The Worst Entertainment Boss You've Never Heard Of
WWE, Vince McMahon, and the degradation of an industry
At the age of 12, I stumbled headfirst into the wide world of professional wrestling. I was in 7th grade, bored of watching the same Naruto episodes over and over again, and looking to find new ways of connecting with my peers as I was still considered the new kid. I had heard several of my new friends talking about WWE so I had decided to check it out one fateful Monday night and was immediately hooked. Wrestling is unique in that it is essentially an ongoing, traveling play. You are presented with characters that have distinct styles and personalities, but their goals are ever evolving in a way that’s deeply compelling to watch. Each show, the top billed wrestlers go through entire story arcs, often in service of a grander arc that usually peaks around a pay per view night of drama and spectacle. These nights are then followed by weeks of fallout that rivals the drama of some of the best reality tv today. The result is some of the most captivating storytelling I’ve ever seen and it is all tightly written and choreographed by the staff and wrestling performers.
Considering the effort and talent these performers are able to bring to their craft, you would think that the WWE must be an extremely conducive place for creatives to thrive in. That performance of this nature that demands so much of its performers, must be well regulated with safety being a priority. Or that the organization must really care for its staff and performers and even its fans. Well, friends if I said anything of the sort, I would be lying to you. In fact, the opposite is true and has been true for decades. In truth, there’s been a specter haunting the WWE since its inception and Netflix is going to attempt to do a full breakdown of his life in six, one hour episodes.
I don’t want to dismiss the abilities of the Netflix team but I sincerely believe there is no way to fully cover the horrors that Vince McMahon unleashed on the world in only 6 hours. “Dark Side of the Ring” hasn’t even been able to fully capture it in 5 seasons. I personally don’t even know where to begin when it comes to the evil that is Vince McMahon so I suppose I’ll start with the business of wrestling itself. Before the WWE, wrestling was split up into several factions across the country. All of these factions had their own rosters and typically only operated within their own regions. You had promotions like ECW based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Smoky Mountain Wrestling based out of Morristown, Tennessee.
These promotions operated more of less successfully until around the late 80s, early 90s when Vince McMahon and the WWF at the time, began acquiring promotions around the country. While many tried to resist, McMahon’s money and influence pressured many to capitulate and sell. In my opinion, this was done pretty unscrupulously, showing little regard for the business or the fans. Many wrestlers with promising careers saw them snuffed out as they were demoted in service of boosting the profiles of McMahon’s favorites. Many others were left to enter into horrible contracts just to keep working, as the WWF raked in millions.
There are 2 paths for (male) wrestlers in the WWE. Either you’re over, or you aren’t. Over meaning you’re booked and busy, probably bringing in money on merch and action figures. These wrestlers are typically younger white men, with large delts and traps (deltoids and trapezius muscles) that have naturally intimidating demeanors or personal flair. Think HHH or Brock Lesnar. For these men, the company will work hard to keep them on top for as long as possible. This is a very privileged position to be in. However, if you are not huge and especially if you are not white, you will probably be victim to an insane amount of racism in your character or story at one point or another.
The racism in the WWE is so pervasive that even writers themselves have had to sue WWE over their bigoted culture and environment (https://www.forbes.com/sites/alfredkonuwa/2023/04/28/wwe-racial-discrimination-lawsuit-shocking-details-behind-alleged-racist-pitches/). From making Ghanian Wrestler Kofi Kingston identify as Jamaican due to it being “easier to digest for a wider audience” to making Irish wrestler Sheamus get into bar fights and smash bottles over heads in a “drunken irishman” manner, there is no culture that could escape the sanctioned racism of Vince McMahon. Even as a child I couldn’t help but notice the entrance music of every black wrestler that wasn’t Kofi Kingston had to be a rap song of some sort and their in ring personalities were hyper-violent in one way or another. So many black wrestlers in particular have spoken out about how devastating it has been to represent their people in front of the world in this manner. But as this is how Vince sees the world, it’s been how the WWE represents their talent.
Rivaling Vince’s racism is his rampant misogyny and outright hatred of women. The WWE has had a female roster for decades at this point but it isn’t until recently that they’ve been given a real opportunity to showcase their talents. For most of that time they have been treated like eye candy with their matches always having a humorous or sexist tone, including catfight like choreography and storylines surrounding in universe boyfriends. One particularly heinous moment is when Edge and Lita were booked to have a “Live Sex Celebration” in ring, during which a “technical difficulty” occurred and exposed Lita’s nude chest to the world. After which, she was shamed publicly and quickly blacklisted from the business entirely. They later inducted her into the Hall of Fame as a covert apology, but the damage to a promising career had been done. It is no secret that McMahon has no respect for women and views them as objects. In fact, it was a series of revelations and a lawsuit regarding sexual assault and trafficking that ultimately brought McMahon down altogether (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/attorney-vince-mcmahons-accuser-says-hopeful-indicted-soon-rcna171878).
While it’s easy to look at the racist and sexist culture of the WWE and deduce it may not be safe for wrestlers mentally, it straight up just isn’t a safe place to work physically either. For years wrestlers would be injured doing increasingly taxing matches and the WWE offered little in the way or care or support for their talent, often listing them as contractors to get out of offering them health care. Several wrestlers have died early and needlessly when their billion dollar employers should have been able to provide for them, so much so that the life expectancy for former wrestlers is much lower than the national average. A lot of it stems from the overwork and overlooking of drug abuse that has plagued the WWE since its inception. All of which have served to line McMahon’s pockets. If you want to be further horrified at the loss of life that has occurred under McMahon’s watch, I suggest you watch “Dark Side of the Ring” as MANY episodes tell the tragic tales of relatively young wrestlers who are no longer with us for one reason or another.
In 2 days time, we will find out if Netflix is able to fully capture the decades of depravity that is the McMahon wrestling monopoly. I don’t envy them as this is an extraordinary large task to tackle but their steps until now have not inspired confidence. Mostly because until his fall from grace, Vince McMahon himself was involved in production, granting the team hours of footage and unprecedented access to him for interviews. I do not trust that man to be honest or forthcoming about his life. It is just too ugly. I also do not trust the men surrounding Vince who worked with him for years. Not just because many of them could still be implicated in the trafficking that took place but because many were present for more of the horrible things that occurred in the WWE. They are complicity in the depravity. I don’t see any reason they would want to be honest about the things they have done either. There’s no incentive to be and Netflix has to know that. Either way, I hope some light is shed on Vince’s actions and the business as a whole in the hopes that some long-lasting positive change can be achieved.
Idk if you can tell but I’m actually nervous for this doc. A lot of the last year has been finding out awful things about my childhood faves and I see this being no different. It sucks knowing that so many suffered behind something you enjoyed so much.
Thank you for being here!
-whit
I'm a former writer for them and the filer of that lawsuit is one of my best friends (I'm also mentioned in it). Things are gonna get.... interesting.