Customer Reviews

WWE - McMahon

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I bought this DVD hoping to find out much more then I knew about Vince McMahon, especially concerning his life early on, and working in the "old world" of wrestling. The DVD begins with Vince taking over his father's company and uniting the wrestling territories into one national Federation....it then jumps to him as an announcer and Survivor Series '97.....?!?!

Basically this DVD truly is about "Mr. McMahon", the character....and leaves a lot to be desired in terms of learning about Vince McMahon the person. I admit, there are some great stories in here, and you do find out some things about Vince that most people do not know....but it's often brought up casually in the conversation as if the viewer already knew about it. For example, Vince spent the early part of his life in a trailer park and on/around military bases...this helps give the viewer an idea of what motivated him to work so hard,etc yet is completey glossed over...it would have been nice to spend some time on details like this, so when a story comes around, the viewer already has an understanding of Vince's roots.

The formula here is "McMahon vs Wrestler X; Was it the character or the person?" next...."McMahon vs Wrestler X; How much of Vince is in that character?"...."McMahon and Winning: He likes to win". Very surface level stuff here...they don't REALLY get into depth on the good stories either....ie the infamous court case about steroid use where Hogan and McMahon had a falling out; they simply bring up that they had a beef but now work together again. Lame. Vince, if you truly aren't afraid of anything, tell us what you REALLY think...us fans do want to know.

WWE has had some great DVD sets, and I was looking forward to this one, but the content fell a bit flat for me...it easily could have been 3-discs....1 for the real McMahon, 1 for the Character, and 1 for the extras.

With that said, it certainly is entertaining at points, but 80% of it the general public could have learned somewhere else, or already knows. I definitely would recommend a rental...then decide for yourself. The extras are worth it if you do not own the matches already, and some of the deleted stories are better then what was kept in the main program...a solid package that will entertain, but WWE has done better.

I can't understand what everybody's problem with "WWE: MCMAHON" is. Yes, Vince McMahon is an egomaniacal businessman who's made some questionable decisions. But when somebody takes control of an ambitious enterprise and runs it 24/7 for over two decades, what do you expect? Trust me, this 2-disc treatment on the WWE's head maestro is not the self-congratulating borefest we feared it would be.

The DVD mainly focuses on Vince McMahon's role during the creation of the WWF, and during the Attitude Era (late '90s). Some obvious topics like WCW, the Montreal Screwjob, and the Stone Cold Steve Austin feud are given plenty of coverage. Enough interviews from many people bring a good mix of nostaliga for us hardcore fans. However, newer viewers should be able to jump right in. Many WWE documentaries discuss topics that only longtime fans will understand, but the "MCMAHON" program is incredibly easy to follow. For example, when discussing the creation of the WWF, a map shows who owned which territory, and how Vince McMahon made the global entertainment possible.

Some unexpected topics like the XFL, Triple H's marriage into the family, and Vince's in-ring prowess (or lack thereof) are addressed. The amount of detail given to each chapter is impressive, but even better news is that none of the "MCMAHON" feature is done in "kayfabe" (character-speak).

Another pleasant surprise is that the "MCMAHON" documentary shows a very human side to the family. Seeing Vince's warmth when talking about being a grandfather, or admitting that certain storylines went wrong, or listening to his fierce determination to the business, or why he misses the Monday Night Wars --- it's rare to see Vince speak plainly and humble (he occasionally seems caught off-guard). Before I watched this DVD, I wouldn't have thought maybe Bret Hart deserved a little bit of a screwjob, or that maybe the WWE Chairman needs to be on TV from time to time. You won't see a more normal Vince McMahon anywhere, except maybe on the "SUPERSTAR BILLY GRAHAM" DVD.

I have very few criticisms for the documentary on Disc One. I wish the we got a little more info on Vince's commentary days, or more from his childhood and role models. Also, there's no mention whatsoever of Owen Hart's death. Maybe that subject would bother some people, but I agree fellow Amazon reviewers that the tragedy should've been discussed at least briefly. My last gripe is that there is a segment highlighting the McMahon Family's dysfunction on TV, and it goes on for a very long time. It's great that Linda, Shane, and Stephanie all speak plainly about their storylines. However, we see clip after clip after clip after clip...I think the chapter clocked in at 15-20 minutes. Keep in mind that these are very small complaints, and that no WWE documentary is perfect.

The main theme on most WWE documentaries is the duality of their talent. Jake Roberts was a gifted psychologist with insufferable demons. Bret Hart was the best wrestler ever whose potential was cut short by 3 years of horrific tragedy. The Ultimate Warrior was a charismatic physical specimen who couldn't get a grasp on his purpose or personality. Billy Graham was way ahead of his time and went through many years of addiction, but is now a man who loves God and is grateful for his contributions.

Vince McMahon is an ambitious entrepeneur whose ego is what drives him to unparalleled success and to equally shocking failures. Could I be drinking the Kool-Aid of "Mr. Mac-Man"? Yeah, I might be...but doesn't that speak volumes about how persuasive he can be? Watch the "MCMAHON" DVD and its Extra Features...its as entertaining as it is encyclopedic.

EXTRAS
Disc One includes some deleted scenes that all would've been worth being on the main documentary. My personal favorite is William Regal thanking Vince for helping him overcome his drug problems. Disc Two includes 8 matches. I only liked a few of them, but I don't think anybody will be surprised by that. I wish they included his VENGEANCE 2003 match against Zach Gowen because it's (arguably) the best example of McMahon's ring ability, but otherwise it's the best selection you could ask for.

Ok... Well... I see that there is only one review for this dvd and so I decided to write this review since watching the dvd as I got it today. This dvd is a two disc set that gives you different views of Vincent Kennedy McMahon, The business man, Mr. McMahon the ruthless boss and the family man.. The first dvd has a biography part that is 3 hours long that also includes some funny extras. The biography portion gives you alot of insight about past incidents approved/disapproved storylines, Ted Turner taking Vince to court, points of views from various wrestlers and agents with much more entertaining scandals including Katie Vick that have never been heard about.

I rated this dvd a three because I felt I pretty much got duped into buying another dvd that I have all the matches of, on previous dvd's. They could have added much more and made this set a three disc instead of two with different matches.

All in all it is well worth the money just for the first disc. I've been a wrestling fan for quite a long time already and can say, there are some stuff on this disc that I haven't even heard about. The extras on it are funny as well...

80-76%-perfect
75-71%-awsome
70-66%-good
65-61%-poor
60-56%-awful

Let me start off real quick before i review the matches and say that the story of vinces life was preatty well told so that is a plus to the dvd.

1. Stone Cold Steve austin vs. Mr McMahon for the wwe title- This had the crowd on the edge of its seat the only problem was the match never started basically a segent between vince and stone cold and looked like stone cold was going to have his hand tied behind his back but the match never started because mick foley came down and beat the [...] out of austin. I wont rate this becauyse the match never started buit a okay segement but could have been used for a match instead. Winner no contest. match Rating Not Rated.

2. Stone COld vs. Mr McMahon in a steel cage match for the number one contnder for the wwe title- This was a nice way to kick off disk two of the dvd. The matrch did not take place in the ring that much but there was alot of outside action. One spot that i got to give up for vince was he took a sick bump off the steel cage through the table sweet stuff. ALot of this match austin dominated till the big show came out. A surprise ending which helped this match as well. Winner stone OCld steve Austin. Match RAting 8/10.

3. The McMahons vince and shne vs. Stone cold in a handicap ladder match- This was a preatty good match could ahev been better but for the experience of the mcmahons theyt did a good job. Lots of work near the ladder near the satge and shne took some sick shots to the ladder. ALso as nice table spot with stone cold and shane were austin jumped off the ladder through the table. Preatty good match. WInners The McMahons vince and shane. Match RAting 7.5/10.

4. Vince McMahon vs HHH in a street- This is proboly my second favorite match on this card ias i will say that vince and hh did a awsome job here a great 30 minutes of action and a great storyline to go with it. This was a absolute blood fest. Started out a little slow but than mankind brought down a whole cart of items. Lots of items including a trash can 2 by four Steel pipe strret signes sledgeham,mer and alot of more stuff. This was even taken out into the parking lot. VInce took a sick bump inb this match when he climed up and fell 15 off the stageing equitment. The end was awosme and a huge surprise turn by stephine great match. WInner HHH. Match Rating 9/10.

5. Vince McMahon vs. SHane McMhon in a street fight- to floow up a great match this one was even better. I would have to say that the way that they built this match was awsome the storylines and everything> anyway this amtch was awsoem it had everytinhg trash cans sreet signs a table spot a kendo stick and when linda arose from her chair i was schocked. A nice van terminator that i think was a first ever in hte wwe. Great match. WInner Shane McMahon. Match RAting 9.5/10.

6. Rick Flair vs. Mr. McMahon in a strret fight- This was no were near as good as the last two street fights on this disk. There was alot of blood but not that many items. There is not alot to say it did have a good storyline but these twos age could not carry an awosme match but it was not horriable. WInner RIck Flair. Match Rating 7/10.

7. Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. McMahon in a strret fight- This was another awsome street giht. Unlike the flair one this had all the hpye and the wrestrlemania enviroment. Great storyline as it was true in real life to. Started out a little slow but than they brought a chair into it but there were some sick shots including mcmhon taking them hardest one with a sick shot off his skull. Then they borught out a ladder and a awsome table spot were vince jumps off the ladder through a table. He gets a steel pipe and the look on his face is like sating it was awoms.e match finshes off with alot of near fallsa and a appreence by roddy roddy piper. Winner Hulk Hogan. match Rating 8.5/10.

8. Stephine McMahon vs. Mr McMahon in a i quit match- This was not my favoite match and i would say that it is my least favorite on this disk. I can say that it had a good storyline but for an i quit this match was sad. Only one weapon used a steel pipe the rest was not that good. WInner Mr. McMahon. Match Rating 5/10.

9. Undertaker vs. Mr. McMahon in a buried alive match- This was a pretty soild match. I kind of liked it. Right from the get go this match was brutal. McMahon was busted open inn like the first 10 seconds of this match. Lots of blood and some nice weapons used including a steel shovle steel steps tv monters. A sick part in this match were taker slammes the steel stpes on mcmahons leg look like it broke his ankle. Winner Mr. McMahon. Match Rating 7.5/10.

Well that raps up another. I would give the Mr. Mcmhon dvd a grade of 62/80 whcih is a 77% which means this is a perfect dvd. I would say that there are 3 mqtches that make this dvd awsome and others that make it good and the documentry was good to. If you can tell me if my review was helful or not i would appreicate that. Thanks for your time.

Vince McMahon is so full of it. Vince sure had the b@lls the size of grape fruits to release a DVD set about himself. He should have thought about cancelling this set just like the Sting dvd set has been cancelled. Don't even bother listening to other reviews claiming that the Sting dvd set has been postponed because it ain't going to happen anytime soon. Either way I did't write this review to talk about Sting, I wrote it to talk about the so called creative genius himself. I have got to admit that there were many positive things said about him. How he learned about the family business from his father which at the time was a territoial business and how he expanded it nationally as well as compete with the other smaller territories. They also get into how Ted Turner wanted to buy a piece of the WWE and Vince McMahon refused which forced Ted to buy Georgia Championship Wrestling from the Crocketts. From there Ted Turner had created WCW Monday Nitro and started throwing money everywhere by taking WWEs talents as well as winning in the ratings.

In the next chapter they jump into an incident that occured after a cage match involving Bret Hart getting screwed. Vince McMahon comes into the ring trying to interview Bret but gets shoved on his @ss. Vince believes that this incident created his character that we all know today. From that moment on this was the formula that was used to fight back with WCW.

OK, here is where I start critisizing Vince McMahon. The next chapter gets into the Montreal screw job and who sticks his nose where it doesn't belong none other than the Big Show. He gives his opinion that Bret Hart was leaving the WWE and going to WCW with the championship belt. How does he know that if he was wrestling with WCW at the time. What an @ss kisser he turned out to be. Why isn't Vince McMahon giving his side of the story instead of letting other guys tell it for him. It also didn't surprise me that Shawn Michaels didn't speak about this subject in the video which proves to the world that he isn't man enough to talk about it or about Bret Hart. The true story was that Bret Hart wasn't going to WCW until the following month which would have given him enough time to surrender the championship belt and move on. But no instead Vince was paranoid and called for the bell to ring when Bret was put in his own sharp shooter ending the match and getting spit in the face. I'm sure that there was alot of hell being raised back stage after the show was over.

From that moment on the fans started to dislike Vince McMahon and wanted to be referred to as Mr. McMahon. Along comes "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and starts to knock Mr. McMahon on his @ss week after week and takes over the show building both characters at the same time. I don't even need to get into the rest of this rivalry because this chapter is all about Austin and McMahon. The next chapter gets into how Mr. McMahon is as an athlete or wrestler. Just by watching the clips from his matches proves that he is the worst wrestler in history. Everybody says that the Ultimate Warrior was a terrible wrestler but I think that Mr. McMahon has far surpassed that statement. The only things that made his matches look good were the story lines and having no rules in the match. Either way his matches are terrible.

The rest of the McMahon story focuses on Mr. McMahon the character such as the Mr. McMahon kiss my @ss club, the disfunctional family, running WCW out of business and buying it. I was surprised that they talked about the XFL which appeared to be a great concept but couldn't keep WWE personalities out of it and let it build on its own. The WWE ran the XFL out of business or should I say that the WWE screwed the XFL.

I couldn't believe that they didn't even get into the WBF or even the steroid scandal. You don't get to here anything about the money he owed wrestlers back in the 80's and 90's or even the sexual harassment issues going on back stage. They say that Vince McMahon loves controversy but this DVD set lacks all the controversy that was left out. There sure were alot of @ss kissing remarks about Vince McMahon as a person and of course that wasn't going to be left out. Mr. McMahon was definitely one of the biggest loud mouths I've ever heard and I'll give him that for credit. Overall I quit being a WWE fan at least until they can clean up their act and quit lying to the fans. The WWE was a whole lot better when they used a whole lot of imagination back then and the @ss kissing part was kept back stage where nobody had to deal with it. Nowadays you here it in the middle of the ring when somebody is on the mic. I only recommend this set to anybody who is used to the @ss kissing environment.

I know I'm around a year late reviewing this but to be honest, I wasn't interested in this because I thought it would be a DVD version of his "Kiss My Ass" club but I was actually suprized as this was a fair look at both Vince McMahon & his "Mr. McMahon" character in that it openly shows people critizing moves & mistakes he's made in the past along with highlight certain aspects that people heavily forget about when talking about Vince McMahon.

The documentry stars off by talking about the story behind how he became the lead announcer for the WWE. His beginnings of taking WWE national & buying out the local territories is also covered with comments from Greg Gagne about the meeting they had about buying the AWA at one point. The story behind WWE buying Georgia Championship Wrestling & having WWE wrestling on TBS only to lead to a lawsuit with Ted Turner & the deal eventually ending starting the war between Vince & Ted that included losing various WWE talents to WCW like Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall & Kevin "Diesel" Nash. People's assumption of when the Mr. McMahon character began was the next topic of conversation covering his television transition from being the announcer to his real life character of being the owner. The "Survivor Series" screwjob is talked about next & how the heat from that incident helped his character take off. The Steve Austin fued was next with various superstars talking about their favorite moments from it along with highlights & looking back at their infamous cage match. Mr. McMahon's in-ring style is heavy discussed & is a very comedic part of this DVD as everyone just tells the truth in that he's not good in the ring but he knows how to fall down & make it look funny with Triple H going as far as saying "He thinks he's Lou Thesz." The story behind WWE becoming a publicly traded company on the New York stock exchange along WWE's charity work with various companies like Make-A-Wish is also discussed. Here was one of the most shocking parts of the DVD where they talked about the XFL with Joey Styles being very blunt on why the XFL was blasted by the media by incorporating WWE elements into the product (The Rock being the first thing they saw on the first show) & having their cheerleaders acting like strippers instead of traditional cheerleaders. The Bob Costas interview Vince did was discussed before they went into a discussion about the "Katie Vick" incident where The Rock & Joey Styles were very blunt in saying that it was stupid & so over the top that it wasn't funny while Vince says he enjoyed it. Vince's relationship with his family on & off screen is heavily discussed here as the story behind Triple H & Stephanie getting together is finally revealed while the story behind Vince & Linda meeting at church. The Mr. McMahon character's relationship on screen with the divas is talked about with Trish Stratus giving her thoughts on the angle between her & Vince including the time he frenched kiss her infront of Linda on SmackDown. The next conversation was a real highlight here as people from Jerry Lawler to Dusty Rhodes give their opinions on Vince buying WCW & the negative effect it's had on the business since there isn't any more competition. Now what would a Vince McMahon DVD be without talking about the "Kiss My Ass" club as that's briefly talked about before moving on with talk about the brand extention & various talents thoughts on how it's developing & if it's working. The story behind Steve Austin's walkout of the company in 2002 was also talked about before the topic of conversation moved over to the story behind Vince McMahon hiring Eric Bischoff & why he did it. The WM19 fued between Hogan & Vince along with his fued with Zach Gowen are discussed before they show highlights of Vince going into the Madison Square Garden Hall Of Fame. The "behind the scenes" story of the No Mercy match between Stephanie & Vince that happened less than a week from her wedding (and wanting to put that on PPV) is discussed by all the family involved before Stephanie revealed storylines that her dad suggested revolving about her baby that she turned down...and boy, you could understand why after hearing them. The story behind his quad injury at the 2005 Royal Rumble, his "your fired" catchphrase with Matt Hardy & HBK & Sgt. Slaughter telling stories of how they were fired from the company at one point, Vince McMahon showing support to the troops, his life as a grandfather & turning 60, along with his fued with HBK & the precious Muscle & Fitness magazine cover round out the documentry.

DVD extras include interview outtakes such as various talent talking about & imitating the Mr. McMahon walk, Big Show talking about a prank he thought Vince pulled on him during the Iraq trip with a hidden extra of Triple H confirming that Vince pulled the joke on Show, William Regal talking about how Vince took care of him when he had his drug problem, the story behind Vince's motorcycle accident in 1999 that caused him to be on crutches & a wheelchair for several weeks, a funny story where Triple H talks about how competitive Vince is, how Vince is able to convince people to go with his vision of what he wants, and how Stephanie wants people to remember her dad. Other extras include the infamous performance of "Stand Back" from the Slammy Awards, his first ever "match" against Steve Austin from RAW '98 where Dude Love returned, the highlight video of Vince training for the 1999 Rumble with hidden outtakes of him trying to catch a chicken.

Matches Include:
Steel Cage Match vs. Steve Austin - To summerize this one is in a nutshell, this is the defination of "Opening A Can Of Whoop-Ass" on someone because Austin just beat the hell out of Vince from making him bleed, tossing him into the cage, having him fall off the cage through the announce table...wow, it was amazing to see Vince himself take the type of punishment at that time.
IYH: St. Valentine's Day Massacre '99

Ladder Match w/Shane McMahon vs. Steve Austin - If your looking for a quality match that you would see from people the likes of Edge, Jeff Hardy, or Chris Jericho then your going to get that here. The object to grab off the ladder here was a briefcase containing the paperwork for the C.E.O. position & 50% ownership of the company that was given to Austin after Linda & Stephanie found out that Vince & Shane was the Undertaker's "higher power" who was tourturing Stephanie for months. This was absolutely a comedy match as you just had some entertaining spots that you just had to sit back & laugh at.
King Of The Ring '99

No Holds Barred Match vs. Triple H - This is Vince McMahon's best match ever. Yeah, this match is better than Vince's matches with Austin, Hogan, and Rock. They go all over the arena in this hardcore brawl even out to the parking lot & Mankind showing up to help Vince out at one point. The ending was something of a shocker at the time & this set up the McMahon-Helsmley era.
Armageddon '99
("Triple H: That Damn Good")

Street Fight Match w/special referee Mick Foley vs. Shane McMahon - Before the match gets started, the forshadowing of events to come took place as Shane McMahon introduced some of the WCW stars to the arena to complete silence & it should also be noted that Stephanie McMahon was in Vince's corner for this match. This fight started off with a bang as Vince took the fight to Shane while beating him with weapons such as metal signs, a monitor & choking him with the cable cords. This evolved into one of the wildest matches you've ever seen just by how many twist & turns kept happening from the appearence of Trish Stratus & the fight with Stephanie, the involvement of Linda McMahon & Mick Foley along with Shane's finishing move that was never seen before in WWE (but seen before in a more "extreme" enviroment). This was a street fight that had no right to be as good as it was.
WrestleMania XVII

Street Fight Match vs. Ric Flair - The storyline at this time was that both men were co-owners of the company and they just couldn't get along with anymore...and it should be noted that this was Flair's first wrestling match since his return to WWE months earlier in his old WCW/NWA stomping grounds of Atlanta. Vince overpowered & dominated Flair in the early moments. It was when Vince had busted him open that Flair just snapped & made his comeback. They used monitors & steel pipes while having their moments at ringside with Flair's daughter's camera. This was a good entertaining match.
Royal Rumble '02

Street Fight Match vs. Hulk Hogan - This match wasn't really great but it was good to just sit back & watch. Hogan was really broken down at this point & McMahon isn't that good of a wrestler but knows how to take a beating & sell it good. This had it's moments like when the ladder got involved along with the visual of a bloody Vince McMahon slowing rising above the ring apron that Triple H later described as "he looked like the devil himself."
WrestleMania XIX
("Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology")

I Quit Match vs. Stephanie McMahon - If you take one thing into concideration, this match isn't as bad as you think as it was revealed on the McMahon DVD was that Stephanie was getting married in less than a week from this match so they went light so she didn't have a bruse or scratch on her. This was a better "sports entertainment" match than a wrestling match.
No Mercy '03

Buried Alive Match vs. Undertaker - To summerize, McMahon is just spilling blood...after the first punch in less than a minute & takes a non-stop beating here until Kane comes to his aid in the end and buries Undertaker alive.
Survivor Series '03
("Tombstone: History Of The Undertaker")

Overall, this DVD was a fair view of both Vince McMahon & his character of Mr. McMahon. The only faults are that they didn't focus enough on the past as we didn't hear anything or really go indept about the early days of the WWF such as the story behind the first WrestleMania, the first run of Hulkamania, the steriod trial that almost put him in jail, and the WBF (which they advertised on the DVD commercial). This product is a year old so those who wanted to check this out have already had the chance but if you haven't yet, it's worth a look.

Well, normally I wouldn't have reviewed this, but considering that most of the reviews on here aren't real I'll give it a go. To begin with, this should be the most fascinating dvd the WWE has to offer. The reason being... Vince is the only person who has been there the whole time. By that I mean the expansion era, the Hogan era, the steroid trial and the dismal early 90's, the war with WCW, Owen Hart's tragic death, the XFL, the purchase of WCW and so on and so on. Shawn Michaels wasn't there, the Undertaker wasn't there, Hogan wasn't there. Only Vince was around for the whole ride (because he was the one driving). Therefore this really should have been far more interesting than it was. Too much was skimmed over and not enough was shown. That being said it wasn't all bad. We got to see some classic McMahon moments like those he shared with Austin and Shane. We also got to hear from Superstars such as Shawn Michaels and the Big Show, and actually get their real opinions on Vince. Even "Easy E" Eric Bischoff is there to talk about his ex rival and current boss. There are some home videos (the one with Shane and Vince's grandson is touching) that we have never seen before. All in all this is certainly not up to par with the recent dvd's such as Bret Hart's and the ECW Rise and Fall release. However, I would certainly suggest getting it from NetFlix or borrowing it from a buddy. My final comment on it in that regard is this is a dvd that you will probably only watch once. 3 1/2 stars.

First let me say that if you are not sure about buying this dvd then just flip a coin with that being said let's talk about the dvd. Well the documentary portion of this dvd is... well lets face it a glorification of McMahon from around '95 or so until the '05 when the dvd was released. Add in to this glaring ommissions, tweaking some of the facts and having a number of the WWE roster kissing his ass (both figurativley and literally) and you've got the makings for one craptastic dvd but let's not only focus on the negatives the matches on here are what make the dvd at least a considerable buy.
McMahon vs Stone Cold Steve Austin (RAW '98)

Steel Cage Match McMahon vs Stone Cold Steve Austin (St. Valentine's Massacre

Ladder Match Vince and Shane McMahon vs Stone Cold Steve Austin(King of The Ring '99)

No Holds Barred McMahon vs HHH (Armageddon '99)

Street Fight Vince McMahon vs Shane McMahon (WrestleMania X-Seven)

Street Fight McMahon vs Ric Flair (Royal Rumble '02)

Street Fight McMahon vs Hulk Hogan (WrestleMania XIX)

"I Quit" Match Vince McMahon vs Stephanie McMahon (No Mercy '03)

Buried Alive Match McMahon vs Undertaker (Survivor Series '03)

overall not a terrible selection of matches but the documentary sucks out loud so if you just want the matches get it if you want a tell all story well that will probably never happen with Vince

2 Disc Collector's Edition (2006)

The McMahon DVD collector set is my favorite WWE set that I own and one of the first I ever got. What I enjoy most about this is that it follows my favorite style of documentary followed by matches so you can watch a comprehensive history in one sitting and jump to the matches later whenever you want. Some of the others are just matches with a bit of loose history inbetween like a narrative to try and string them together but it never delves into it as much as you'd like.

This DVD really goes into the character Mr. McMahon compared with the real person Vincent Kennedy McMahon. McMahon got his start following in his father's footsteps and becoming an announcer after someone walked off the job. He had a gift for straight commentary and his rolling voice worked well with others such as Jesse Ventura. After the Montreal Screw-job, the curtain was pulled aside and people realized that McMahon was pulling all the strings and he became the character McMahon as the big bad Chairman of the Board.

The more time went by, the bigger the walk and talk became for the heel of Mr. McMahon. The "No Chance in Hell" song has evolved over the years but is still great whenever he comes out to it. What really propelled the character into the spotlight was the rivalry with Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was the most famous involved rivalry between white collar and blue collar with the relate-ability of the beer-drinking Stone Cold character with the evil corporate boss.

Later the character got to to into new directions with feuds within his own family and the introduction of Triple H as the fake son-in-law who later became the real son-in-law. Hearing about Triple H's and Stephanie McMahon's backgrounds was really interesting for me because I'm a big Triple H fan. The character McMahon thought of himself as a ladies man so he was always engaging in "affairs" with all the hot divas, even when his wife, Linda was in a (fake) coma on Valentine's Day. He likes to set it up so he does worse and worse acts and then finally someone gets revenge on him.

You get to go into the history of the Kiss-My-Ass club that he started for a while and his fights with DX. When he acquired WCW and hired Eric Bischoff, it was the ultimate power play and great for publicity. One of my favorite segments in this story is all the people who have been fired once or multiple times by Mr. McMahon for the show or privately and their reactions.

Another great segment is the story of the origin of McMahonism, a special religion the character McMahon made up to mess with Shawn Michaels in a rivalry. I wish the match with Shawn Michaels had been on this DVD because it looked so amazing with Shawn jumping off a giant ladder onto a waiting McMahon in a trash can ON a table. What grapefruits to sit in that trash can and wait for the impact!

On the flip side, the real Mr. McMahon is a fighter and ultra competitive, but he is also a philanthropist and a proud family-man and grandfather. The history of the gradual acquisition of all the other wrestling companies and eventually becoming a publicly traded stock that the fans can own is interesting to me as a business person too.

He's also a patriot who takes his wrestlers overseas to entertain the troops every year around Christmas and seeing the footage, you can just see how much it always means to them. Vince McMahon is just a fascinating individual who has more guts and ego than anyone I've ever seen in my life and I loved the mix of reality and fiction for this documentary.

Matches:

McMahon does not wrestle many matches due to not actually being a professional but feels the need to jump in there when it is appropriate to the storyline, particularly when he can do it with family. McMahon's rivalry with Stone Cold was one of the most volatile effective rivalries the WWE has ever had so those matches are pretty great. McMahon makes awesome cartoony faces so his in-ring persona really works well. When he wrestles with Shane or Stephanie, especially if his wife is involved, he's great at telling the story. He's also gone up against classics: Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, and the Undertaker. It's easy to see why he would want to go up against Bret Hart with a history like this. They have such a personal history that bringing it out for the public eye really gets the audiences involved and it will be therapeutic for a final bout to put behind them so I am really looking forward to this match.

Mr. McMahon vs Stone Cold Steve Austin - 1998 on Raw
Mr. McMahon vs Stone Cold Steve Austin - 1999 Steel Cage Match
Mr. McMahon & Shane McMahon vs Stone Cold Steve Austin - 1999 Handicap Ladder Match
Mr. McMahon vs Triple H - 1999 No-Holds-Barred Match
Mr. McMahon vs Shane McMahon - 2001 Street Fight
Mr. McMahon vs Ric Flair - 2002 Street Fight
Mr. McMahon vs Hulk Hogan - 2003 Street Fight
Mr. McMahon vs Stephanie McMahon - 2003 "I Quit" Match
Mr. McMahon vs Undertaker - 2003 Buried Alive Match

DVD Extras:

There are 7 extra stories in interview form that didn't quite make the cut into the documentary and flesh out a little more of discussed events. There are five deleted scenes, "The Motorcycle", "WWE Championship", "9/11 Taping", "Stuck in his ways", and "The Walk". Also two fun extras of "Slammy's 'Stand Back'" - his theme music and the Vincent Kennedy McMahon training package.

No matter what, Vince McMahon is willing to do just about anything for the WWE business whether it be making himself the heel and letting people beat on him or giving away money in a raffle or roping in celebrity after celebrity for cross promotion as with "Celebrity Apprentice" and "Project Runway" among others. He's a devoted family man and a powerful, smart business executive and I kind of hope he is immortal.

I got this set along with my WrestleMania 24 DVD set at a local store for the same price that I would've paid if I got WM24 by itself so not a bad deal!

Now, to the DVD itself, Vince McMahon has been both viewed as a winner and a villian by both sports entertainment fans and the general public for years. While I don't think the whole truth was told here, you DO get a glimpse of who he is.

Things are discussed is his beginnings, how he took the then-WWWF and made it a nationwide power while wiping out other territories like WCCW, WCW/NWA, AWA and many others. Now, he claims he didn't mean to do it but I have my own thinking on that one. Others that speak on the DVD DO agree that WWE was its best when there was competition (particularly WCW) around.

Also discussed was the whole HHH/Stephanie relationship and his feelings on it! This is the first time, that I know of, that the relationship has even been touched on anywhere in a public forum. Also, this is released as it was in 2006. I say that because Chris Benoit appears in it at least once during the video when discussing all the charity work they do, especially for kids (I don't think I need to explain the irony here).

Many stars, including John Cena, Shawn Michaels, HHH, Sgt. Slaughter, Jerry "The King" Lawler, Jim Ross and others speak on McMahon. The extras are fairly good as it does feature some McMahon matches I haven't seen such as his streetfight with HHH back in 1999 and others that I have but want to see again (his match with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in a cage in February 1999).

He does go into his successes with WWE, his failures such as the XFL, his controversial times such as the "Montreal Screwjob" with Bret Hart and his struggles such as the "Monday Night Wars" and the fact that his daughter was dating one of the wrestlers (HHH).

Don't expect a hard-hitting look at McMahon but it does give you some idea of who he is. Not required viewing but it is worth a look.