

[crowd chanting]
Donald Trump! Donald Trump!

[crowd cheering]

Get out of here.

[Bob Costas] In truth, Donald Trump's
sensibility and public persona

is much closer to that of a wrestler

than to a statesman.

Throw him the hell out of here.

I'd like to punch him in the face,
I'll tell you.

[McMahon] Our fingerprints
are on so many things in the world.

Politics, absolutely, my God.

Why wouldn't you want to be like WWE?

I can do whatever the hell I want.

I have the right to do
whatever I want as president.

This is what we do.

We present larger-than-life characters

making outlandish statements
that make people go,

"Oh my God, I can't believe he said that."

[indistinct]

[Sharon Mazer] Donald Trump is an example

of what seems to be
a kind of pro-wrestlingification

of American politics and American society.

[Meltzer] If you're gonna look
at the influence of Vince McMahon

and pro wrestling on culture,

man, we elected a president that...
that was playing a pro wrestler on TV.

[crowd cheering]

I don't know if it's Trump being Trump
or he learned from wrestling,

but I see similarities
between Trump and Vince McMahon.

-[announcer 1] Oh no!
-[announcer 2] Oh my God.

[announcer 1] Oh my God!

[crowd cheering]

[John Cena] Mr. McMahon,
he is the best WWE personality ever.

But after the Attitude Era,

like, Mr. McMahon was...

a more selectively-used character.

[crowd cheering]

♪ No chance
That's what you've got ♪

[Brian Gewirtz]
During the Ruthless Aggression Era,

we were always trying to pitch Vince
to have a midlife crisis

and become crazy or something like that.

But Vince wanted to go another way,
which is, "What if someone kills me?"

And we're like, "Okay."

[crowd cheering]

[Gewirtz] So he cut a very cryptic, weird,
un-Mr. McMahon-like promo in the ring.

-Thank you.
-[announcer] Something's not right.

[Gewirtz] Then made
this long walk backstage,

passing all the talent,

and then got into his limo... paused.

Vince is big on pauses
for dramatic effect.

[loud explosion]

[Gewirtz] And then the limo explodes.

The edit was perfect.

And many individuals called,
you know, the office, "Is Vince okay?"

[Gewirtz] Vince wanted
to treat it like real life.

The website was reporting it was real,

and the announcers were somber.

And in fact, from what I've heard,

Donald Trump called up Vince's office
to make sure Vince was okay.

So, that became
a very controversial storyline.

But certain tragic circumstances
in real life happened

that forced us to stop that storyline.

[McMahon] Good evening.

Tonight's storyline was to have been the...

alleged demise of my character,
Mr. McMahon.

However... in reality,

WWE superstar Chris Benoit,
his wife, Nancy, and their son, Daniel

are dead.

Chris Benoit was thought of
an excellent in-ring performer.

[announcer] He's done
everything in this business.

He's been a world champion.
He's one of the greatest of all time.

And as far as we knew, a great guy.

[Gewirtz] When a wrestler passes away,

Raw the next night would become
like a tribute to that individual.

So, we did one for Chris that night.

Tonight... will be a tribute
to Chris Benoit.

[Gewirtz] And then
while that show was airing,

we started to get the details

of what had actually happened
and what Chris had done.

[reporter] There is new information
in the death of pro wrestler Chris Benoit.

Authorities in Georgia
say it was no accident.

Chris Benoit strangled his wife
and smothered their seven-year-old son,

and then hanged himself in their home.

[Cena] When the instance
with Chris Benoit happened,

the murder-suicide,

that rocked the very foundation
of the WWE.

[reporter 1] The Benoit tragedy
put McMahon and his WWE

back under the microscope.

Allegations of steroid and drug abuse.

[reporter 2] Speculation began
that roid rage might have been

behind what happened that fateful weekend.

[Bret Hart] They were just pinning
this whole thing on steroids.

All I know is steroids generally
don't make you kill your whole family

and do all that kind of stuff.

There is no correlation
between taking steroids

and what happened to Chris Benoit.

Human beings are flawed.

Chris went nuts.

It happens in every form of life
in everything.

So, that's the only thing
I can take away from it.

-[man 1] You got it?
-[man 2] Hold on.

-And got it.
-[man 1] Okay.

[Nowinski] I was first
a fan of Chris Benoit.

Then I got to meet him
when I started wrestling.

I debuted in 2002.

[crowd cheering]

[Lilian Garcia] Making his way
to the ring, Christopher Nowinski!

[announcer] The Harvard graduate.
This guy's great, JR.

[Nowinski] But about a year later,
I got a concussion that ended my career.

Everyone back in 2003, 2004
thought concussions were bullshit,

and that I was just weak.

And so, this idea started that,

"You know, I'm gonna dig in more
to this concussion research

and try to take a stab at changing
the world's culture on concussions."

When I heard about Chris Benoit,
I was just certain,

based on the way he wrestled,

that he probably had CTE.

CTE is "chronic traumatic encephalopathy."

It's a degenerative brain disease
caused by repetitive hits to the head.

We see problems with emotion, behavior,
disinhibition, aggression, and depression,

and symptoms get worse over time
as your brain is essentially rotting away.

But in 2007, no one had ever heard of CTE.

I saw Vince McMahon go on The Today Show

and give his explanation
for what he thought happened.

There was no way of telling
this man was a monster.

He framed it as, "We didn't know
what kind of monster Chris was."

And I thought that it was
the disease that was the monster.

It wasn't Chris.

So, I ended up calling Chris's father,

and he, through tears,
agreed to let us study his brain.

A doctor who studied tissue
from Benoit's brain

says the wrestler suffered extensive
brain damage from his years in the ring.

[reporter 1] They went on to say
Benoit's brain was the worst they'd seen.

[reporter 2] We contacted
World Wrestling Entertainment.

They sent along a statement
saying the analysis

that concussions might have led
to Benoit's murderous rampage

was speculative, and went on to say,

"We respect the desire of that father

to do whatever he can
to find some explanation."

[McMahon] This doctor came up
with this ridiculous statement of,

"Okay, here's why Chris Benoit did this."

"Caused some sort of trauma to his head."

Things were shown where Chris
would dive off the rope

and hit someone with his head.

[announcer] Benoit using
his own head like a weapon!

That's complete work.

When somebody
grabs your wrist real lightly,

and they twist it, I go, "Aah! It hurts!"

"Oh my God, you're killing me!"
That's a work.

[McMahon] It looks like
there's damage, and there's not.

We know what we're doing.
We don't hurt each other.

[announcer] His head bounced off that mat
like a basketball!

I worked for a long time.

I got dropped on my head one time.
I got concussed.

[crowd cheering]

[Austin] Other than that, I can't remember

having too many concussions
in the business of pro wrestling.

And my take on that has always been,

if you were just wrestling
and you got a bunch of concussions,

you're probably doing something wrong.

I'm not a CTE guy.

Just don't believe in it.

[sighs]

Yeah. I mean, I've seen the slides
on Chris Benoit's brain.

Like, he had CTE.
Like, there's no question about that.

CTE is a disease you can see very clearly
under a microscope,

but everybody has fought us on this.

The NFL has fought us on this.

The NHL is still fighting us on this.

FIFA's fighting us.
Everybody's trying to fight us.

So, I was actually surprised
when I got a call from Vince McMahon

saying he wanted to help.

Chris was knocking WWE.

I think there was something
worth investigating.

I called him, "What are you doing?"

I said, "Look, we'll help you out if you
can come up with research that's honest,

'cause we'd like to know
more about it ourselves."

[Nowinski] And that was the beginning

of a wholesale change
in their approach to this.

They invited me in
to come start teaching the wrestlers

about what I knew
about concussions and CTE.

There were a couple of in-ring moves
that we stopped doing.

[announcer] Onto Mr. McMahon!

[McMahon] We stopped hitting each other
over the head with metal chairs.

I have to admit, initially I was pissed.

How are you gonna
take away the chair shot?

It's a staple of our industry.

[announcer] Heads up, heads up!
From behind!

[Calloway] I'm an old school guy.
We use chairs to help tell our story.

Vince made a call.

Now there's no more
chair shots to the head.

I get it.

The company
is a publicly traded company now.

[announcer] Chef Boyardee presents...

[Calloway] When you're trying
to market yourself to larger advertisers,

the safety and well-being of your athletes
and your performers is a priority.

So, it was, again,
what was best for business.

[interviewer] Do you think
the motivation is a care for wrestlers,

or is it good for business,
or somewhere in between?

You know, it's... I don't know which.

I couldn't tell you
what the biggest motivation is,

but it's an acknowledgement
that it's better for wrestlers

and it's good for business. Right?

And that's what's most important,
is that all the interests align,

and they're doing the right thing.

What happened in the aftermath
of the Chris Benoit situation,

is that there was really
a lot of negative publicity.

It's not real, but the pain is.

Professional wrestlers
have suffered broken necks

and spilled gallons of blood in the ring.

Many turn to performance-enhancing drugs
and painkillers

as they spend 200-plus days on the road.

And many don't make it
past their 40th birthdays.

[Meltzer] Wrestlers were dying young,

and it was very often
a combination of drugs and steroids.

When wrestlers were dying,
it didn't hurt the popularity of wrestling

because the fans saw them
as deaths of television characters.

[crowd cheering]

[Meltzer] They didn't see it as, like,
a husband who's 38 years old

with three kids and a wife, and is dead.

The fans knew these guys were dying,
but they didn't care, or didn't seem to.

"Give us the next guy."

[Meltzer] At first, McMahon was defiant,
like he's always going to be.

"All deaths have nothing to do with us.
It's their choice."

Do you have a reason why these people
would be dying under the age of 45?

Are you indicating it's my responsibility
these people are dead? Because...

I'm asking you if it, in any way,
shape, or form, falls on your shoulders?

[McMahon] I was set to have this interview
with the award-winning Armen Keteyian,

and when someone comes at me,

whether it's a member of the media
or otherwise,

I can't help but be defensive.

And then be offensive.

I'd accept no responsibility
whatsoever for their untimely deaths.

None whatsoever.

As far as... And you've got
that look on your face like,

-"Jeez, Vince, how can you say that?"
-Yeah...

Well, but none whatsoever?
I mean, they wrestled for you.

They were part of your organization.

They worked
a couple of hundred nights a year for you.

-Oh my God. No...
-They lived this lifestyle.

Oh my God, you can't believe...

Can you see that look?
"How can you possibly say that, Vince?"

When you look back at just about all
of those performers who passed away,

you know, they used these
prescription drugs as recreation.

Many just took these pills
because it made them feel good, you know?

And when you mix that with steroids
or something else that's an upper,

your heart doesn't know which way to go.

And it's a horrible cocktail.

And that's what happened.

"Found dead in their hotel room."
That was the typical scenario.

Why isn't these things page one?

Millions of kids worship these guys,
and they're dropping dead.

Where's the news?

And again, McMahon seemed to escape that.

They did get bad publicity off of it,
but not that much,

because people will just go,

"We don't want to waste our time
investigating this fake thing."

But as far as WWE goes,
was this kind of a turning point?

In hindsight, I would say yes.

That did lead to
a lot of major changes in wrestling.

You know,
more vigilant monitoring of concussions,

more vigilant monitoring of drug abuse.

They agreed to pay for rehab
to anyone under contract,

even after they're gone with the company.

The schedule was reduced.

Instead of going ten days on
and three days off,

it was four days on and three days off.
It's even better now.

The changes have been gigantic.

[Calloway] WrestleMania 30.

Up until that point,
I'd never lost at WrestleMania.

I think I was 21-0.

-[crowd cheering]
-[announcer 1] It's all over, brother.

-[announcer 2] Take him...
-[announcer 1] Stop!

[Calloway] The streak is a huge part
of the attraction of WrestleMania.

[announcer 1] The amazing
undefeated streak continues!

[Calloway] So, I was gonna win.
The streak was gonna stay intact.

But that day,
Vince walks in my dressing room,

and he said, "Mark, I think
we're gonna put Brock over tonight."

[announcer] Brock Lesnar!

[McMahon] It was a last-minute decision.

Mark wasn't prepared for it.

I think he was in some sort of
psychological shock.

[bell ringing]

[Calloway] About five, ten minutes
into that match, I get concussed.

The match went on 25 minutes or so,

but I can't, to this day,
recall being in that match.

[grunting]

[McMahon] Looking back on it,
I don't see where Mark was concussed.

Could've happened.

But I think Mark
just didn't remember any of that

because it was so traumatic for him.

[crowd] One, two, three.

-[crowd cheering]
-[bell ringing]

[Calloway] They took me to the hospital,
and Vince left WrestleMania

to go to the hospital.

He was there with my wife,
um, consoling... consoling her.

[announcer]
You cannot hurt The Undertaker!

[Calloway] I never thought
about getting hurt.

Even after I got hurt,
I didn't think about getting hurt.

Only thing you think about is getting well

so you can get back to work.

I've had 18 different surgeries.

I walk with a limp.

I wake up some mornings
and can't get out of bed,

but there's nothing that I would change.

I love it. And if I could still do it,
I'd still be doing it.

[Booker T. Huffman]
We as, you know, the wrestlers...

sometimes think we're indestructible.

That's just the way it is.
It's just part of who we are.

But, on the other hand,

this next generation of wrestlers,
I do not want to see them

in the same situation as
a bunch of the guys that came before them.

[rock music playing]

[Garcia] And from Charlotte,
North Carolina, Cody Rhodes!

I come into WWE in 2007.

They were spinning out of
Chris Benoit's terrible tragedy,

and out of that, the wellness policy
really becomes a huge part of the company.

First, we're instituting
a new drug policy.

[Rhodes] Behind the scenes,
I came into a very clean WWE.

And it was also very clean on-air

in terms of,
"We're heading towards a TV-PG era."

[crowd cheering]

[Gewirtz] What motivated Vince
to switch the rating from TV-14 to TV-PG

was the 50,000-foot perspective
of advertisers.

[announcer] Go, go!

[Gewirtz] The lewd and kind of
really out-there angles

that were going on
in the Ruthless Aggression Era...

-[indistinct]
-[crowd exclaims]

...weren't gonna cut it with sponsors.

Okay, here are the stats and things...

[Gewirtz] Vince is a businessman.
He's chairman of the board.

He wants to make the company
as much money as possible.

[indistinct]

Vince was trying to reach bigger,
get more families, more kids.

[McMahon] We made that turn,
and it has paid off,

literally and figuratively, in dividends.

[Gewirtz] The stock shot up eventually,

and sponsorship deals
became much more lucrative.

But a lot of your Attitude Era,
Ruthless Aggression audiences

would be like, "This is The Muppet Show."

It literally was The Muppet Show.
We had The Muppets guest host one time.

All those things that led WWE to be
your special, secret, guilty pleasure

now was being taken away,

and that left a bad taste
in people's mouths.

[crowd booing]

[McMahon] I do what's right
for every one of you

from a business perspective.

I'm long-term oriented,

and you don't even understand
what I'm doing.

But in time, you will.

[Meltzer] When the decision was made to go
PG, some fans complained on social media.

But times change, you know?
And views change, and you adapt with it.

-So they toned down.
-[bell rings]

[announcer]
This is a Divas tag-team match...

[Heyman] The timing
of the Women's Evolution

coincided with the PG Era shift.

The portrayal of women in the industry

was progressing and maturing.

[announcer] It is the perfect combination
of beauty and power.

[Heyman] And the capabilities of the women
that were coming into the industry

were certainly far more athletic
than those that preceded them.

The Women's Evolution
was really a movement started by our fans.

[reporter] Fans took to social media
with the hashtag #GiveDivasAChance,

upset over unequal screen time
for female wrestlers.

Vince was set in his ways by this point,
so it was very hard for him to change.

[Trish Stratus]
I think Vince was not sure,

but ultimately Vince is about
giving the fans what they want.

When the fans wanted us
to do more action in the ring

and liked what they were getting from us,
he went with it.

Someone that got behind us was Stephanie.

Stephanie saw us
doing our thing out there.

She pushed for the women
to take it to another level.

[Meltzer] Stephanie had been
a TV character for a long time,

but behind the scenes, she became
kind of a public face of the company,

Chief Brand Officer.

That was her role.

And Paul Levesque, Triple H,

was getting more and more influence
on the creative side,

helping Vince, you know,
kind of like number two.

[interviewer]
Where was Shane at that point?

Um, Shane was kind of out,
you know, for the most part.

[Shane] So, 2016, I was gone
six or seven years at that point.

You know, off camera, off everything.

I feel good.

And got a call.

It's my dad,
um, and he says, "Hey, I have an idea."

And it's like, "Okay."

♪ No chance
That's what you've got ♪

[Shane] There was a storyline where my dad
was going to give a very big accolade

from my grandfather to my sister,

who was completely undeserving,
storyline-wise.

No one in the world
deserves this award as much as you.

And then all of a sudden, my music hits.

-♪ Here comes the money ♪
-[announcer] Here we go.

[crowd cheering]

♪ Here comes the money... ♪

[Shane] The place goes crazy.

And still to this day,

I'm getting goosebumps under my jacket
right now thinking about it.

[crowd cheering]

[bittersweet music playing]

[Shane] It was so rewarding to have
an adulation that long and that loud...

[bittersweet music continues]

...when you return to...

[voice breaks] ...something you love.

[crowd chanting] Holy shit!
Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!

I see my dad looking at me, and he
has pride. I could see it in those eyes.

I'm getting choked up looking at that.

My sister, she's starting to tear up
because, again, we're all back together.

It was a huge moment.

[crowd] This is awesome!

And eventually what came out
was something really cool.

You and your husband, Triple H,

have been really running this company
into the ground.

[crowd cheering]

I want control of Monday Night Raw.

[crowd cheering]

And then that led
to my dad making a match.

One match, one night,
an opponent of my choosing.

I'll tell you where and when and who.

So, what about it, Shane-O? Huh?
Everybody's happy to see Shane-O-Mac!

[crowd cheering]

You got your match. You're on.

[cheering]

Good, because I have one last opportunity...

to have a fucking beating, okay?

-A beating about your face.
-[crowd exclaims]

And the place and the time
is gonna be... WrestleMania.

[crowd cheering]

And your opponent... The Undertaker.

[crowd cheering]

Welcome back, Shane-O.

[announcer] Oh my goodness.

And getting to that moment now
of WrestleMania 32...

-♪ Here comes the money ♪
-[announcer] Here we go.

[Shane] I haven't been in the ring
in seven years,

and you can imagine walking out
in not just a small room,

but a stadium with a sea of people.

It's euphoric.

But the greatest thing was
about ten minutes prior to me going out,

my boys were backstage.
I was like, "Want to come out with me?"

Do me the honor.
I want you to come out with me tonight.

They're like, "What? Are you serious?"

[upbeat music playing]

[announcer] Look who's out here
with Shane-O-Mac!

[Shane] My boys were doing my stuff,
and they're doing the arm twist.

I go, "Look at these little dudes."

And then I have to snap out of this

'cause I'm about to throw down
with one of the best of them ever.

-[crowd cheering]
-[bong ringing]

[Shane] The Undertaker's bong hits...
and the place goes bonkers.

Mm. [inhales]

The rest is history.

[announcer] Shane-O with the flying elbow!

Shane!

-[announcer 1] Shane-O-Mac, here he goes!
-[announcer 2] Against the post!

[Huffman] I can only imagine
being the son of Vince McMahon.

It seemed like Shane was always
trying to prove something to his dad,

all the time.

Even if it meant doing some
of the most death-defying, you know,

feats, uh, we've seen in this business.

[announcer] Shane McMahon
has got Kurt Angle in a bad, bad way here.

[Shane] When you're performing,

you want that adulation
that you did a good job.

Especially, you know, from my father.

And I think that's why I've always
tried to do a bit extra in the ring.

-[announcer 1] Looks bad for Kurt Angle!
-[announcer 2] God!

One time, I had a match with Kurt Angle.
It was more of a hardcore match.

Kurt was famous, you know,
being an Olympian, for suplexes.

He picked me up and suplexed me.

[crowd exclaims]

I was supposed to go through the glass.
I hit it, "Bam."

And I went straight down on my noggin.

[announcer 1] And I think Shane's head
just bounced right off the concrete floor.

[Shane] I was like,
"All right, you Olympic wuss."

"I can't believe you can't throw me
through that. You suck."

All of a sudden, he just went, "Whoosh!"

-[announcer] Not again. Oh my God.
-[Shane] And it took three going out.

Suplex one, hit the glass,
didn't do anything.

Second one, same thing.

And finally,
Kurt threw me through the third one.

[announcer] My God!

I felt for Shane that night.

He took it like a champ.

Trying to prove something to his dad.

[McMahon] Shane wanted to be different.
Wanted to earn his stripes in every way.

He'd take chances that no one else would.

-[announcer] It's not worth it!
-[crowd clamoring]

[McMahon] He did some crazy things
that no one else would do.

He knew that
that was something that was his.

[announcer] Oh my God!

[Shane] I'd do some risky things.

But, you know, if it's in your blood,
in my view, it's an acceptable risk.

-[announcer 1] Shane, what are you doing?
-[announcer 2] Shane-O-Mac! God!

[Shane] And I've done it happily
to entertain and to push myself as well.

And, of course, always looking
for that pat on the back... from my dad.

[announcer 1] Shane is climbing
to the top of Hell in a Cell!

-[announcer 2] Shane is scaling!
-[announcer 1] Shane, stop!

-[McMahon] What does your legacy mean?
-[announcer 1] How much does it mean?

Not this, please!

-Shane, don't do this!
-[announcer 2] Don't go!

-[announcer 1] Shane! No!
-[announcer 2] No! Oh my God! Jump... No!

-No, no!
-[crowd exclaims]

[McMahon] I know he's always wanted me
to respect him, and things of that nature.

I don't know there are many pats
on the shoulder in terms of "way to go."

Maybe there should've been.

My dad... he never said it to me,
and that's okay.

But I've always been proud of Shane
for what he's done,

what he attempts to do,

because he gives it his all.

[crowd exclaims]

-[crowd] Two. Three.
-[bell ringing]

[announcer] The Undertaker wins.

[McMahon] I was very proud
for Shane in that match.

[announcer] I can't help
but feel sorry for Shane.

An attempt to regain his legacy.

He's been disowned by his father.

[interviewer] You remember
seeing your dad after?

I got a hug that night.

Yeah. Got a hug that night. Uh...

It was a very emotional, uh...
very emotional return.

[poignant music playing]

[McMahon] Shane got emotional and said,

"That's all I ever wanted,
was your respect."

So, that was a very personal moment.

[inaudible]

[Shane] I got a pat
on the back and a hug. Yeah.

Got that one.

-[interviewer] Is that hard to come by?
-Very.

Had to earn that one.

I guess I did.

You hear people say this a lot
in our business about Vince.

Like, "He was almost like a father to me."

[McMahon] We have a family.

Not the McMahon family.
We have a much broader family.

And in terms of a family-type thing,
I'm the patriarch.

He's had the role in my life
of a father figure.

Our relationship,
he was a father figure to me.

I have a fatherly,
a father-son relationship, with Vince.

I mean, I'd honestly
take a bullet for that man.

[indistinct chatter]

[Shoemaker] There's no doubt that Vince
is the father figure of the company.

And all the stars in WWE
are desperate for Vince's approval,

including his own kids.

If you look at Shane,

when he came back, he was only
really being used as in-ring talent.

But it seemed like he was trying to work
his way back into Vince's good graces,

into a potential role
as a successor in WWE.

[indistinct chanting]

[Shane] At some point,
did I envision myself

being next in line to do certain things?

Sure, from the standpoint of I just
want to continue the family business.

I came back to ensure the future.

Not only for my kids,
but for your daughters,

and eventually their kids
and their kids' kids, et cetera.

That's why I returned to the WWE.

[Meltzer] He wanted to be
the next McMahon,

and he always figured he would be.

And then it didn't happen.

Most people will say it was because
Stephanie was better at it than he was.

[intriguing music playing]

[Stephanie] One thing that Shane
does have over me is likability.

But business is not run by popularity,
and I'm just glad that...

Stephanie? She's just like her dad.

She's very strong.

That's the boss.

Shane is nice.

And in the wrestling world,
if you're a boss and you're nice,

once the people see that niceness,

they will try to take advantage of you.

With Stephanie,

you know you can't take advantage
of that woman. [chuckles]

Right off the bat.

You don't know what it means
to be a success, Shane.

How would you?
You're nothing more than a quitter.

-[Shane] Mm.
-[crowd exclaiming]

Now, get the hell out of my ring!

[Shoemaker] Through the 2010s
and leading up to the 2020s,

Vince McMahon,
Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H

were the three most powerful people
inside WWE,

and there were a lot of huge successes
during this period of time.

There was the WWE Network...

[woman]
24/7 streaming service, live content.

[Shoemaker] ...which was
revolutionary in its way.

They were on the cutting edge
of a lot of social media stuff.

The TV rights deals were going up and up,

which culminated
in the giant deal with Peacock.

Linda McMahon joins
Donald Trump's cabinet,

heading the Small Business Administration.

There was a competition started up.

In 2019, AEW Wrestling launched.

One of the big stars and vice presidents
was Cody Rhodes,

who three years later came back to WWE.

Thank you so much.
Thank you for coming to get me.

-Thank you very much.
-[announcer] ...Hall of Fame class of 2022!

[Shoemaker] And the stock price
just kept going up and up.

It certainly doesn't have
the energy or the vitality

that it seemed to in the '80s,

and especially not
during the Attitude Era.

But Vince, he keeps creating new stars

who become huge faces of the company.

[announcer] This man, Roman Reigns,
has become a mainstream star.

Roman Reigns, everybody!

[Shoemaker] Because of the success
during this period of time,

it was hard to imagine
Vince ever stepping down.

But if he were ever going to leave,

it seemed clear at the time
that it was Stephanie McMahon and Triple H

who were in position to succeed him
in running the company.

[Shawn Michaels] As far as succession,

you don't rule out
Shane or Stephanie, obviously.

But it was my understanding that Hunter
was supposed to be the individual.

I don't know. That's the upper-level stuff
that I couldn't even imagine.

[McMahon] There are a lot of plans
in terms of succession,

but it depends on where I am
in terms of the ability to contribute.

[announcer] Welcome to night two
of WrestleMania. 70,000-plus once again.

So, when are you gonna...

[interviewer] Do you ever
see yourself taking a step back?

-Taking a step back?
-[interviewer] Or retiring?

Do I ever see myself retiring?

No, I don't see myself ever retiring.

I never understood
why people stop growing.

When you stop growing, you die.

[announcer] Mr. McMahon!

[McMahon] Some people are like,
"I want to retire one day."

What are you gonna do when you retire?

[announcer] Hold on!

[McMahon] I have, like,
no sympathy for people like that.

[Austin laughs]

Oh shit.

So... go die.

[announcer 1] Ridiculous.

[announcer 1]
Mr. McMahon has entered the ring!

[interviewer]
Do you think he'll ever retire?

No. No.

Vince will never retire.

-[bell ringing]
-[announcer] We heard the bell ring.

And McMahon with a clothesline!

[Cena] Do I think
Vince will ever stop? No.

I don't think he'll ever stop.
He loves it. It's not work to him.

[announcer 1] I can't believe McMahon
and Austin are toasting at WrestleMania.

[announcer 2] They finally...
Spoke too soon!

[crowd cheering]

[announcer 1]
Mr. McMahon trying to get away...

but Austin stuns McMahon!

[Michaels] I cannot imagine a life

with Vince McMahon
not being the main dude in the WWE

as long as he has breath in his lungs.

[women whooping]

What do I think it would take
for Vince to retire? Uh...

A nuclear bomb exploding.

[tense music playing]

[news anchor 1] The wrestling world
rocked by the headline hitting today.

The WWE founder and CEO, Vince McMahon,

is stepping down as chairman and CEO.

[news anchor 2] The Wall Street Journal
reporting McMahon paid a former employee,

who he allegedly had an affair with,
$3 million to keep her quiet.

[Ted Mann] It started with a tip.

And the tip was that the board of WWE
had received an anonymous email

alleging that Vince McMahon
had basically kept quiet, um,

an affair with an employee of the company,
and then covered it up.

[news anchor 3] The Journal reports,
according to an email

sent to WWE board members,

"McMahon initially hired the woman
at a salary of $100,000,

but increased it to $200,000

after beginning
a sexual relationship with her."

[Mann] The person who wrote the email
portrayed it as a relationship

where McMahon
was taking advantage of someone,

and was conducting a consensual affair,

but the power was clearly
with the guy who was the CEO.

How consensual is it when... it's your boss?

There's always that boss power,
especially when it's Vince.

[news anchor 3] The separation agreement
prevents the former employee

from discussing her relationship
with Mr. McMahon

or disparaging him in any way.

Beyond the NDAs themselves,

we encountered
this kind of culture of secrecy.

Vince McMahon exerts such power,

he has such influence
over people's careers,

that people are very reluctant to speak
because they were afraid of retaliation.

My expectation was Vince was going
to just go after those reporters.

Because if he had any kind of defense,

he'd have gone after
the reporters' credibility,

and he never touched them.

That shocked me.

That is not Vince.

[anchor 3] McMahon says, in part,
"I have pledged my complete cooperation

to the investigation
by the Special Committee,

and I will do everything possible
to support the investigation."

He is staying in front of the cameras.

He's expected to be on SmackDown
later on tonight. Jake?

Of course he is.

[crowd cheering]

♪ No chance
That's what you've got ♪

[Meltzer] Vince resigned as CEO,

but continued on the board of directors
and continued to run Creative.

When the first story came out,
they announced,

"Vince will be on the air."

-Welcome to SmackDown!
-[crowd cheering]

[Meltzer] It was just basically
his "F you" at the story,

and they did
one of their biggest ratings of the year.

Everybody cheered like crazy.

[tense music builds]

[Mann] When we published
the first article,

one of the reactions from some quarters
was, "Well, what did you expect?"

Vince's public persona,
the Mr. McMahon character,

was intentionally outrageous,
and tied up in all of that

was this notion that he was just
rapacious and sexually deviant

and couldn't control himself.

That was a huge part
of the public character.

What complicates that
is that this was this intentional blurring

of fictional and non-fictional.

You're hired, Stacy!

[Mann] What we have shown is that
some of what was played for laughs

as part of the character

was not that funny and was,
in fact, very, very serious.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Palazzolo] As we got into the reporting,

we found there had been other allegations
that surfaced over the years

against McMahon.

In 2006, there was a woman
who worked at a tanning salon,

and she alleged that Vince McMahon
had shown her naked photos of himself

and had groped her.

McMahon denies the allegations,

and prosecutors decided
not to move forward with anything

'cause they didn't think
there was enough independent evidence.

What are you doing?

[Meltzer]
When the tanning salon thing came,

weeks later, Vince created a storyline

where somebody's just absolutely
making up all of these things.

[screams]

-Help me!
-Mickie, what are you doing?

-Help me now!
-What are you doing?

Stop touching me!

[Palazzolo] The reporting built on itself.

After that first story,

the more sort of we reported,
the more started coming in.

Three weeks ago,
Vince McMahon stepped down as WWE CEO

following allegations
of sexual misconduct.

It turns out now
there's a lot more to the story.

[reporter] McMahon reportedly agreeing
to pay $12 million to four different women

over a 16-year period,
according to The Wall Street Journal.

The deals were made to suppress
allegations of sexual misconduct.

Some of those allegations
were frankly more serious.

The most serious one is, we learned
of a settlement for $7.5 million

that McMahon struck with a former wrestler

who alleged that he had coerced her
into oral sex,

that she had refused his further advances,
and he had not renewed her contract.

Vince was always the guy
who you figured would survive everything,

and then, um,
it was like a week or two later,

all of a sudden, it's Friday,
and, and... Vince has retired.

[dramatic sting]

[Meltzer] They made the announcement
on a Friday because, to the end,

they thought that it would build ratings
for Friday night,

so they do it Friday afternoon.

Stephanie McMahon opens the show.

[crowd exclaims]

Earlier tonight,

my father, Vince McMahon,

retired from WWE.

[crowd clamoring]

[Meltzer] So, she finishes
her short speech of,

"He devoted his life, did this and that,"
and then, "Let's go, thank you, Vince,"

and she's cheering everyone,
"Thank you, Vince."

[chanting] Thank you, Vince!
Thank you, Vince!

[crowd] Thank you, Vince!
Thank you, Vince!

[Meltzer] It was exactly what I expected,

but kind of a shock and weird and surreal

only because, for 40 years,
Vince had been running that company,

and all of a sudden,
in one day, it's all changed.

The reaction in the locker room
was uncertainty, for sure,

but real chaos

in a sense that,
what does WWE look like without Vince?

What I originally thought would happen
if Vince was gone,

I thought Stephanie
would be the face of the company,

and I thought Paul Levesque
would be running the creative end.

And that's essentially what happened.

[inaudible]

[interviewer] Do you think
the business can survive without him?

[man] Go, Vince!

[Bollea] Honestly?

-Thank you.
-You bet. Thank you.

Without Vince, I don't think it will.

[Mazer] Now that he's retired,

I think there was great pleasure
in seeing him get what's coming to him.

But five minutes later, do we care?
I don't know how much.

Hi!

[Mazer] I think we'd be more interested
to see him come back.

I think we'd be
much more entertained by that.

Because nobody does evil
like Vince McMahon.

He still generates heat.

And heat is what sells tickets.

[interviewer]
Do you see Vince coming back?

Um, because it's wrestling
and everything, um...

I...

I would say yes.

[dramatic music playing]

[Dubois] Big changes at the Stamford-based
World Wrestling Entertainment.

The majority owner, Vince McMahon,
has returned to WWE as executive chairman.

Meantime, Vince McMahon's daughter,
Stephanie McMahon,

has resigned as co-CEO of WWE.

Many on Wall Street
expect McMahon to try to sell

the $6 billion company at some point.

[interviewer] What was your reaction
when Vince returned?

[laughing]

Wow, that, um... Well, I mean,
it was so... It was weird.

When Vince came back, I wasn't surprised.

I was surprised
that people were surprised.

[Meltzer] I had definitely heard
for a couple of weeks

that Vince was getting itchy
and wanted to come back,

and I didn't know if he would be able to.

Because I had already known
about the board voting unanimously

for him not to be back.

But he did have the controlling votes.

So, he returned.
He changed members of the board.

And then days later, Stephanie resigns.

[reporter] Stephanie McMahon
making a statement via Twitter.

"WWE is in such a strong position

that I have decided to return to my leave

and take it one step further
with my official resignation."

[Meltzer] Vince said that he thought
he never should have quit.

But he was talked into quitting.

And he said that
it was by somebody close to him.

So, you know,
you can draw a conclusion from that.

Vince sort of forced his way back in.

[inaudible]

[Shoemaker] And it seems to me

that Stephanie didn't want
anything to do with the company

if Vince was involved.

I don't think she was forced out.

You know he's put you in a position,
constantly in life, to battle him.

You know that, right?

Sure feels that way. [laughs]

Oh no... Steph. Come on.

[grunts]

-There you go.
-Thank you.

I have absolutely no idea what happened
with Stephanie leaving the company.

And Dave Meltzer or Shoemaker,

or whoever else wants to make up
their lies and their assumptions,

they don't know.

[tense music playing]

[Meltzer] When Vince came back,

the first thing they talked about
was a potential sale.

This was like, "Okay, we're taking bids."

[tense music continues]

[anchor] It is now official.

Endeavor announcing
WWE and UFC will combine

to form a $21 billion global
live sports and entertainment company.

[reporter] The combined WWE and UFC
will be called the TKO Group.

Selling the company
to a strategic company like Endeavor,

I thought was genius.

Think about it.
It's a new challenge for Vince.

He's not just overseeing one company.
He's overseeing another company.

I think the idea
probably was to sell it in a way

where Vince would still have
the major say-so.

Vince is gonna be the executive chairman,
but it's gonna be a bit different for him

because WWE shareholders
only get 49% of this company

versus Endeavor shareholders, who get 51%.

So, he no longer has the absolute control
that he did over WWE.

This company's been in your family
for 70 years.

Is it a tough day?

No, it's a great day.

You know, things have to evolve,
be it family, business,

it all has to evolve
for all the right reasons.

And this is the right business decision.
Thus far, it's the right family decision.

There wasn't gonna be, you know,
the next generation Vince McMahon.

It got too big to be a family business.

It had to be something to where
experts in the big business field

were gonna be making
a lot of the decisions.

It's not about the last name.
It's not about a family legacy.

It's about who is best qualified.

We live by the law of the jungle.

And the lion who still rules this kingdom

wouldn't have it any other way.

[crowd cheering]

[Meltzer] The company's doing
really strong right now.

The attendance
is the best it's been since 2002.

More people watch the big events
than have ever watched them before.

Sponsorship is way beyond
anything they've ever had before.

Profits are the biggest they've ever been,
revenues are the biggest they've been.

People will support
an entertainment product

and not care about the moral fiber
of the guy running the product.

They want entertainment.

[reporter] This week,
World Wrestling Entertainment

agreeing to a $5 billion 10-year deal

to take its signature
weekly wrestling show, Raw, to Netflix.

[interviewer] You saw
some episodes... of this show?

Yeah.

-[interviewer] Thoughts?
-Thought they sucked.

I didn't think it was balanced at all.

I thought it was a gotcha piece.

I thought it was portrayed
as a gotcha piece.

And it was all about,
"How can we make Vince look bad?"

"Let's make him look shitty here,
let's make him look shitty there."

[inaudible]

[Prichard] I'm close to it.

You know, I live it,
and it's personal to me.

[interviewer] Why I ask is, is there
something about Vince that we're missing?

Yeah, the human side.

Look, Vince is a businessman.

But also, the other side of Vince is,

when my wife got cancer,

that Vince made sure
that she had the best care in the world.

My wife was given
a four-year life expectancy.

Best-case scenario.

That was 24 years ago.

And that was because
Vince McMahon made sure

that she got the best care
that was available.

It wasn't a documentary on Vince
and Vince's life and Vince's story.

It was,
"See what an asshole Vince McMahon is."

"Let's see how big of an asshole
we can make him."

And if he were one, I would support that.

But he's not.

[Arsenault] The founder and former CEO
of World Wrestling Entertainment

is facing new accusations
of sexual assault and trafficking tonight.

A disturbing new lawsuit
is alleging that Vince McMahon

sexually abused and trafficked
a former employee.

A source tipped me off
about the lawsuit being filed,

and that happens
because of the topic of the suit.

I've written about sex-trafficking suits
or sexual misconduct.

I did not get the sense from people at WWE
that they knew the lawsuit was coming.

In fact, I heard from sources
that they were surprised.

Hello. How are you?

[reporter] In the lawsuit, Janel Grant,
who worked there up until March 2022,

says McMahon forced her
to have sex with him and other men

at the WWE headquarters
in return for job security.

[Palazzolo] Janel Grant was the woman
who we first reported on back in 2022,

and what Grant says in this lawsuit
is that it was not a consensual affair.

[Safdar] The lawsuit paints a picture
of sexual abuse, sexual misconduct.

She says she was sexually assaulted,

that she was lured there
on the promise of career advancement,

and then eventually exploited sexually,

and then trafficked to other men
by Vince McMahon.

[Shoemaker] When that lawsuit came out...

Honestly, I didn't think anything in there
would shock me, and I was floored.

I mean, just absolutely stunned.

[reporter 1] Grant's claims include
sexual acts involving defecation,

restraint...

[reporter 2] Grant alleges
that he assaulted her

with sex toys named after male wrestlers.

One of the most striking things
about this particular lawsuit

was the fact that Janel Grant
had reproduced text messages

that she had received from Vince McMahon.

[reporter] The suit included
screenshots of vulgar texts

that McMahon allegedly sent to Grant,
becoming more graphic, dark, and sadistic.

"I'm the only one who owns you,"
one message read,

"and controls who I want to 'blank' you."

Granted, we're only seeing
her side of these text messages,

the text message she wants to see,
and maybe we'll see more in the future,

but it just gave such a window
into this relationship

that you often don't see,

especially in relationships
with this power imbalance.

[tense music playing]

[Safdar] This is one
of the most brazen examples

in a company setting that I've seen

where an executive
isn't really taking a lot of steps

to hide the behavior.

[news anchor]
The lawsuit also accuses McMahon

of sharing sexually explicit photos
of Grant with other WWE employees,

including an unnamed wrestler

who the company
was trying to re-sign in 2021,

without her consent.

We found out from sources
that the identity is Brock Lesnar,

which is one of WWE's biggest names.

She alleges that McMahon
shared the explicit photos with him

and informed her
that he likes what he sees.

After the star agreed to a new contract,

McMahon told her that sex acts with her
were part of the deal.

[reporter] In a statement,
Vince McMahon's spokesperson says,

"This lawsuit is replete with lies,

obscene, made-up instances
that never occurred,

and a vindictive distortion of the truth."

"He will vigorously defend himself."

WWE's parent company, TKO Group,

says it's taking
these allegations seriously

and addressing the matter internally.

WWE founder Vince McMahon
has resigned as executive chairman

of the wrestling company's
parent organization.

McMahon has denied the allegations,
but says he's now resigning,

"Out of respect for the WWE Universe."

The fact that he resigns
the day after the lawsuit is filed

suggests that things have changed.

He's in a new company,
he no longer has the same control,

and if someone asks him to leave,
he's gotta leave.

[Shoemaker] At that point,
Vince was fully pushed out

of any role in TKO or WWE.

And after the Janel Grant accusations,

you start hearing rumors and accusations
from a variety of sources.

-[announcer 1] There's Ashley!
-[announcer 2] Well, here she comes!

In 2016, Ashley Massaro claimed
that she had been raped

during a WWE tour of Kuwait
by a man posing as a military doctor.

She accused WWE

of not responding seriously
to her allegations when she told them.

She says that Vince McMahon knew about it,

and that WWE functionally covered it up
to protect the business.

[inaudible]

[Shoemaker] WWE put out a statement
completely denying these claims,

and they basically said
they were never informed this took place,

and if they had been,
they would've reported it.

A decade later, in 2019,

Massaro was found dead
in an apparent suicide.

After the Janel Grant allegations,

Ashley Massaro's attorney

released a previously unreleased
statement from Massaro

that claimed Vince McMahon
made sexual advances on her,

that Vince was well-known
for this sort of thing.

Massaro said she rejected him,
but from her point of view,

Vince responded by writing stories
whose sole purpose was to embarrass her.

You're gonna cry now?

Please, Vince, don't do this!
Not over this. Not...

[mumbling] You gonna cry? You gonna cry?!

You're suspended indefinitely!

[sobbing]

[Shoemaker] Since he was
kind of removed from his job,

Vince has sold all the stock
in the company and completely left.

One of the most powerful things for WWE

is that they have been able
to keep going without Vince,

and they've been thriving without Vince.

Let's kick off night two of WrestleMania!

[crowd cheering]

[Levesque] We set records
this week for social media,

for merchandise, for sponsorship.

Just destroyed records for gate.

This was legitimately
the biggest WrestleMania of all time.

-[crowd cheering]
-[bell ringing]

[announcer] Here is your winner!

And the new...

[interviewer] Last question.
What do you think Vince's legacy will be?

Um, Vince's legacy... My goodness. Um...

He is...

Uh... his legacy is just, um...

I don't know. He...

Oh man, ooh, that's a tough one, huh?

[exhales] Man, what do I think
Vince McMahon's legacy is gonna be?

Man... that's a good question.

Ooh, I think I might be
the wrong guy to be asked that question.

[interviewer] What do you think
Vince's legacy will be?

The greatest promoter of all time.

He earned that.

Even though there's things about him
that I don't like or respect,

you can't take that from him.

[crowd cheering]

[Meltzer] If you want a real view
of Vince McMahon and pro wrestling,

there's a lot of positive,
and there's a lot of negative.

I mean, he's the most important figure
in the history of wrestling.

In his prime,
he was an absolute creative genius,

but he's far from a saint.

This is a man

that wants more and more and more.

I've got an insatiable appetite for life,
and I want more, more, more!

[Heyman] It doesn't stop.

And that's how you build something

from a million,
to a billion, to ten billion.

[announcer] Here we go.

[Shoemaker] Pro wrestling,
for all these years,

painted life in this very simple way.

There's good guys, and there's bad guys.

I think the real lesson of Vince McMahon
is that life is never that simple.

You have to be able to hold two things
in your head at the same time.

Like, it's possible Vince McMahon
created this thing that we all love,

and at the same time,

he is an incredibly problematic,
potentially, like, deplorable human being.

I'm sure he would like to go down
as the legend who created WWE,

but anything good that he did

is now inextricable
from all the bad stuff that he did.

What's my legacy?
You know, I don't have one.

Everyone has a certain feeling about
who they think Vince McMahon is.

But people really don't know me at all.

A lot of people have confused
who my character was on television

and who I am.

[evocative music playing]

When I look in the mirror,
I know who I'm looking at.

I know, I know the reflection.

Describe Vince McMahon.

Uh... that would be really very tough to do.

Let's see. Egomaniac. Physical culturist.

Someone who needs
to be challenged every day.

Sexually active.
Psychologically challenged.

Sort of a paradox of paradoxes.

The only person in the world
I need to thank is me,

because I did it all!
I did it all by myself...

Sometimes the lines of reality
or fact and fiction

are very blurred in our business.

Sometimes what happens is performers
start believing in themselves.

They start believing
in their own character.

The individual... loses all sense
of who they really are personally.

They become the character.

My name is not Vince.
My name is Mr. McMahon.

I'm wondering myself now.
Which is the character, and which is me?

I guess maybe it's a blend.

And I would suggest that
one is exaggerated a little bit,

uh, but I'm not so sure which one.

[evocative music builds]

[music fades]

[closing theme music playing]