Vince McMahon’s life story is heading to the small screen. On Monday, it was announced that Blumhouse Television and WWE are teaming up to develop a scripted series about McMahon, the Chairman and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. Dubbed The United States of America Vs. Vince McMahon, it is described as the first scripted portrayal of McMahon.
While Vince McMahon is best known for his work in WWE both on camera and behind the scenes, the new series will focus specifically on his involvement in the infamous “steroid trial” of the 1990s. At the time, New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick regularly criticized WWE (then WWF) and McMahon, alleging that McMahon had encouraged steroid use amongst the wrestlers with headlines like ‘Legislators Give WWE a Free Pass on ‘Roids’ and ‘McMahon Skips Through the Cemetery.’
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The negative publicity eventually caught the attention of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York. In 1994, McMahon was indicted by the government for allegedly supplying the WWE superstars with anabolic steroids personally. Though McMahon faced heavy time if found guilty, he refused to take a plea deal, insisting upon his innocence and taking on the U.S. government head on. He was ultimately acquitted unanimously and went on to dominate the pro wrestling business.
A key witness for the prosecution was Hulk Hogan, who served as McMahon’s biggest star for many years during the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s. Though Hogan had since departed WWE, he testified that he had never been given steroids by McMahon, nor had the WWE Chairman asked the wrestler to take them at any point. Netflix is separately developing a scripted Hulk Hogan movie as well with Chris Hemsworth and Joker director Todd Phillips.
McMahon, WWE Executive Producer and Chief of Global TV Distribution Kevin Dunn, and Blumhouse’s Jason Blum, Chris McCumber, and Jeremy Gold will executive produce The United States of America Vs. Vince McMahon. It’s not the first project made as a collaboration between WWE and Blumhouse as they previously developed the indie movie Incarnate featuring WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry as well as the JD Dillard movie Sleight.
“Jason, Chris and their team at Blumhouse create amazing work and we look forward to delivering an inside look into one of the most pivotal moments in our company’s history,” Dunn said.
McCumber added: “We have a dramatic, riveting saga – one that’s crazier than fiction – that will appeal to the cross-section of Blumhouse and WWE fans. To say I’m thrilled about collaborating again with WWE is an understatement.”
Netflix is also getting into the rasslin’ business with a separate project centering on McMahon. WWE is separately working with Bill Simmons (The Ringer) on a multi-part docuseries about McMahon’s life and rise to the top of the pro wrestling world. Previously, Simmons served as an executive producer on the HBO documentary Andre the Giant in 2018 and co-created ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series. Pro wrestling insider Dave Metlzer reported that the McMahon docuseries will be “one of the highest budgeted docs in Netflix history.”
There’s no word yet on who will be playing Vince McMahon in the new series or when we can expect to see its premiere. In the meantime, you can catch McMahon in classic WWE programming on Peacock. This news comes to us from Deadline.
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