Every Netflix ‘Trainwreck’ Documentary, Ranked

As any frequent user of Netflix can tell you, the streaming giant has no shortage of exceptional documentaries lining its online catalog.

But if the past month has been any indication, the platform’s new documentary series, Trainwreck, might very well rise to the forefront of Netflix’s digital library. Exploring a multitude of difficult-to-believe true stories, Trainwreck has continued to capture the attention of every audience member fortunate to see it, proving the age-old adage that objective fact is often far stranger than even the most imaginative fiction.

From the series’ opening installment up to its most recent entries, here is every Trainwreck documentary we’ve seen on Netflix yet, ranked in order from worst to best.

9. Storm Area 51 (2025)

The most recent addition to the Trainwreck lineup, Storm Area 51 – like its actual real-life counterpart – can prove slightly anticlimactic, with the build-up to the actual event worth more attention than the event itself. Yet like the days leading up to Y2K, Trainwreck does an excellent job exploring how a seemingly nonsensical joke quickly took traction among online viewers, turning what should have been a silly meme into a legitimate national security threat.

8. The Real Project X (2025)

Nostalgic audiences who grew up in the early 2010s might remember Project X as the underlying premise behind the 2012 comedy film of the same name. But with The Real Project X, Trainwreck’s producers help shed light on the anarchic party in the Netherlands that quickly took the Internet by storm. As with many of Trainwreck’s entries, The Real Project X remarkably illustrates how a seemingly innocent online phenomenon went way too far among impressionable social media users, triggering full-blown street riots and dozens of injuries or arrests. 

7. Poop Cruise (2025)

Every cruise experiences an occasional hiccup, whether in the form of some turbulent weather or rough sea conditions that leave passengers feeling a tad seasick. But as Trainwreck’s Poop Cruise makes clear, there’s plenty of other horrendous things that could befall passengers on the open ocean, paving the way to a disgusting nautical misadventure straight out of viewers’ worst nightmares.

6. Mayor of Mayhem (2025)

Nowadays, political controversies have become something of a norm, with both sides of the political divide accusing the other of countless scandals over the past few years. Yet even then, Mayor of Mayhem remains a startling study of a political fiasco that makes the White House look like The West Wing. Focusing on Toronto mayor Rob Ford’s unexpected rise and shocking fall, Mayor of Mayhem is a shocking documentary highlighting the delicate divide between the personal and professional lives of well-known politicians, emphasizing how one mistake could cost them their entire legacy in the long run.

5. P.I. Moms (2025)

As if a Lifetime series about soccer mom private investigators weren’t bizarre enough, the actual truth behind the ill-fated P.I. Moms is even stranger than you might think. Despite being so close to network success, P.I. Moms ultimately caved in on itself just when it seemed ready to take off, ushering in numerous controversies related to criminal conspiracies, drug trafficking, and highly secretive corruption cover-ups.

4. Balloon Boy (2025)

Even though we know that the infamous Balloon Boy incident of 2009 was little more than a hoax, Trainwreck’s Balloon Boy documentary proves that there’s far more than meets the eye with the underlying event. Analyzing the significant media attention the hoax garnered, as well as the immediate fallout the Heene family faced for falsely claiming their six-year-old son was trapped in the eponymous object, Balloon Boy is an engrossing documentary that interestingly leaves just as many questions as it does answers.

3. The Cult of American Apparel (2025)

In the mid 2000s, it was difficult to think of a brand more synonymous with teen fashion than American Apparel. Just as quickly as it gained a cult-like following for its ethically produced clothing lines, however, American Apparel went from fame to notoriety, largely stemming from founder Dov Charney’s alleged personal misconduct. Dark, thought-provoking, yet ceaselessly engaging in its main premise, The Cult of American Apparel shows that sometimes even the most seemingly idyllic workplaces harbor disturbing secrets beneath the surface.

2. The Astroworld Tour (2025)

It’s always devastating whenever an ordinary concert turns into a fatal powder keg just waiting to go off. Such is the unfortunate occurrence that took place at the 2021 Astroworld Tour, with a massive crowd surge causing the death of 10 people and the injuries of hundreds more. Handling its central topic with nuanced sensitivity, The Astroworld Tour is also a meticulous breakdown of how an extraordinary music festival suddenly turned deadly before attendees’ horrified eyes.

1. Woodstock ‘99 (2022)

Today, the name “Woodstock” lives on as a catch-all phrase for the carefree atmosphere of the late 1960s, evoking the idea of free love, youthful independence, and an overarching admiration for the arts (namely, in the form of classic rock music). While the term Woodstock might instantly call to mind more positive imagery and ideas, Woodstock ‘99 offered a far different interpretation of the words “peace, love, and music.”

Chronicling the sheer chaos, rampant violence, and shameless greed of the investors involved, Trainwreck’s opening installment also happens to be its best, laying down so many of the documentary’s difficult-to-stomach characteristics from its earliest inception onwards.