10 Times WWE Got Its Ass Kicked
5. The 'Now It Can Be Told' Saga
In the WWE narrative, Jessika Carr is the company's first ever female referee. Only that's not actually even close to being true.
Back in the '80s, Rita Chatterton worked as a full-time WWF ref under the name of Rita Marie. But for Rita, her time with the World Wrestling Federation came to an abrupt end in 1986 after two years with the organisation. Fast forward to 1992, and Rita appeared on Geraldo Rivera's Now It Can Be Told show to make some major accusations about Vince McMahon.
According to Rita on that Now It Can Be Told appearance, Vince attempted to force her to perform oral sex on him in his limousine in July of '86, before then raping her in said limo after she refused. These were clearly significant accusations, yet they were also accusations that were never pursued with any formal charges.
Nobody knows for sure what exactly happened between Chatterton and McMahon, but the one thing that was certain after these claims was that McMahon and the WWF were in the spotlight in an extremely negative way. In fact, this was one of the first examples of the company being publicly slammed - with Vince and Linda McMahon countering by launching a lawsuit seeking $1 million in damages.
The McMahons claimed that Rita was merely a disgruntled former employee who was fired in 1986 for being a danger to herself. Vince and Linda's lawsuit was dropped a year later, with the McMahons instead opting to use their time and resources to fight another court battle.
Which brings us to our next entry...