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Bill Simmons to help produce multi-part Netflix documentary on Vince


flyonthewall2983

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This might be the last time we get close access to Vince's fuckery so I'll be watching for sure.

 

That said, Simmons preached for months that the Andre doc he produced for HBO was gonna be bullshit free because they were "doing it right" and the director was doing tons of research. But at the end of the day is was a very well done WWE piece. So I don't expect a lot of fighting back WWE narrative on this one. I just hope they at least don't repeat the line about Vince taking wrestling out of small, smoke filled arenas :rolleyes:

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I don't know about Andre's WWE stint not being bullshit free on the HBO doc but considering that Pat Laprade was the field producer on that doc and he's extensively researched everything about Andre's personal life (he was still writing the bio with Bertrand Hébert that came out earlier this year), I doubt that this part was bullshit on any front but I guess that's besides the point.

But with Vince being the subject of that doc, who knows.

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Could be interesting but I'm afraid any subjective story of Vince and WWE will be at best mostly puff piece or at worst a total mockery of the concept of the documentary itself. I mean will they address anything related to something controversial, like wrestler deaths, independent contractor bs, Saudi blood money, declining popularity, creative bankruptcy criticisms, etc, etc, etc.? 

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I have to think that with Netflix as the primary distributor, and not the WWE Network, there will be some more emphasis on hitting him with harder questions. I don't expect it to be any sort of old-school Mike Wallace "gotcha" type journalism, and those subjects will surely just be grazed upon with little or no substance towards him about it. 

At the bare minimum, I think it could just be entertaining to watch if they get anything good out of him. He was fascinating in his relative candor in the Andre doc, which Simmons helped produce. 

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I'm much more excited about the news that came out regarding a potential Steve Austin doc.

I know he has some not-so-hidden skeletons in the closet himself - the domestic abuse arrest, being estranged from his kids - but I feel like he'd also be much more likely to open up about those things and admit his mistakes (like Jake Roberts, Scott Hall, and others have done) than Vince McMahon would ever admit. 

Plus, to me, the impact Vince has had on pro-wrestling, mainstream media culture, etc. is well-trodden territory. I mean, is there really anything to the Vince story that hasn't been chronicled?

Austin, on the other hand, is kinda like Flair or Andre - sure, us die-hards know all the ins-and-outs of his career and even some of his more infamous out-of-ring hijinks, but it's FUN to revisit the highlights and it will be nice to see it all in one tight production with context and insights from celebrity fans and his peers. Comparatively, I can't think of anything less fun (even in the nostalgic sense) to sit through all that "comedy" (Kiss My Ass Club, every time a McMahon was involved in some sort of feces-based angle, etc.) or hear Vince and his family spout off their usual revisionism or phony "we put smiles on faces" jingoism. A McMahon documentary talking about how much of a "genius" he is just sounds like something we've seen a dozen times before in their DVD sets and on the Network. 

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43 minutes ago, DMJ said:

Plus, to me, the impact Vince has had on pro-wrestling, mainstream media culture, etc. is well-trodden territory. I mean, is there really anything to the Vince story that hasn't been chronicled?

To the vast majority of folks Vince is just the wacky rasslin man who tried to run a football league and is BFFs with Trump. 

Plus while I expect it to be covered because it would be too obvious a whitewash to ignore completely, I fully expect anything involving the sex/steroid scandals to be boiled down to "the government had it out for poor small businessman Vince and his family company".

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On 11/3/2020 at 5:19 PM, The Thread Killer said:

What if you’re hoping for Last Tango in Paris

If it's a truthful doc, you'll probably get that too - considering that Marlon Brando and director Bernardo Bertolucci essentially raped 19-year-old Maria Schneider on the set in the guise of shooting a scene. 

https://www.vox.com/2018/11/26/18112531/bernardo-bertolucci-maria-schneider-last-tango-in-paris

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  • 3 months later...

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