When Mr. McMahon staged his own death

Netflix is ready to take the big step and enter the world of live sports streaming. In fact, 2025 will mark the beginning of a partnership with WWE for the live broadcast of Raw, the weekly program that has been airing every Monday night since 1993. The contract between the two parties was made public at the beginning of 2024, a ten-year agreement worth a total of 5 billion dollars, which also includes an option for a ten-year renewal. This is an unprecedented turning point, as it is the first time that WWE is leaving cable TV to enter the world of streaming. At the same time, it is a well-calculated move, as Netflix has revolutionized the way of telling sports stories through documentaries such as "Drive to Survive" and "The Last Dance," as well as the successful series Untold. And so, WWE will also have its own documentary, Mr. McMahon, probably the first authorized biography about the life of Vincent Kennedy McMahon, the man who has been the head of the federation since 1984 until January 26, 2024, when he was forced to resign from all positions after being accused of sexual assault and human trafficking by a former WWE employee.

The creator of WrestleMania

Like every Netflix documentary, Mr. McMahon will also tell the two sides of the same coin. On one hand, the entrepreneur with a vision who has built an empire, the man who created WrestleMania and a multi-billion dollar entertainment giant. On the other hand, the man who went to trial for allegedly ordering his employees to take steroids, or the sexual predator accused by his employees and forced to leave the company he created under the weight of public pressure. All of these topics are included in the trailer that announced the release of the six-episode documentary series, aimed at wrestling fans and non-fans alike. If you have seen this trailer, there is one moment that probably left you astonished. The reference is to the explosion of a limousine that McMahon has just boarded.

A quick disclaimer for those who are not wrestling fans: Mr. McMahon is the alter ego created by Vince McMahon when he decided to personally get involved and be part of the storylines. During the Attitude Era, the period between 1997 and 2002 when WWE completely revolutionized its image by transforming from a family-friendly product to a transgressive one with no limits, Mr. McMahon embodied the super villain, a man willing to do anything to defend his interests and gain an advantage. This was the kayfabe representation of what many considered to be reality. As the years went by, McMahon's on-screen presence diminished, but in 2007 he returned as a major player due to a feud with Donald Trump, who at the time was just a billionaire and not yet the future president of the United States. In short, as a result of that feud, McMahon won the ECW title, a historic independent federation known for its hardcore style and which was briefly relaunched by WWE. After losing the title, McMahon's storyline shifted to a more personal level: he began to doubt everyone around him and, for this reason, decided to introduce the Mr. McMahon Appreciation Night, a special episode of Raw in which current and former superstars were supposed to praise Mr. McMahon. That episode ended with the explosion of the limousine that Mr. McMahon had just boarded.

The death of Mr. McMahon

It was June 11, 2007, and in a few words, Vince McMahon staged his own death. The reason why he did it has never been revealed with certainty. Some say it was a way for him to retire from the scene. Others believe it was a way to keep the attention on WWE during a period when there was a lack of superstars. Some argue that it was the first act of a storyline that would culminate at WrestleMania. Whatever the reason, reality intervened. On June 25, 2007, the sheriff of Fayette County notified WWE that three bodies had been found belonging to Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy, and his son Daniel. It was one of the darkest moments in WWE history. McMahon was forced to immediately return to the screen to speak to the WWE world. He did so once to announce an episode of Raw entirely dedicated to Chris Benoit's memory, and he did it again 24 hours later to announce that Chris Benoit's name would be effectively erased from WWE history as a result of the discovery that Nancy Benoit and Daniel Benoit had been killed by Chris Benoit himself. The explosion of the limousine and McMahon's staged death would only remain a vague memory, a brief mention a few months later to partially revive that storyline.