WWE referee who accused Vince McMahon of rape in 1992 hopes he’ll finally see consequences

In 1992, Rita Chatterton, the first female referee in what was then known as the WWF, publicly accused Vince McMahon of raping her six years earlier. Thirty years later, she hopes his time is up.

Chatterton told her story before, most publicly on Geraldo Rivera’s talk show. McMahon allegedly invited her into his limo in 1986 to discuss her career with the wrestling company moving forward, tried to force her to perform oral sex on him and then raped her, according to her account.

She didn’t press charges, saying she was worried about what her parents would think. She waited until they were both dead to come forward.

After Rivera’s show, Chatterton stopped getting booked by WWF, which would later become WWE. But nothing happened to McMahon, who recently stepped down as chairman and CEO of WWE due to an investigation into a settlement with a departing employee that he’d allegedly had an affair with.

Vince McMahon stepped down as CEO of WWE earlier this month. (Ethan Miller/)

Earlier this month, after the Wall Street Journal reported that WWE’s board of directors was looking into hush payments and nondisclosure agreements involving McMahon, including a $3 million settlement, he “voluntarily stepped back” from his role and his daughter, Stephanie, took the reigns. Stephanie is married to Paul Levesque, known better by his in-ring name Triple H, a Hall of Fame wrestler and key WWE executive.

“He’s not gonna pay for what he did to me,” Chatterton told New York Magazine’s Abraham Riesman, author of the upcoming unauthorized biography “Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America.”

“Now this girl’s come forward and I’m sure others will come forward. Because we’re not the only two. There’s not a doubt in my mind about that.”

For the first time, Chatterton’s allegations were also corroborated as former wrestler Leonard Inzitari, who worked the ring as Mario Mancini, confirmed that she had told him of McMahon’s alleged assault the night of.

“You just keep your mouth shut, because it’s Vince McMahon,” Inzitari told New York Magazine. “You’re gonna be blackballed from the wrestling business!”