WWE’s first female referee, who claims she was raped by former chairman Vince McMahon in the 1980s, has revealed new details about the incident in a series of new allegations against the wrestling boss.
Rita Chatterton, who became a licensed wrestling referee in New York in 1984, had previously accused McMahon of forcing herself in a limousine in a 1992 interview with Gerardo Rivera.
Her allegations were corroborated by former professional wrestler Leonard Inzitari in a new New York Magazine report — which also delves into what led to nearly four The reason for this tragic encounter last year.
“He promised me $500,000 a year,” she told the outlet in Monday’s story, referring to McMahon’s extended contract offer over the phone after his television debut with then-WWF in January 1985 .
McMahon’s father, who founded WWF, had called Chatterton to tell her he was “impressed” with her work and wanted her to work “full-time” but had caveats, she told New York Magazine.
According to Chatterton, “keep yourself clean,” he said.
“I don’t want to see you hanging out with any wrestlers. You stay professional.”
The wrestling mogul also told Chatterton she’d be on the covers of magazines like Women’s Day, Better Homes and Gardens and Time, so she quit her job as a delivery driver at Frito-Lay to start full-time. engage in wrestling. But the relationship soured when the young referee tried to follow up – McMahon allegedly raped her in July 1986.
Chatterton declined to give specifics in an interview with New York Magazine, but a longtime friend of the company, Inchitari, confirmed her story for the first time since the allegations were made.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” Inzitari told the media.
“She’s a wreck. She’s shaking. She’s crying.”
Inzitari, who goes by the stage name Mario Mancini, said he found Chatterton standing alone near the wrestling ring shortly after the incident and she burst into tears when she saw him, And told him she was out in his limo when McMahon “took his penis”. ”
“He kind of forced my head there and I let me know I wasn’t interested in doing that,” Inzitari recalls Chatterton telling him.
“Then, [McMahon] Pull me over to him,” she told Inzitari, and soon, “he’s inside her. “
Chatterton told the outlet that the attack came after she asked McMahon to discuss her career, and McMahon asked her to meet her at a diner after the show.
Later, Chatterton sat at a “big round table” with about a dozen people to present her career, but McMahon told her to keep quiet, she told the outlet.
“[He] put your finger to your mouth, boo autograph,” she recalled.
“When I came out of the women’s room, McMahon stood there… He said, ‘I don’t want to talk about your career in front of all these people because it’s none of their business.'”
He suggested the two go to another restaurant down the street, but when she left the restaurant, McMahon said he was tired and asked to speak in his limousine.
“It only takes 10 minutes,” he allegedly said.
In her interview with Rivera, Chatterton claimed that McMahon then unzipped his pants and verbally raped her.
“Vince went on to say, ‘If you want a $500,000 contract, you have to make me happy, that’s where things are going,'” she said at the time.
“Vince grabbed my hand and kept trying to put my hand on his. I was terrified. In the end, my wrist was all purple and black and blue. It wasn’t… he was just… God, He just didn’t stop. This guy just didn’t stop.”
Chatterton told Rivera that McMahon asked her daughter how she planned to go to college and said, “Of course, she doesn’t have to go to college.”
“I was forced to have oral sex with Vince McMahon. He got really pissed when I couldn’t get what he wanted and started ripping at my jeans, pulling me on top of him and telling me again if I wanted A contract that pays $500,000 a year and I have to make him happy. He can make me or he can break me, and if I can’t satisfy him, I’m going to get hacked, and that’s it, I’m done,” she told Rivera. .
Chatterton recalled what McMahon said after the attack in an interview with New York Magazine.
“The one thing that stuck with me, and will always be… is, after he finished his job, he looked at me and said, ‘Remember when I told you not to mess with any wrestlers? Well, you just did Here we go,” she recalled.
After the attack, Chatterton told New York Magazine she went to the restaurant’s bathroom, “cryed out,” and went home for a “five-hour shower.”
While she did contact a lawyer to hold McMahon liable, she ultimately decided against it.
“It turns out that’s what I said against McMahon because I took a shower and didn’t go to the hospital,” she said.
“I’m scared…he’s powerful. He’ll be above me.”
When Chatterton first told Rivera her story in 1992, WWE had been mired in countless scandals and her claims were buried. Soon, she left wrestling entirely and became a youth counselor.
Earlier this month, McMahon was accused of paying millions of dollars in hush money to a female employee with whom he had an affair, leading to his resignation as WWE CEO and chairman.
After such a long time, the new narrative has inspired Chatterton and Inzitari to speak out.
“I’m sure other people will come forward. Because we’re not the only two. I have no doubts about that,” Chatterton told the outlet.
“As far as wrestling goes, I think I’m the first of many things…as far as I know, I’m the first to raise the question that he’s a scumbag.”
Inzitari, who has avoided negative comments about McMahon in the past, agreed.
“I’ll tell you why I’m jumping on the bandwagon now,” he said.
“There’s something worse than that.”
WWE did not respond to a request for comment.
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