David Shoemaker, another producer for the docuseries, was Simmons’ guest on the podcast. Shoemaker explained that it’s difficult to make a documentary about McMahon that isn’t also about WWE, and it’s also difficult for documentarians to separate themselves from the story of wrestling history McMahon has spent decades curating. In the end, however, the appeal is McMahon himself.

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“It always comes back to Vince, and it always comes back to just his version of events, him staring into the camera and trying to explain himself for the first time in his life,” Shoemaker said. “The amount of access, just in terms of hours of him sitting still and asking questions, is entirely unprecedented, and a lot of that stuff’s in there … I’m sure there’s diehard wrestling fans that would just pay anything just to see the raw footage of Vince just sitting there, because it’s the volume that’s the real amazing thing.”

Shoemaker and Simmons recalled that they had four hours of unused footage of McMahon on the cutting room floor — partially because of one particular day on which his voice sounded terrible. According to them, “Mr. McMahon” could easily have been 10 episodes rather than six.

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“There is so much good material,” Shoemaker said, “but I think the story Chris and his team were able to tell is pretty amazing.”

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “The Bill Simmons Podcast” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.