Chatterton was signed to AEW for a year.
Rita Chatterton was a referee for the WWF/E and in 1992, she went public and accused now-former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon of sexually assaulting her during the summer of 1986.
Chatterton’s name resurfaced in the media when allegations against McMahon came to light in 2022 before he initially resigned from his role at the company.
There’s a new interview with Chatterton that was pushed out by the Power & Glory podcast and she spoke about getting back into the mix of pro wrestling after receiving the Trailblazer award from the International Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame. That led to her being contacted by AEW President Tony Khan and she revealed that Khan signed her to AEW for a year. Chatterton stated that she never did anything for the company.
So finally, I said, ‘Okay guys. I’ll do this one show for you guys. This one event for you guys and then I’m done. Don’t ask me again. I’ll do the first one, I’ll help you out, I’ll do whatever I can for you but leave me alone. I don’t want this. It’s over.’ You know what? My dreams ended a long time ago. I once dreamt of being in the WWF Hall of Fame. That never happened. Okay. I’m in this (International Pro Wrestling) Hall of Fame now but anyway, I turn around and I do this event for him (Seth Turner), I get the Trailblazer award and then, you know, it’s kind of like riding a Harley because it’s in your blood and it started creeping back into my blood and I’m like, ehh. So, a few weeks after that, Seth calls me and says, ‘Rita, there’s this guy — he’s trying to get a hold of you. He wants your phone number,’ and I said, ‘Really? Who’s that?’ He says, ‘Well, his name is Tony Khan.’ ‘Who the hell is Tony Khan? That doesn’t even sound right.’ He says, ‘No, Rita.’ He says, ‘You should probably take his call’ and I said, ‘Why do I wanna take his call?’ He says, ‘Well, he owns the Jacksonville Jaguars.’ ‘Well, why the hell would anyone who owns the Jacksonville Jaguars want my phone number?’ He says, ‘Well, he also owns AEW Wrestling.’ Okay. Okay. I said, ‘Give him my phone number.’ So he gives him my number and I don’t hear anything and a couple of weeks later, I get this phone call and I look and I don’t know the number. Then I’m thinking about, I said, ‘Let me call that number back.’ So I call it back, it’s Tony Khan. So Tony Khan and I had a nice, long talk and I was under contract with him for a year. Very nice man. Gentleman. Very, very nice man, and that’s how I ended up getting back involved in wrestling. So, it was just a crazy story.
You know what? I was under contract with him for a year and I did absolutely nothing. I did absolutely nothing (she laughed), and he wanted me under contract so I was under contract with him…
Accompanying Chatterton for the interview was Mario Mancini, who spent time in the WWF. He said Chatterton had a talent scout contract.
He would put wrestlers in front of her to potentially recommend to the powers that be at AEW. Mancini helps out at the Paradise Alley Pro Wrestling school. Rita added that she did attend Jacksonville Jaguars games while under contract. She was most recently at a game during the 2024-25 season.
Mancini: It says talent scout and I’m like, ‘Alright, Rita, I’m gonna throw as many people at you as I can.’ I said, ‘I’m just gonna throw as many people at you as I can,’ and every now and then I’d go, ‘What are you doing?’ And she’s like, ‘I’m just kind of sitting home.
Chatterton: Just sitting here waiting.
Mancini: And she went, ‘Did go to a couple football games though.’ Because he owns the Jaguars.
Chatterton: In fact, I just went a couple weeks ago to a Jaguars game (podcast recorded in December 2024).
In January 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported that Vince McMahon reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with Chatterton.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Power & Glory with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
