WWE’s History Of Sexual Abuse Allegations Detailed In Recently Released Document

Linda McMahon was a part of Donald Trump’s presidential administration as the head of the small business administration. She was also CEO of WWE for a long time. Before she could be appointed to that job with Trump, she needed to be vetted. Those documents have recently been revealed online and they include some serious talking points.

We previously covered a slew of red flags pointed out in the 21-page document, but they also pay special attention to the history of sexual misconduct allegations against WWE.

We have collected those allegations and inserted them below for easy reading. It is important to note that each situation was handled separately in their own way. There could also be more allegations than this, but these are the events which were included in the recently released vetting documentation.

Under the heading titled: “McMahon’s WWE Has Faced Numerous Complaints Of Sexual Abuse” they include the following events.

Sable:

“World Wrestling Federation female wrestling star Sable filed a $110 million lawsuit in a Connecticut federal court last Thursday, alleging sexual harassment, unsafe work conditions and steroid abuse in the WWF. Sable, who’s real name is Rena Mero, alleges that WWF instructed her to expose her breasts and someone smeared feces on her personal belongings, according to a TV Guide interview. She also says male wrestlers punched holes into the walls between the men’s and women’s dressing rooms to view female wrestlers. Ms. Mero said she didn’t see WWF wrestlers using steroids, but she speculates that “a lot of the tempers that rage during the matches can be attributed to ‘roid rage,’ “ according to TV Guide. She’s asked to be released from her contract and be able to retain the rights and profits from future merchandising of the name Sable.”

Tom Cole (WWE Ring Boy Scandal):

“Tom Cole, now 20, started working for the WWF in 1985 as ring boy, a gofer, in Yonkers, N.Y., when he was 13 years old. Cole said that while on tour with the wrestling show, a WWF employee would film Cole with a video camera while fondling the boy’s feet and masturbating. ‘He had a foot fetish,’ Cole said. ‘He would play with all the young boys’ feet for hours at a time.’ … Cole said he was harassed by several WWF employees. He said he was grabbed in the genitals numerous times by another top WWF official, but never said anything because he was scared. Cole said the sexual harassment continued unabated until he was fired in February 1990 after rebuffing an advance by still another WWF official. In that incident, Cole said, he was driven to the WWF official’s house, where he was asked to smoke marijuana, snort cocaine and have homosexual sex. When Cole rejected his advances, the official refused to take him home, Cole said. So Cole slept in the WWF official’s van in the driveway. The next day Cole was fired.”

Murray Hodgson:

“Murray Hodgson, a former WWF television announcer who was fired in August 1991, filed a lawsuit last month in Connecticut, alleging that his termination was a result of his rejecting a sexual advance by a WWF vice president. According to documents on file in Connecticut and Hodgson’s attorney, Edward Nusbaum, WWF Vice President Pat Patterson sought a homosexual encounter with Hodgson last July. ‘(Hodgson) was approached by an openly homosexual vice president of the (WWF) who was seeking a homosexual encounter,’ the documents state.”

Pat Patterson Resigning After Sexual Abuse Story:

“Faced with the [sexual] scandal, Senior Vice President of Wrestling Operations Pat Patterson and Vice President of Wrestling Operations Terry Garvin resigned March 2. Ring announcer Mel Phillips has also resigned.”

Barry Orton & Superstar Billy Graham:

On CNN’s Larry King Live, Ex-Wrestler Barry Orton Claimed That WWF Wrestler Terry Garvin Accosted Him When He Was Just 19 Years Old. “The outlines of Cole’s allegations appeared at the bottom of a lengthy story that carried [Jeff] Savages byline in the March 11, 1002, edition of the San Diego News Tribune. Two days later, Vince was on CNN’s Larry King Live, rebutting it. … [King] sweitched to a guest on the phone a former WWF wrestler named Barry Orton who claimed that Garvin also accosted him in Texas in 1978, when he was just nineteen.”

Graham [said]: “I Would Watch These WWF Men Walk Into Locker Rooms And Grab Wrestlers On The Buttocks…It Was Sexual Squeeze, A Fondling, A Sexual Advance…The Wrestlers Don’t Like It, But What Can They Do? They Put Up With It Or Get Demoted.”

Nicole Bass:

“Bodybuilder Nicole Bass pumped up a sexual harassment lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment because she couldn’t cut it in the ring, a WWE lawyer charged yesterday. Dressed demurely in a black jacket and below-the-knee skirt, Bass listened impassively as WWE lawyer Jerry McDevitt trashed her as a no-talent. After taking a pounding from defense lawyers in Brooklyn Federal Court, Bass bolted from the courtroom with a terse, “No comment.” The 6-foot-2 and 230-pound Bass was hired by WWE to play the role of a bodyguard to Sable, a WWE superstar female wrestler, McDevitt told jurors in his opening statement. … According to her complaint, Bass alleges she was assaulted, sexually harassed, humiliated and demeaned during her five-month stint with the WWE. … During the opening statements, Linda McMahon, CEO of the WWE, formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation, sat at the defense table twirling her thumbs.”

There is a lot to take in concerning these allegations and each case is concerning in its own way. Although some of these events happened a very long time ago it is still a part of WWE’s history. Of course, this is a part of their history that they don’t like to talk about.

Thanks to the recently released and lightly redacted document we can now see what they were able to find when vetting Linda McMahon before she was eventually given a place in Trump’s administration.

You can click here to read the entire document.

Thanks to Brandon Thurston for making this available