Vince McMahon Settles With Former Ref Who Accused Him Of Rape

WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon finally settled a lawsuit from the former referee who accused him of rape in 1986.

Rita Chatterton, widely considered a trailblazer for being WWE's first female referee, said the incident occurred inside a limousine. She made the accusations decades ago.

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

Vince McMahon reached a settlment with Rita Chatterton, who accused him of raping her in 1986. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

McMahon, now 77, alleged in a 1993 lawsuit that Chatterton was convinced to make a false rape accusation by another wrestler with a vendetta. He withdrew the lawsuit in 1994 in order to focus on another suit where he was accused of selling steroids to wrestlers.

Lawyers did not disclose the exact sum of the multimillion-dollar settlement with Chatterton.

Vince McMahon retired last summer following allegations of sexual misconduct.

These allegations include nondisclosure agreement payments. Though McMahon used personal funds for the NDA payments, he failed to record those expenses, which totaled $19.6 million.

Unrelated to the Chatterton litigation, another woman accused the WWE leader of sexual assault. The incident, which allegedly occurred in 2011, went unreported until recently. The accuser, a former spa manager, claims McMahon assaulted her at a resort in California.

Although McMahon no longer serves as CEO of WWE, he returned in early January as chairman of the board to "fully capitalize" on the upcoming media rights negotiations.

And because he got that pesky rape case out of the way.