10 Alleged WWE Sex Scandals That Rocked Wrestling

Back in 1992, there was a sex scandal that rocked the the WWF behind the scenes. Announcer Mel Phillips (pictured) was fired and Terry Garvin quit as a result of the alleged wrongdoing.

The book Titan Sinking: The decline of the WWF in 1995, states "The allegations against them were numerous, but all involved the exploitation of young ring boys, and promises of more lucrative positions (pushes) for opening act wrestlers in exchange for sexual favours." One of the accusers was Randy Orton's uncle, Barry, who performed in WWF as Barry O. He claimed that Garvin accosted him when he was just starting out in the business as a 20-year-old with the promise of a lucrative and secure future.

Regarding Phillips, wrestlinginc.com report that "Phillips was exposed as a pedophile who frequently took advantage of underage males he supervised setting up rings at live events, who came from broken homes and troubled backgrounds." They go on to say that one of his alleged victims continued to watch WWF programming and suffered "flashbacks" whenever the former ring announcer's face appeared on screen. It is claimed this individual haf threatened a lawsuit against the WWF if Phillips wasn't removed from presentations of old footage. It appears that this report could have some substance to it because the 'History of WWE' DVD sees Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant shown using hard cam footage only. Phillips can be seen in the background of other shots used during the actual broadcast, which could be a reason behind the lack of camera angles.

Tom Cole, who worked for the WWF as a ring attendant in the 80s and 90s while he was underage through young adulthood, and who went public with his claims in 1992, addressed the ring boys scandal and Phillips' obsession with feet in 2011in an interview with Mike Mooneyham of The Post and Courier:

"When you're twelve or thirteen-years-old and you think this guy is wrestling with you, and then he grabs your foot, maybe part of you doesn't want to believe it or part of you wants to block it out," Cole said. "I just didn't have an answer for it. Who would have told you at that age that some guy wants to play with your feet?"

Nelson Sweglar, per Sex, Lies, and Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment , who was WWF's company operations manager, remembers walking into a bus stop and seeing Garvin - who they claim was responsible for supervising the ring boys - "hard at it" with one of the minors. The book also claims that Garvin's assistant had an address book with the names of kids around the country that he'd call on when the WWF hit their town. "These were kids that were usually from broken homes whose parents would only be too glad to send them off to do a day's work."

Everyone knew what was going on," continued Sewglar, "but it would have taken someone within the brotherhood to have moved on it. And none of the people who knew about it moved on it."

It must be noted that legendary Intercontinental Champion Pat Patterson didn't do anything wrong around this time, other than being openly gay, which of course is not exactly a criminal offence but still seemingly bordering the line in some states in the early nineties.

Patterson was tarred with the same brush as the other two accused, partly due to his well-known friendship with Garvin - but also because he never made secret of his homosexual lifestyle.