• Vince McMahon’s $ex Assault Victim Claims Pat Patterson Told Female Wrestlers To Break Her Leg
Rita Chatterton was known as the first ever female WWF referee during the mid-80s, but ended up accusing WWF promoter Vince McMahon of forcing oral $ex upon her (after she refused to go along with it) in 1986.
After the recent Vince McMahon hush money scandal, Rita was interviewed on an episode of the ‘Cheap Heat Productions’ podcast, where she was asked whether she was surprised that McMahon allegedly paid millions of dollars to several women over the years, after incidents very similar to her own story.
Here’s what Rita Chatterton had to say:
“No not at all. I’m surprised it’s taken this long, to be honest with you. But none of it surprises me.
I had met Abraham Riesman and had talked to him about my referee days.
This is after I had received the award from the Hall of Fame. And the next thing I know, McMahon was in the papers again for paying hush money. And Mr. Riesman called me and asked me a few questions. I answered a few questions for him.
The next thing you know, we were in the magazine, and here we are. Things are crazy. My phone is going crazy with people wanting me to do interviews, wanting me to do television, this show, and that show. At this point, I have chosen not to do anything.
That doesn’t mean I won’t in the future. But at this point, I am not quite sure what I’m doing. So I’m going to sit back, take my time, think about it and figure it out.
If anyone wants to see it, they’re more than welcome to read the article, it’s New York Magazine, or if they want to know the rest of the story, I reported the rest of the story 30 years ago with Geraldo Rivera on ‘Now It Can Be Told’, and that’s on YouTube.
So they’re more than welcome to see it there. But as far as I’m concerned, at this point in my life, I’m not going there again. It still hurts, the whole thing still bothers me. So I would rather not go there.”
She was then asked about her referee career in The World Wrestling Federation.
Here’s what Rita said:
“It was my very, very first match. I was scared to death, never did this before, gonna work in front of people, ‘Oh my God, this is insane.’ I get to the fairgrounds and I pull up, and the guy says it’s 10 dollars or whatever it was to get in, and I said well, I’m the referee tonight for wrestling and he started laughing, ‘Yeah, sure you are.’ I said, ‘No, I really am.’ So I showed him my license.
Pat Patterson comes walking over and he says, ‘Who are you here with?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m here with myself.’ He said, ‘Look, this is for the wrestlers, you can’t be back here.’ And it’s like, ‘Well, I’m your referee for tonight,’ and he started laughing at me. ‘Sweetheart, you gotta do better than that. I’ve been around here for 30 years, you’re no referee.’ And I was like, ‘Well, do you want to see my license?’ He was like, ‘Yeah.’
He’s just shaking his head no and he literally throws the license at me and says, ‘Who in their right f***ing mind would give a female a referee’s license?’ And he stormed away and he went into his little travel trailer and I had no idea who was in there, but you could hear him screaming. Had no idea, couldn’t make out what he was saying, but he was screaming.
He (Tony Altamore) walked over and he was like, ‘Rita! I’m so glad you can make it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,’ and I’m, ‘Eh, I’m not quite sure how long you’re going to feel that way.’ He’s like, ‘Why?’ So I tell him what happened and he’s like, ‘Okay, don’t worry about it.’ So he goes into the travel trailer and the screaming starts all over again. I’m like, ‘Great.’
Pat Patterson, Jay Strongbow and Richard Herring come walking over to me, and Pat Patterson’s got a fistful of money. He says, ‘Here! Take this.’ And I looked at him and I said, ‘What’s that?’ He says, ‘You’re getting paid for tonight, but you’re not refereeing anything.’ And I looked at him and I said, ‘Yes, I am.’
He just kind of stood back and I said, ‘Look, if I don’t referee tonight, I will sue you personally. And I will sue you, and I will sue you,’ and I pointed to the other two. I said, ‘And then I’ll sue the WWF, because I’m a good referee and I worked hard for it, and yes, I am working.’ Okay, they storm away.
Richard Herring kind of looks at me and smiles because he knows he just assigned me. 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.”
Also Read: Jim Ross Comments On The Vince McMahon Hush Money Scandal
WATCH: Brutus Beefcake accuses Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty of spiking female fans’ drinks:
• ON THIS DAY IN WWF HISTORY (July 18, 1999) – WWF Sunday Night HEAT
On this day in 1999, the World Wrestling Federation aired an episode of their weekly TV show ‘WWF Sunday Night HEAT’.
It was pre-taped at the Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky and featured matches, interviews & storyline segments on the road to the ‘WWF Fully Loaded 1999’ PPV.
The card can be found right here:
1. Gangrel vs. D’Lo Brown
2. X-Pac vs. Hardcore Holly
3. Albert & Droz vs. The Acolytes
4. The Big Show vs. Triple H
