Mr. McMahon producers reveal whether WWE was involved in the final cut of the Netflix series

The Netflix docuseries “Mr. McMahon” was officially released on Wednesday and highlighted several serious issues surrounding the former CEO and the company itself, including labor rights violations, union busting, the 1994 steroid trial and the current sex trafficking trial involving both McMahon and the WWE.

Advertising

The documentary series features interviews with former stars such as The Rock, Triple H and Bret Hart, as well as exclusive content from the WWE archives. David Shoemaker, executive producer of “Mr. McMahon,” revealed on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” the extent to which WWE was involved in the final version of the project.

“WWE was involved in the beginning and is no longer involved in the documentary, right? So, I don't know… I mean, obviously Vince wouldn't have sat down to do it initially if he wasn't comfortable doing it. And obviously we were able to do the documentary that we did because we had that freedom… what happens next, I mean, I don't know. I mean, the people that work at WWE may have kind of secretly shot screeners, but for the most part, they're going to see it at the same time the world sees it.”

Advertising

Simmons also commented on WWE's involvement, stating that they had a deal with the company for access to their extensive content library and that he believes they did their best to make the documentary series as balanced as possible.

Advertising

“We had access to their entire library. Everything we wanted. That was part of the deal, and what appeals to me most is that a lot of documentaries have gone down the path of hagiography, of autobiography, and I don't think that's the case here. We really tried to achieve as much balance as possible in every way. And whether people agree that's how it went down, I don't know. But there just aren't many documentaries that are that balanced anymore.”

Regardless, both Shoemaker and Simmons stress that neither WWE nor McMahon himself had any say in the final cut of “Mr. McMahon,” but they do see the irony that the docuseries is finally being released after a long period of development, and at a time when WWE is experiencing its most successful period in years.

Advertising

If you use any of the quotes from this article, please cite “The Bill Simmons Podcast” with ah/t to Wrestling Inc. as the source of the transcription.