WWE and Blumhouse Television are partnering to develop a limited scripted series called, The United States of America Vs. Vince McMahon, which will focus on the 1994 trial against McMahon for allegedly providing anabolic steroids to WWE talent.
The series will be the first-ever scripted dramatic portrayal of McMahon and many of the WWE Superstars from that era.
Not unexpectedly, the series appears to be heavily pro-McMahon, based on the following plot description included in the press release:
The show will delve into WWE during the 1990s, at the time Rupert Murdoch had purchased the New York Post to further his massive infiltration into the U.S. media landscape.
For years, infamous Post writer Phil Mushnick regularly hammered WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon in his column. Headlines like “Legislators Give WWE A Free Pass On ‘Roids” and “McMahon Skips Through the Cemetery” eventually captured the attention of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York – the nation’s most prestigious federal prosecutor’s office with a conviction rate of over 96 percent.
In 1994, the U.S. government indicted McMahon for allegedly supplying anabolic steroids to WWE talent.
McMahon, with his liberty at stake, two school-aged children at home and with WWE on the brink of bankruptcy, refused to take a plea deal. Ultimately, McMahon stood trial and was acquitted unanimously by a jury of his peers and went on to build a multi-billion-dollar global sports entertainment empire.
The executive producers of the show will be Jason Blum (owner of Blumhouse Television), Vince McMahon, WWE Executive Producer & Chief of Global Television Distribution Kevin Dunn, Blumhouse Television President Chris McCumber, and Blumhouse President of Production Jeremy Gold. No writer appears to be connected with the series at this time.
“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,” said Dunn, in the press release.
“We have a dramatic, riveting saga – one that’s crazier than fiction – that will appeal to the cross-section of Blumhouse and WWE fans,” said McCumber. “To say I’m thrilled about collaborating again with WWE is an understatement.”
The Dark Side of the Ring series on VICE has an episode on the WWE steroid trials coming later in 2021. Long-time WWE lawyer Jerry McDevitt was interviewed for it, among others.
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