WWE SHAM

HE’S the richest man in professional wrestling, having turned the industry into a global entertainment empire under the WWE banner.

But Vince McMahon has been dogged by scandal and controversy throughout his career.

McMahon’s time as the CEO and chairman of the world’s most profitable wrestling brand came to an end in January 2024 amid allegations of sex trafficking and sexual assault.

In February, it was reported that the 79-year-old is under federal investigation and authorities obtained a search warrant for his phone.

He was ordered to hand over documents regarding allegations of “rape, sex trafficking, sexual assault, commercial sex transaction, harassment or discrimination” against past or present WWE employee.

Under his watch, there have been multiple drug scandals among his wrestlers.

He has also been the mastermind of several crazy storylines, including an incest plot involving his own daughter, and even created an on-screen persona known as the evil boss, Mr McMahon.

But was this a case of art imitating life?

Ahead of the new Netflix documentary Mr McMahon, which airs on Wednesday, we look into the complicated life of the WWE boss and the controversies that contributed to his stunning fall from grace.

Rise to power

Born in North Carolina, McMahon didn’t meet his father until he was 12 due to divorce but after graduating from university, he became a prominent member of his father’s wrestling company and even pushed for its name to be changed to World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

He married Linda McMahon and had two children, Shane, 54, and Stephanie, 47, who would all later play a big role in the company.

McMahon bought the company in 1982 and began poaching wrestlers from rivals, signing Hulk Hogan as the face of the brand.

Along the way, he ushered the company into its glory days – known as the Attitude Era – and even saw off competition from the likes of World Championship Wrestling.

Wrestlers such as The Rock, The Undertaker, and Stone Cold Steve Austin became huge crossover stars. Women such as Lita, Trish Stratus, and Chyna were pushed as serious wrestlers to bring in more male viewers.

At the height of its success, the company’s weekly flagship show, Raw, drew upwards of 10 million viewers. It’s biggest pay per view, Wrestlemania became a global spectacle.

After losing a lawsuit with the World Wildlife Fund over the WWF trademark in 2002, the company became World Wrestling Entertainment.

But legal issues centred on McMahon’s behaviour flared up as early as 1992.

Sexual abuse allegations

Rita Chatterton, who had worked as the first female referee in the company in the mid-80s, claimed that she was raped by McMahonin a limousine in 1986. She left the company that same year.

She first came forward with her claims in 1992 but the statute of limitations – which only allows criminal charges within a certain time limit – had run out.

She then recounted her story on a TV show, saying: “I was forced into oral sex with McMahonMcMahon. When I couldn’t complete his desires, he got really angry, started ripping off my jeans, pulled me on top of him and told me again that, if I wanted a half-a-million-dollar-a-year contract, that I had to satisfy him.

“He could make me or break me and if I didn’t satisfy him, I was black-balled, that was it, I was done.” McMahon countered her claim by saying that they had a consensual relationship. In 1993, McMahon, alongside his wife Linda, sued Rita claiming that her allegations of rape were false.

But, facing another trial over steroids, he dropped the case.

After new allegations were levelled against McMahon, in 2022, Rita repeated the story of her alleged experiences and filed a $11.5million lawsuit against him.

He settled later that month but his attorney insisted it was not an admission of guilt and was just to “avoid the cost of litigation”.

Sources close to the lawsuit claimed McMahon agreed to a multi-million dollar settlement.

Rita also spoke about what she claimed was a toxic working environment at WWE. She recounted an incident where executive Pat Patterson wanted female wrestlers to harm her.

She said: “I ended up doing my very first match, a women’s tag team match, and I found out a few months later that Pat Patterson told the women to break my legs and make sure I never wanted to get in the ring again.

“Luckily, being women, instead of doing anything to hurt me, they helped me, and that’s how I got started.”

“It was a crazy world and things were so much different back then, but luckily the women knew that you had to work 10 times as hard for a quarter of the recognition that the men got at the time.”

Shocking allegations

In January 2024, Janel Grant filed a lawsuit which claimed that McMahon had coerced her into a sexual relationship.

It also claimed that McMahon, alongside WWE star John Laurinaitis and an unnamed UFC fighter, had sexually trafficked her.

She also claimed that she was repeatedly sexually assaulted between 2020 and 2021.

The lawsuit claimed: “McMahon also subjected Ms. Grant to acts of extreme cruelty and degradation that caused Ms. Grant to disassociate and/or become numb to reality in order to survive the horrific encounters.”

Grant graphically explained how McMahon allegedly coerced her into taking part in a number of heinous sexual acts, such as defecating on her head during a threesome and using sex toys on her that he named after wrestlers.

She also alleged he offered her a position at the company in return for sexual favours.

After McMahon created a position for her in the company’s legal department, he is alleged to have harassed her with sexually explicit text messages.

He allegedly locked Grant inside his private locker room and forced himself on her over a massage table, she claims in the lawsuit.

In a statement, McMahon said: “I stand by my prior statement that Ms. Grant’s lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and is a vindictive distortion of the truth”.

He continued: “I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations, and look forward to clearing my name.”

In February this year, Laurinaitis released a statement claiming that he, too, was a victim of McMahon’s alleged sexual misconduct.

His lawyer told Vice: “Read the allegations. Read the Federal Statute. Power, control, employment supervisory capacity, dictatorial sexual demands with repercussions if not met.

“Count how many times in the complaint McMahon exerts control over both of them.”

Incest and humiliation storylines

During his time as WWE CEO, McMahon was known for having firm control over the company’s creative decisions. He had to approve on-screen storylines.

During this time, he devised some of the most bizarre plots in the history of professional wrestling.

One outlandish running theme saw him take of his trousers in the middle of the ring to order wrestlers and other on-screen characters to kiss his buttocks.

In another in-ring segment, he commanded Trish Stratus, a female wrestler, to bark like a dog. In the storyline, McMahon was having an affair with Trish.

In 2006, the wrestling world was stunned when he commissioned a segment promoted as two wrestlers having a live sex celebration in the ring.

Edge (Adam Copeland) had just won the WWE championship. To celebrate, he promised to have sex with his girlfriend at the time, Lita (Amy Dumas).

The awkward segment saw the two wrestlers stripped down to their underwear. At a certain point, Lita’s bare breast was exposed, with the wrestler scrambling to cover up.

Years later, Lita said that she vehemently opposed the segment but was threatened she would be fired if she did not go along with it. – Sun.