A retired professional wrestler claims that former WWE chairman Vince McMahon is “fully aware” of past sexual misconduct within the organization, including allegations that performers were sexually harassed and forced to perform sexual acts. .
“They were asked to do things, sexual things with other men that they didn’t want to do,” said Paul Roma, 64. NewsNation this week.
“Vince is fully aware, like a lot of other guys, of what I’m talking about right now,” added Roma, who wrestled in what is now known as the WWE from 1984 to 1991. “And there are guys who have passed away, vice presidents who are part of or were part of it.’
The explosive interview comes after McMahon resigned in the wake of a federal sex trafficking lawsuit brought by a former employee, Janel Grant. The January filing, obtained by DailyMail.com, includes an allegation that McMahon defecated on her head during a threesome and Grant’s claim that her promoter trafficked her to other high-ranking company officials.
McMahon has denied the claims contained in Grant’s lawsuit and has not been charged with any crime. The 78-year-old billionaire is also the subject of a federal investigation over allegations of sexual misconduct, according to Recent Wall Street Journal report..
Paul Roma, 64, talks to NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield (left) about his experience in WWE.
TKO board CEO Vince McMahon during a ceremony last month.
Janel Grant (pictured) is suing Vince McMahon, WWE and another company executive
Roma says he is aware of another incident that is somehow “worse” than what McMahon is already accused of.
Roma’s friend and former business partner Mario Mancini previously told NewsNation that he was aware of that specific allegation against McMahon, which he declined to detail publicly.
“He spoke to us the other day and said he knows that at least one incident that happened years ago is even worse than some of the worst allegations in the Janel Grant lawsuit,” interviewer Ashleigh Banfield told Rome. ‘Do you know what that incident is and can you tell me tonight?’
“I really shouldn’t do it now, but yes, I know what it is, and it’s worse,” Roma told him.
Roma did not go into further detail, but admitted that he is surprised that this accusation has not been made public yet.
“Mario and I are really surprised,” Roma said. ‘We talked about it and we are surprised that no one has spoken out. But on the other hand, I think they are now at an age where they can be married, have children and they don’t want to open Pandora’s box. And I can’t blame them. And I said that to Mario, ”can you blame them? Would you really want to open this can of worms?
“No, you don’t want to open it.”
A WWE spokesperson did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment in response to Roma’s claims.
The WWE logo shines from WWE World Headquarters on January 28 in Stamford, Connecticut
Federal investigators launched an investigation into McMahon’s sexual misconduct allegations in 2022, The Wall Street Journal revealed earlier this month. Since then, New York prosecutors have reportedly been in contact with at least four women who have come forward with accusations against him.
McMahon has not been charged with any crime.
Banfield asked Roma about the promoter, who wanted to know if this ‘sounds like the Vince McMahon’ he knew.
“Yeah, it was pretty average,” Roma said of the allegations against McMahon. ‘You listened to it regularly for the most part, then you didn’t listen to it for a while and then it will come full circle. But it wasn’t so much Vince, it was the people around him. You’re talking about an industry where there are young, handsome, well-built men in the ring, half naked or three-quarters naked, really.
‘So yeah, I mean, he left the door open. And, you know, he had a lot of people around him, VPs and bookers who were very interested in it. And they put you in a really bad situation, especially once you start making some money, you get comfortable with that. And then you find out your jobs are on the line, you either do it or you get fired, and I witnessed some walk away. It wasn’t worth the money to go down that path, so to speak.’
Allegations that WWE personalities sexually abused young men are nothing new.
In 1992, a former “ring boy” (the term given to stagehands within the industry) named Tom Cole told the San Diego Union-Tribune that wrestler-turned-executive Terry Garvin pressured him to have sex in the house. from Garvin two years earlier. Cole says he was fired for rejecting Garvin, who eventually left the company.
Shawn Michaels of the Rockers delivers a flying kick to Paul Roma of Power and Glory in the ’90s
Cole also claimed that wrestler and producer Pat Patterson groped him when Cole was just 14 years old. McMahon admitted in 1988 that he fired Phillips over a “peculiar” and “unnatural” relationship, but he was later rehired with the promise that he would “stay away from children,” according to Abraham Josephine Riesman’s book Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America.
Another former wrestler named Barry Orton claimed that Garvin sexually assaulted him in 1978.
Banfield did not address any specific allegations against McMahon or WWE, but pressed Roma further on allegations of sexual harassment and coercion.
“I was actually on a cab ride in Washington and we were coming back and the [wrestler] next to me he kept saying ‘it’s not, you know, it’s not worth it’. It’s not, it’s not worth it for the Benjamins, it’s not worth it for the Benjamins.’
‘And I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ He said, “It’s not worth it.”
“They offered him money, drugs, ‘just lie on your back, you won’t have to do anything,'” Roma later added.
Roma said that his refusal to have sexual relationships with members of the WWE community ultimately hurt his career.
“They played a lot of mind games with a lot of people, psychological games that really hurt someone,” he said.
‘I was one of those guys who didn’t deliver. I was one of the ones who spoke up and said, ‘If they try that with me, I’m going to kill someone.’ Because I’m not going to tolerate that. That’s not the path I follow. That’s not how I was raised. So either you use me for my ability or you get rid of me. But I’m not going to follow the path you want me to follow.
Grant previously agreed to a $3 million settlement in exchange for signing a confidentiality agreement in 2022 before filing the federal lawsuit against McMahon last week in Connecticut. In that filing, Grant claims that McMahon stopped making payments after the initial $1 million payment, and is now seeking to void that agreement.
Vince McMahon was shaved by his old friend Donald Trump in April 2007.
Additionally, Grant claims she suffered bruising and bleeding after McMahon forcibly penetrated her with sex toys, which he named after his wrestlers. She also alleges that McMahon and another WWE executive locked her in a room at WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, in June 2021 and took turns sexually assaulting her during the workday. McMahon, married, is also accused of trafficking Grant to other men and sharing naked photographs of the plaintiff.
The grand jury subpoena resulting from the federal investigation seeks communications between McMahon and his accusers, including Grant, according to the Journal.
In addition to Grant, other accusers named in the grand jury subpoena include a WWE contractor who claims that McMahon sent her unsolicited nude photos and sexually harassed her. Additionally, a former WWE wrestler claims that McMahon forced her to give him oral sex.
The subpoena reportedly names former WWE referee Rita Chatterton, who previously went public with rape allegations against McMahon, who has long denied the allegation.
McMahon agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement at the end of 2022 without admitting wrongdoing. According to his lawyer, McMahon’s decision to pay Chatterton was due to his desire to avoid the cost of litigation.
The manager of a spa at a Southern California resort is also included in the subpoena after claiming that McMahon assaulted her.
The text above (right) included in Janel Grant’s federal lawsuit allegedly shows then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon instructing her to have sexual relations with WWE executive John Laurinaitis (left).
And finally, a former WWE employee is also mentioned in the subpoena, according to the Journal. The woman claims she was demoted after breaking off an affair with John Laurinaitis, WWE’s former head of talent relations, who is also named in Grant’s lawsuit.
In response to Grant’s lawsuit, Laurinaitis’ attorney, Edward Brennan, issued a denial on his client’s behalf: “We deny any and all allegations and will vigorously defend the charges against Mr. Laurinaitis in the appropriate setting.”
Laurinaitis, a former wrestler and uncle of former NFL star James Laurinaitis, left the company in 2022. In a statement to Vice, Brennan insisted that his client is also a victim of McMahon: ‘Mr. Laurinaitis in this case is a victim, not a predator. The truth will come to light.’
“Read the allegations,” Brennan told Vice. ‘Read the Federal Statute. Power, control, ability to supervise employment, dictatorial sexual demands with repercussions if not met. Count how many times in the complaint Vince exercises control over both of you.’
Grant’s lawsuit accuses McMahon of instructing him to create “explicit content” for Laurinaitis and arranging a threesome between them. The lawsuit also says that McMahon set up dates for Grant to have sex with Laurinaitis at a hotel.