A new Netflix documentary series has thrust the controversial career of WWE founder Vince McMahon back into the spotlight, examining some of the most shocking and divisive storylines ever broadcast in professional wrestling history.
The Rise and Fall of a Television Titan
Vince McMahon was once among the most powerful and influential figures in global television entertainment. As the creator of World Wrestling Entertainment, he built the planet's largest professional wrestling empire from the ground up, a business model that thrived on orchestrated drama and manufactured outrage designed to captivate millions of viewers each week.
However, the very controversy that fuelled his on-screen success eventually engulfed his personal and professional life. In 2024, the 80-year-old executive resigned from the organisation he founded following a high-profile sex trafficking lawsuit. The legal action contained numerous explosive allegations, including claims that McMahon maintained a collection of sex toys named after WWE performers and engaged in degrading behaviour towards staff members.
A Documentary Lifts the Curtain
The Netflix documentary series, released that same year, provides a comprehensive examination of McMahon's turbulent reign. It features remarkably candid interviews with the media tycoon himself, who revealed during filming that he possesses what he described as a "third brain" dedicated exclusively to sexual thoughts.
The programme details how McMahon's tyrannical leadership style spared virtually nobody associated with the WWE universe. This included his own family members and the company's most celebrated performers, all of whom became pawns in his quest for ratings and notoriety.
The Infamous 'Bark Like a Dog' Segment
One of the most notorious incidents explored in the documentary involves former model and eight-time WWE champion Trish Stratus. Stratus, who joined the organisation in the year 2000, was initially cast in a storyline portraying McMahon's on-screen mistress.
The scandalous narrative reached its disturbing climax in March 2001. After Stratus's character was assaulted by a male wrestler, McMahon declared on live television that she was merely a "toy" he had "grown tired of playing with." The following week, he compounded this degradation by ordering her to strip naked in the wrestling ring, get on her hands and knees, and bark like a dog for the audience.
"If you're really, really sorry Trish, take your clothes off. I said take it off now. Oh you're sorry, you're sorry, take your bra off right now," McMahon commanded during the broadcast. He continued, "I used to have a female dog and that b**ch did everything I told her to do. Now, damnit, get down. Bark like a dog, come on."
The segment was widely condemned by audiences and critics alike as profoundly misogynistic and degrading. However, in her interview for the Netflix documentary, Trish Stratus defended the creative choice. She insisted the scene's intention was to deliberately repulse viewers and generate maximum sympathy for her character's plight within the ongoing storyline.
"We knew we were presenting a sensitive scene to the fans," Stratus explained. "We knew it was gonna be talked about, and be interpreted and misinterpreted. We were aware of that."
A Kiss in Front of a Comatose Wife
The documentary also highlights another deeply contentious moment from the same era, involving McMahon's wife, Linda. Linda McMahon, who later served as Secretary of Education in former US President Donald Trump's administration, was written into the storyline as being in a coma and confined to a wheelchair.
Her character was portrayed as being forced to watch helplessly as Vince feuded with their children and pursued his affair with Trish Stratus. In one particularly striking sequence, Vince kissed his "mistress" directly in front of his incapacitated, ailing wife.
When questioned by Netflix about this scene, McMahon offered a blunt justification. "I kissed Trish Stratus in front of my wife in a wheelchair," he stated. "The reason why we did that was to show what a despicable heel I was. I mean, you can't get any more despicable."
The Final Curtain Call
McMahon's eventual departure from the company he built was a protracted and scandal-ridden process. In 2022, he stepped down as CEO and chairman following an internal investigation that uncovered he had paid millions of dollars in secret settlements to conceal allegations of personal sexual misconduct.
His final exit came two years later, when he left WWE entirely in the wake of the damaging sex-trafficking lawsuit. Vince McMahon has consistently denied all allegations against him and has publicly criticised the Netflix documentary, labelling it as "deceptive" and claiming it "misrepresented" his legacy and intentions.
The series nonetheless stands as a stark chronicle of the extreme lengths to which television entertainment can be pushed in the pursuit of profit and popularity, and the human cost often hidden behind the spectacle.
