10 Biggest Wrestling Scandals Of The 1980s
3. Rita Chatterton
Even before the Janel Grant lawsuit, Vince McMahon had his fair share of legal issues regarding women. There was a supposed sexual harassment at a tanning salon in 2006, and then there’s Rita Chatterton.
Under the name Rita Marie, Chatterton was WWE’s first ever female referee. She faced significant prejudice while in the company, but nothing as bad as what she accused McMahon of doing to her in 1986.
Chatterton alleges that she was raped by the chairman in his limousine. Shortly after, she left the company, either because she resigned or, depending on who you ask, because she was fired. WWE have done their best to bury the Chatterton story, but it became much harder to ignore in the wake of McMahon’s various sex scandals in the 2020s.
When Jessika Carr signed with the promotion in 2017, WWE announced her as the company’s first ever female referee. Fans online were quick to point out the malicious nature of this historical inaccuracy. The allegations Chatterton made towards McMahon were actually made in the 1990s, but the nature of this story - plus its relevance to more modern events - meant we had to put it on the list.