By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo: Netflix
The second episode of Vince McMahon’s Netflix docuseries called ‘Heat’ details the scandals surrounding McMahon and the WWE company—the start of WrestleMania and trying to make each WrestleMania better than the previous ones.
One of the company’s most prominent moments is when they did the Saturday Night Main Event on NBC. The show was a big deal in the 1980s.
Sports broadcaster Bob Costas, who worked with NBC Sports for many years, said he liked wrestling in the early 80s and mid-80s. He’s not a fan of wrestling anymore.
Wrestlers in the 80s had it rough because they didn’t make so much money, but more importantly, they didn’t receive medical protection. So, most wrestlers would perform injured. The company is different today, and wrestlers are more protected financially and medically, but back then, you had to be a warrior and toughen up.
As big as Hulk Hogan was, many wrestlers viewed him differently when he ratted out Jesse Ventura to Vince because Ventura tried to start a union. It happened before Wrestlemania Two. Ventura doesn’t like Hogan and never trusts him after that. Ventura spoke about this during an interview with Graham Bensinger.
As for Wrestlemania Two, it made money, but it wasn’t successful compared to the first one. The event took place in three different cities, which is insane. However, Wrestlemania Three was a redemption one and did much better.
Hogan would win the match, and his popularity exploded after Wrestlemania Three.
The most important part of the episode came with the scandals. Journalist Phil Mushnick didn’t like Vince, what the company stood for, and what they were doing. He tried to bury them with as many facts as possible and expose them through his writing.
The steroid and ring boy scandal was a big deal back then. Pat Patterson’s name came up in this episode. He made some wrestlers uncomfortable by touching them. Patterson was Vince’s right-hand man; he made the bookings, and maybe Vince protected him to a certain extent.
According to what was said in the episode, Patterson seems to have gotten away with many things. Vince, on the other hand, hated going to court and dealing with the whole situation. He settled with Tom Cole.
In 1994, Vince withdrew his defamation lawsuit against Rita Chatterson and Geraldo Rivera. In 2023, Vince paid a multi-million dollar settlement to Chatterson; Vince still denies any wrongdoing.
Review Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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