10 Things Deleted From WWE History
Tracing the problematic missing pages in WWE's history books.
The phrase "rich and storied" doesn't do WWE's history justice. With a legacy stretching all the way back to Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt's creation of the Capitol Wrestling Corporation in 1952, the company has taken many different forms over the past six decades, and have sat as the undisputed market leaders for much of that time.
Their history is incomprehensibly deep, and they're obsessed with it. Not a single show passes without the company making multiple references to the past. Breaking records and "creating moments" is often their sole storytelling goal, and it often feels like everything they do in 2017 must be compared to a prior event, regardless of whether or not it makes sense to do so.
WWE don't always deliver an accurate representation of past events, however. They're never shy of rewriting history if it doesn't suit their narrative, and there have been countless occasions where they've not only twisted the past to suit the present, but deleted it from the record books entirely, expecting the audience to do the same.
Some instances are understandable, but others are just bewildering. Either way, none have escaped the mindful gaze of their audience...
10. The First Female Referee
Ex-ROH wrestler Kennadi Brink recently adopted Jessika Carr as her WWE ring name and debuted as part of the Mae Young Classic, but she wasn't competing. Instead, she'd donned a black and white striped shirt and started working as WWE's "first ever" female referee, backed by some heavy promotion from the company.
Not to take anything away from Carr, but her appointment isn't the groundbreaking world-first it has been marketed as. Jessika isn't the first women to ever work as a full-time WWE referee, but the second, as Rita Chatterton was originally appointed to fill the role in the 1980s.
Chatterton's run with the company ended in acrimony. On an April 1992 episode of Geraldo Rivera's Now It Can Be Told news show, Rita alleged that Vince McMahon made sexual advances on her in the back of a limousine. Chatterton claims he then forced himself upon her when she refused, leading to her departure from the company.
The McMahons were incensed by the allegations, and later sued Chatterton, Rivera, and the company behind his show for $1 million. They eventually dropped the lawsuit, so while it may seem disingenuous to call Jessika Carr the "first-ever women's referee," WWE's reasoning is understandable.