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Old allegations made by former WWF referee Rita "Marie" Chatterton against former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon surfaced again today, when The Wall Street Journal published an article about Chatterton seeking damages from McMahon over his alleged sexual abuse and rape of Chatterton in the late 1980s. According to WSJ, Chatterton has demanded $11.75 million in damages.
Chatterton first made her allegations against McMahon public in the early 1990s during a period of time where a number of scandals plagued the WWF (as it was known then), fueling coverage on a number of tabloid TV and talk shows, including Now It Can Be Told, which was hosted by Geraldo Rivera as well as The Geraldo Rivera Show. In those appearances, Chatterton alleged that in July 1986, McMahon tried to force her to perform oral sex and when she refused, he then raped her in his limo, but that a case could not be pursued due to the statue of limitations having expired.
On The Geraldo Rivera Show, which aired on 4/13/92, Chatterton stated that the very first day she met McMahon, she was offered a $500,000 contract and that she would see her face on the cover of Time magazine. Chatterton stated that after a "period of time," she was getting less and less work and couldn't get through to McMahon, so she went to a TV Taping in Poughkeepsie, NY and asked to speak with McMahon about it. McMahon told her he was busy but asked her to meet him at a "Greek Diner a few miles up the road."
Chatterton said that when she met him at the diner, McMahon was with several cameramen, McMahon's limo driver and several others discussing what was going to be placed on that week's WWF television program. Chatterton stated that she brought up what was going on with her career and McMahon, "did a 'hush-hush, so of course I did. Vince is it. He makes you or breaks you." Chatterton went to the ladies room and when she returned, McMahon was waiting for her and told her he had "neglected" doing something with her and that she wanted him to follow him to a nearby Denny's because he didn't want to talk about her career in front of others, which Chatterton stated she could understand.
Chatterton followed McMahon's car to the Dennys and when they arrived, she got out of her car but McMahon's driver opened the door to his limo. McMahon told her he had just been at a diner for hours and didn't want coffee so they could talk in his car. She said she didn't think much of it and entered McMahon's limo, where they started "talking about magazines, t-shirts, wrestling dolls" with McMahon again bringing up a "half-a-million dollar a year contract."
Chatterton then stated, "Next thing I know, Vince McMahon is unzipping his pants. I was pretty shocked at this point. We are talking profession here and suddenly, he wants more than just profession. Vince continued to, you know, 'if you want a half million dollar a year contract, you are going to have to satisfy me and this is the way things have to go.' Vince grabbed my hand and kept trying to put my hand on him. I was scared. By the end, my wrist was all purple and black and blue. Things just didn't...he just...God...he just didn't stop. This man just didn't stop, you know. 'Half a million dollar a year contract...how is your daughter going to go to college...of course, she doesn't have to go to college'...I left a $30,000 a year job on Vince McMahon's word, he knew that."
When Rivera asked Chatterton what exactly was her allegation, she responded, "My allegation right now is sexual harassment. I was forced into oral sex with Vince McMahon. When I couldn't complete his desires, he got really angry, starting ripping off my jeans, pulled me on top of him and told me again, if I wanted a half a million dollar a year contract, I had to satisfy him and he could make me or break me, and if I didn't satisfy him, I was blackballed. That was it. I was done. When Vince was all done, he said...when I first met Vince, let me back up here a little bit. The very first time I met Vince, I was told that if I had any sexual relationships with anyone in the Federation, that I was done, my career was done. I was engaged. I had no problem with that. When Vince was said and done, Vince looked at me and said, 'Do you remember what I told you about having sexual relationships with anyone? Well, you just did' and he just sat back and had this big smile and this big grin and started laughing at me."
On The Geraldo Rivera Show, Chatterton stated the attack happened on July 15, 1986. WWF did run a TV taping that night in Poughkeepsie at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, headlined by a Randy Savage vs. Junkyard Dog dark match.
When asked on the Geraldo Rivera Show why she waited so long to publicly discuss her McMahon accusations (1992, which would be almost six years later), Chatterton explained that no one in pro wrestling talked. She stated that she went to an attorney and was told at the time that it would come down to her word vs. Vince McMahon's words, because "I had no proof....I had to weigh that. At that time, my mother was on oxygen 24 hours a day. My dad had a bad heart. I didn't think either one of my parents could have been put through it, especially at that time where no one was opening up. Everyone was so quiet."
Vince and Linda McMahon sued Chatterton, Geraldo Rivera, Tribune Entertainment and wrestler David Shults (Dr. D David Schultz), among others, before the U.S. District Court District of Connecticut in March 1993, seeking $1 million in punitive damages, $50,000 in compensatory damages, and reimbursement of legal fee related to the the allegations brought by Chatteron and Schults across Rivera's two television programs. The case was closed without prejudice in May of 1994, shortly after Rivera, Tribune Entertainment and others were dismissed from the case as defendants.
In 2010, WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt told TalkingPointsMemo.com that the civil lawsuit against Chatterton and Schults was dropped as “We had to marshal our resources to defend the company’s reputation in the criminal case … we had no choice but to abandon the case in order to defend ourselves." McMahon had been indicted in November 1993 on steroid related charges, famously beating the United States federal government in court in July 1994.
In the same TPM 2010 article, an unidentified WWE Spokesperson stated that Chatterton’s accusations were a “$5 million shakedown."
As noted, WWE ran Poughkeepsie, NY the night that Chatterton alleges that McMahon attacked her. Since the alleged attack happened in New York State, Chatterton could now technically be able to file a civil lawsuit against McMahon due to The Adult Survivors Act law, which was signed into existence this past May by New York State Governor Kathy Hochul and officially went into effect on Thanksgiving Day. The Act opened a "one-year window for all past survivors of sexual assault that occurred when they were over the age of 18 to sue their abusers, regardless of when the abuse occurred." Since the alleged attack on Chatterton took place in Poughkeepsie, under the Adult Survivors Act she is within her rights to file a civil lawsuit against McMahon for damages in New York State. It may be the demand letter was a precursor to filing a lawsuit.
Chatteron was interviewed for a New York Magazine piece this past June in what was her first interview in decades. In the piece, Chatterton did not want to go into details about the incident but former WWF enhancement talent Mario Mancini (real name Leonard Inzitari, who today runs Paradise Alley Pro Wrestling in Connecticut with Paul Roma) went on record that shortly after the alleged incident in 1986, Chatterton (who trained at the same wrestling school as Mancini) confided in him that something had happened
The article noted:
"Inzitari doesn’t use the word rape while talking about what happened. But he describes something that sounds like the conventional definition of that term.
“Was she taken advantage of? Absolutely,” Inzitari says. “Was she scared to death? Absolutely. Did she wanna do that? Probably not.”
Chatterton stated in that interview, again, that she was told she would be getting a $500,000 contract and told Mancini at the time that the WWF was going to put her on the covers of major women's magazines at the time. Mancini stated that he warned Chatterton to stay away from McMahon and, "If you do anything with him, you're gonna be gone."
After the alleged incident, Chatterton was booked less and less by the WWF, and was left to working non-televised shows she was assigned to referee at by the New York State Athletic Commission (In that time period, the NYSAC had a legitimate ability to assign officials to professional wrestling events) before she departed the business.
In the New York Magazine piece, Chatterton stated that she told two people within weeks of the alleged incident - Mario Mancini and the late Andre the Giant. Mancini noted that he kept quiet when he was first told out to protect his own bookings, citing, "You just keep your mouth shut, because it’s Vince McMahon...What are you gonna do, stooge on Vince McMahon? You’re gonna be blackballed from the wrestling business!”
The 2010 Talking Points Media article, noted:
[Jerry] McDevitt told TPM that Chatterton was “making a claim out of nowhere,” calling it “a very amazing kind of episode.” Chatterton, fired for cause by WWE in 1986, never filed a lawsuit or a police report, McDevitt told TPM. “It never went to trial, much to my regret,” McDevitt said. “I would have loved to have taken it to trial.”
Based on what surfaced today, its entirely possible McDevitt could soon have his chance.
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