The ‘ring boys’, a twisted incest plot and harrowing demise on dwell TV… the darkish underbelly of WWE laid naked

Las Vegas is again the center of the wrestling world this weekend when the stars of WWE arrive for their annual extravaganza, WrestleMania.

The iconic promotion’s flagship annual event is at Allegiant Stadium – the home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders with hundreds of thousands of fans expected in Sin City.

For all the extravagance and pageantry, there is a sinister underbelly to WWE that includes sex trafficking allegations, racism, incestuous storylines and a double-murder suicide.

These are just some of the scandals that have tarnished the wrestling business and some of its biggest names.

Vince McMahon sex trafficking and misconduct allegations 

Vince McMahon bought the World Wrestling Federation from his father over 40 years ago. Since then, the brand changed to World Wrestling Entertainment and became an international behemoth.

Meanwhile McMahon’s wife, Linda, is now Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education after helping to get him elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2024.

Vince resigned from the WWE in January 2024 following a lawsuit filed by ex-employee Janel Grant, alleging sexual harassment and trafficking.

Grant’s 67-page lawsuit accused McMahon of pressuring her for sexual relations in exchange for her job.

McMahon allegedly ‘greeted her in his underwear, touched her, repeatedly asked for hugs, and spent hours sharing intimate details about his personal life’.

Once employed, Grant alleged that McMahon and John Laurinaitis, head of talent relations for the WWE, sexually assaulted her ‘while colleagues were busy at their desks.’

Her allegations include McMahon and Laurinaitis locking her in a room at the WWE’s Stamford, Connecticut headquarters in June 2021 and taking turns sexually assaulting her.

Additionally, McMahon is accused of trafficking Grant to other men, forcing her into sex acts ‘on demand’ and sharing nude photographs of the plaintiff.

Court papers detail one alleged text message from 2020, where he is accused of sharing a photo of her and writing: ‘She may scream and try to say NO!!although it would B difficult to say anything with a c*** down her throat.’

That lawsuit remains pending and McMahon denies the allegations. 

A spokesperson for McMahon stated of Grant’s allegations: ‘This lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and a vindictive distortion of the truth. He [McMahon] will vigorously defend himself.’ 

In May 2025, Laurinaitis – fired by WWE in 2022 – agreed to flip on McMahon and provide evidence in Grant’s lawsuit against McMahon and WWE.

It came after a 2024 statement made by Laurinaitis’ attorney Edward Brennen, vowing to fight the allegations alongside McMahon. 

Hulk Hogan’s vile racist recording

Hulk Hogan, a wrestling icon who died last year, was exiled from WWE in 2015 after a tape surfaced of him making racist remarks, including the use of the n-word.

In the video, shared by The National Enquirer, Hogan said, ‘I guess we’re all a little racist’ and used the n-word while referring to his daughter’s love life, as well as repeating the phrase ‘f***ing n******’.

According to Radar, the audio featured him using racist remarks in a rant about his daughter Brooke, 37, who was trying to launch a music career, to the wife of a friend.

Hogan is reported to have said ‘a black billionaire guy’ had offered to bankroll Brooke, then speculated about her sex life.

Hogan told his friend’s wife: ‘I don’t know if Brooke was f***ing the black guy’s son.

‘I mean, I am a racist, to a point, f***ing n******. But then when it comes to nice people and s***, and whatever.’

He continued: ‘I’d rather if she was going to f*** some n*****, I’d rather have her marry an 8-foot-tall n***** worth $100m! Like a basketball player! F***ing n*****.’

He was banished from WWE for three years before being welcomed back into the Hall of Fame in 2018, branding the incident ‘the biggest mistake’ of his life.

Chris Benoit’s harrowing double-murder suicide

Considered a consummate professional, Chris Benoit was adored by fans around the globe for his hard-hitting style and incredible athleticism. 

But over a weekend in June 2007, he strangled his wife, Nancy, suffocated seven-year-old son, Daniel, and placed a Bible by their bodies before hanging himself with a weight-machine cable in their Georgia home. 

Throughout his career, Benoit struggled with concussion issues and research into his brain after his death resembled it to an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient.

It was also revealed he had an advanced form of dementia, potentially caused by repeated concussions.

Following his death, WWE paid tribute to Benoit on their flagship TV show because information regarding the grisly circumstances surrounding his death had not materialized.

But, as the show was broadcast, details slowly emerged and Benoit’s name has since been scrubbed from WWE history.

Speaking on a Netflix documentary titled ‘Mr McMahon’ in 2024, McMahon refuted claims Benoit was suffering from CTE and said he had gone ‘nuts’ before committing the acts.

‘There is no correlation between taking steroids and what happened,’ he said.

‘Human beings are flawed. Chris went nuts. It happens in every form of life and everything, so that’s the only thing I can take away from it.’

‘This doctor came up with this ridiculous statement of “okay here’s why Chris Benoit did this”,’ McMahon said. ‘There was some sort of trauma to his head and things were shown where Chris would dive off the rope and hit someone with his head.’

Owen Hart’s in-ring death 

With the company in the midst of one of the most successful periods in its history, more than 400,000 fans tuned in on pay-per-view to watch Over The Edge from Kemper Arena in Kansas City in 1999.

Owen Hart, 34, wrestling under his Blue Blazer superhero gimmick, was in a title match against the Godfather.

Hart’s entrance as the comedic character was set to see him descend from the rafters before falling unceremoniously inside the ring as part of a planned ‘malfunction’.

However, his harness proved defective and the member of the famed Hart family dynasty fell 78 feet, landing chest-first on the top rope.

Medics rushed to the stricken wrestler and he was raced to a nearby hospital before being pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

The incident was not broadcast live as a pre-taped interview was being played during the fall but commentator Jim Ross later announced Hart’s death to viewers.

Despite the severity of the situation being immediately apparent, McMahon controversially proceeded with the event.

Hart’s family agreed to an $18million settlement in November 2000 after their attorneys claimed the device used to lower Hart to the ring was only intended for yacht racing.

The WWE later sued engineering firm Lewmar, who manufactured the triggerlatch shackle on Hart’s equipment, in an effort to recover some of the $18m they paid out.

Lewmar insisted the use of their triggerlatch shackle by the WWE was a gross misuse of the product but insurers agreed to a $9m settlement.

Incest storyline

During Vince McMahon’s WWE tenure, wrestling was a family business. In addition to wife Linda, the couple’s two children Stephanie and Shane became on-screen characters in their own right.

After marrying as part of a storyline, Stephanie became embroiled in a real-life romance with wrestler Triple H.

The pair’s relationship was sanctioned by Vince, despite previously insisting he did not want his daughter marrying into the business.

With the couple ready to tie the knot for real, Vince requested they screen the event to a pay-per-view audience. His daughter refused.

Vince accused Stephanie of being ‘selfish’ for stopping a lucrative broadcast.

However, it was Vince’s storyline idea after Stephanie fell pregnant that generated most backlash.

In a WWE-produced documentary, she recalled: ‘My dad approached me about wanting to be the father of my baby in the storyline for TV, which was actually only the second time I’ve said ‘no’ to him for something he wanted.

‘That one was just a little too gross, actually. It was completely disgusting and I don’t find the entertainment value in it at all.

‘And he’s actually my father, so how could I even play that out? I can’t fake kiss my dad like we were in love or something. It’s just revolting all the way around.’

Vince wasn’t finished in pushing his incestuous concepts suggesting if his daughter wasn’t comfortable with him being the father, perhaps her brother Shane would work as a stand-in.

‘Again, I [said] no,’ Stephanie continued. ‘I know that happens in this world, but it’s not going to happen with us.’

Ring boys scandal

Following the release of the Netflix documentary in 2024, McMahon and the WWE were accused by five alleged victims of knowing about and failing to prevent the sexual exploitation of young boys by a ring announcer.

The lawsuit, filed in Baltimore County, Maryland, accused McMahon, wife Linda, WWE and parent company, TKO Holdings, of enabling ‘open, rampant abuse’ of so-called ‘ring boys’ as young as 12.

The ring boys would act as assistants to ringside announcer Melvin Phillips Jr. at WWE shows in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Phillips died in 2012.

Law firms DiCello Levitt and Murphy, Falcon & Murphy, which filed the lawsuit, said in a statement: ‘The underaged Ring Boys were groomed, exploited, and sexually abused by Phillips, who targeted children from broken homes.’

The lawsuit alleged the five unidentified claimants were sexually assaulted at wrestling events and hotels and other venues. 

It was alleged Phillips ‘lured and manipulated’ the 12 and 13-year-old boys through promises of meeting wrestling heroes. It was claimed Phillips would abuse the claimants in his dressing room and record it.

McMahon was accused of being aware of the ‘peculiar and unnatural interest’ Phillips had in young boys. The wrestling supremo is alleged to have fired Phillips in 1988 after allegations were made about his behavior, but then rehired him weeks later.

It’s claimed he was told to ‘steer away from kids.’ But the suit added in reference to that: ‘He did not, and they knew it.’

Jessica Rosenberg, attorney for McMahon, said the claims mentioned in the lawsuit were false.

‘More than 30 years ago, the columnist Phil Mushnick tried to make headlines with these same false claims. Those allegations were never proven and ultimately became the subject of a defamation lawsuit against Mr Mushnick,’ Rosenberg said.

‘The negligence claims against Mr McMahon that were asserted today rely on these same absurd, defamatory and utterly meritless statements by Mr Mushnick. We will vigorously defend Mr McMahon and are confident the court will find that these claims are untrue and unfounded.’ The defendants have all denied responsibility for any alleged abuse.

Lawyers for WWE wrote last year: ‘Any alleged sexual abuse by Phillips in Maryland was plainly outside the scope of his employment, which means he was not acting as an agent of WWF (or TKO or WWE) at the time of the events.’

In a motion filed in April 2025, McMahon’s attorneys denied he had any knowledge or involvement in the alleged abuse. It read: ‘The Complaint attempts to manufacture such knowledge by spouting a broad catalog of negative press, unfounded opinions, speculation, and multi-level hearsay from a hodgepodge of characters (many of whom are deceased).’

In 2024, Linda McMahon’s attorney and former WWE General Counsel Laura Brevetti called the lawsuit ‘baseless’ and ‘filled with scurrilous lies, exaggerations, and misrepresentations.’

In April 2025, three more John Does joined the lawsuit. 

In December 2025, the judge overseeing the case dismissed one of the ring boys’ claims, but allowed seven to continue with their claims against TKO, WWE and Vince McMahon, and two of them to continue their claims against Linda McMahon. 

Rita Chatterton Allegations 

When McMahon initially retired from the WWE in 2022 amid allegations of sexual misconduct dating back decades, an old claim he raped a female referee in his limo also resurfaced. 

In 1992, Rita Chatterton, now 69, came forward with the bombshell claims, denied by McMahon.

The first female referee in the WWE history’s allegation was also corroborated by former wrestler Leonard Inzitari, who says he saw Chatterton after the alleged attack. 

‘She was a wreck. She was shaking. She was crying,’ Inzitari, who went by the wrestling alias Mario Mancini, told Intelligencer. 

He said he kept it a secret for decades in fear of being marginalized by McMahon. 

‘He’s dug himself such a deep hole. I’m just tired of it. I can’t do it anymore,’ he said of speaking out. 

Inzitari said Chatterton told him through sobs how McMahon ‘took his penis out’, forced her to perform oral sex on him, then forced himself ‘inside’ of her.

He recalled telling her: ‘You just keep your mouth shut, because it’s Vince McMahon. You’re gonna be blackballed from the wrestling business!’ 

McMahon gave Chatterton her first major refereeing job in 1975, then, she claims, offered her a contract of $500,000 a year to referee on-screen.

She told Intelligencer that McMahon told her not to fraternize with any of the wrestlers, warning her: ‘Keep it clean. I don’t wanna see you messing around with wrestlers. Keep it professional.’ 

In January 2023, McMahon settled a lawsuit with Chatterton for a ‘multimillion-dollar settlement’. The exact figure was never disclosed.

‘Mr. McMahon denies and always has denied raping Ms. Chatterton,’ McMahon’s lawyer Jerry McDevitt told The Wall Street Journal. ‘He settled the case solely to avoid the cost of litigation.’