The latest WWE and AEW News and Results
Dave Meltzer and I are back with the Friday edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about the big news from today’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Here were some of the things we discussed:
Click here to listen (sub needed) or watch on YouTube
Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales are back with the Friday edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about all the big news from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Here were some of the things we discussed:
Click here to listen (sub needed) or watch on YouTube
Bill Simmons says his upcoming docuseries on Vince McMahon has a chance to be “pretty spectacular.”
Simmons spoke to Jimmy Traina on the SI Media podcast about the project recently. He said the docuseries will most likely be released on Netflix early next year.
“Oh yeah, it’s f—ing awesome,” Simmons said of the project. “I think it’s going to be the first part of next year. Chris Smith is directing it.”
Simmons also mentioned that his team had access to Vince McMahon during the filming of the series. However, he also told Bloomberg earlier this week that while McMahon will get to look at clips of the film ahead of time, he will have no say regarding the final cut.
“I don’t want to say too much but I will say that I think it has a chance to be pretty spectacular,” Simmons continued.
He also noted the series will be released in parts and there was simply too much to cover for a two-hour documentary.
“This one is about Vince McMahon, his life, and wrestling so obviously it can’t be two hours.”
When asked if he thinks McMahon will be happy with it, Simmons responded, “I don’t know.”
“I think if you strip away all the other stuff and you just talk about the last 50 years that he had, it’s a pretty good topic for a documentary,” he continued.
Simmons, who also produced HBO’s documentary on Andre the Giant, continued to talk about the difficulty of producing documentaries on subjects related to pro wrestling.
“We dealt with this with Andre, part of the problem with wrestling is, talk about a game of telephone,” Simmons said.
“Especially with wrestling, which is hyperbole and embellishment and blowing everything out, it’s really hard to sift through. And we had a lot of trouble with Andre about even the WrestleMania III match. Just, ‘Okay, Hogan’s telling us now that he didn’t know if Andre was going to kick out or not,’ how true is that? So then you have to really dive into it and then it’s like, ‘Well, Vince is also saying that’s true.’ It’s just… wrestling is a tough space.”
It’s a brand new We’re Live, Pal with Andrew Zarian and I — available for free on YouTube. Just click above to watch.
We opened up the show talking about Ari Emanuel’s quotes about Vince McMahon and McMahon’s current role in TKO and WWE. We also talked about the following:
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The Ringer founder Bill Simmons remains very bullish on the upcoming Vince McMahon documentary on Netflix of which both men are executive producers.
Speaking at the Bloomberg Screentime event several days ago, Simmons was asked about the project where he revealed that McMahon will get to look at clips but will not be able to give notes before the final cut.
Simmons also tipped his hand that the project that was once set to be a docuseries may be a one-off documentary instead.
“It was a lot of time and it was one where Netflix still has final cut of it. It was a little more old-school in the 30 for 30 model. I think it has a chance to be really special,” he said.
30 for 30 is the popular ESPN film series Simmons co-created while with the network.
Even with that accomplishment, among others like the well-received HBO documentary on Andre The Giant he was directly involved in, Simmons feels the McMahon project that has been worked on for three years could be the best one of them all.
“It has a chance to be really great. I really think it has the chance to be the best one I’ve been involved with,” Simmons said. “I’ll be interested to see what people think about that one.”
Netflix has not announced a release date for the documentary.
On Monday, WWE and The Ringer announced a Spotify-exclusive podcast called “The Book of Wrestling” — a 25-episode series with each focusing on a specific catchphrase and related stories from the Attitude Era.
Hosted by David Shoemaker, the series will launch on Monday, April 4th, with new episodes dropping every weekday for five weeks.
The concept is based off Ringer founder Bill Simmons’ The Book of Basketball which has also moved over from book to podcast form. Shoemaker is an author and the host of the weekly Masked Man Show on The Ringer/Spotify.
From the release: “David will talk to the people who either played a part in creating the catchphrase or were there to witness its impact on the wrestling community.”
While a full episode guide wasn’t released, several mentioned in the press release were “Curtain Call,” “Austin 3:16,” “Bret Screwed Bret,” and “Suck It.”
The two sides first announced a partnership in August 2021.
Here’s the trailer for the series:
A Vince McMahon docuseries is in the works at Netflix.
It was announced on today’s WWE third quarter earnings call that WWE and Netflix have reached a “groundbreaking deal” to produce a multi-part documentary on the life of Vince McMahon. It was said that this will be one of the highest budgeted documentaries in Netflix history.
Further details on when the documentary will be premiering weren’t revealed.
The Ringer’s Bill Simmons will be an executive producer on the documentary. Chris Smith, who directed Netflix’s Fyre Festival documentary, will direct the McMahon documentary. Smith and WWE Studios will also be producers.
Simmons is a lifelong professional wrestling fan who was key in getting HBO’s Andre the Giant documentary made. HBO Sports partnered with WWE for that documentary and Simmons was a producer on the project.
The announcement of the McMahon documentary was made by Nick Khan on today’s earnings call. Khan, who was formerly co-head of television at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), was named president and chief revenue officer of WWE this August.
Coming off the premiere of ESPN’s 30 for 30 on Ric Flair, HBO has released a brief first look at their Andre The Giant documentary.
The project was officially announced this past February, with HBO partnering with WWE and Ringer Films on it. Bill Simmons, who is an executive producer on the film, has frequently cited a documentary on Andre’s life and career as being at the top of his wish list since he was with ESPN and was involved in the creation of the 30 for 30 series.
The documentary is officially titled “Andre The Giant.” The short 40-second trailer features footage of Andre, with The Ringer’s David Shoemaker calling him a god, the biggest celebrity in the world, and saying he was both a real human and a mythological figure.
Jason Hehir is the director of the film, which will debut on HBO in spring 2018. Patric Laprade also worked on the project and appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio this week to discuss Andre and the book he’s co-writing on him.
Click play below to watch the trailer for the documentary:
Image: WWE
WWE is expected to announce Monday that they are working with both HBO Sports and the Bill Simmons Media Group on a documentary about the life of Andre the Giant.
Simmons is a lifelong fan who has always wanted to do such a project. The documentary would air on HBO who Simmons has a deal with.
This would mark the first time that WWE has ever worked on a joint project with HBO Sports and, in a sense, is a major breakthrough for the company since HBO is considered a prestige network.
In the past, A&E has done a documentary on the life of Andre, and there have been a couple of graphic novels on him as well.
It will be interesting to see how an HBO documentary will handle his size. While the legend was that he stood 7’4″, the last time he was actually measured while working in England in 1971 at the age of 24, he was measured at 208 centimeters, which is about 6’9″ 3/4.
Before coming to the North America, recruited by Frank Valois and Edouard Carpentier to come to Montreal and also by Verne Gagne, who saw him performing in Japan, he was usually billed at 6-foot-11 and 340 pounds in those younger athletic days. While in North America, he was billed mostly as being 7’4″ and sometimes 7’5″ and anywhere from 424 to 500+ pounds.
Andre Roussimoff was the biggest touring attraction in pro wrestling during the 70s, wrestling all over the world in every promotion, booked by Vince McMahon Sr. He was a babyface in most places, but was a super strong heel in Japan where he regularly feuded with Antonio Inoki. He later turned heel in the then-WWF in 1987 for two legendary matches with Hulk Hogan, as well as a few others during that run. The Wrestlemania III match against Hogan is arguably the most famous match ever held in the U.S.
