10 Times WWE Bounced Back From Adversity

3. Now It Can Be Told

Vince Mcmahon Dawn Marie
WWE

Back in 1986, Rita Chatterton’s time with the then-WWF came to a shocking end with an appearance on Geraldo Rivera’s Now It Can Be Told show.

The first female referee in the history of the company, Rita – under the name Rita Marie – worked for Vince McMahon from 1984 up until ’86. But in that Now It Can Be Told appearance, she shocked the watching audience and rocked the World Wrestling Federation to its core by alleging that Vince McMahon tried to force her to perform oral sex on him.

Going further, Chatterton then claimed that, after she refused, McMahon raped her in his limousine.

These allegations were never backed up with any formal charges, and so nobody really knows what happened except for Rita and Vince. The backlash of this was obviously huge, and this was one of the first times that Vince McMahon had been put under the spotlight in any sort of negative way.

Clearly WWE has managed to move forward, although it is just a tad scummy of the company to nowadays refer to NXT’s Jessika Carr as WWE’s first ever female referee.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.