An exclusive excerpt from ‘Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America’ tells the story of WWF ring boys — and the alleged abuse they suffered behind the scenes
Years later, in a draft of a legal complaint, Tom’s lawyer would claim that Phillips “would frequently caress plaintiff’s feet and would rub them against [Phillips’s] own genital area.” Other ring boys would go on to say Phillips did similar things to them.
According to Lee, once Tom turned 16, Garvin took an interest in him. During a 1988 car trip the two were taking from New York to Massachusetts, Garvin allegedly offered the teen drugs and alcohol, which Tom says he rejected. The draft legal complaint says Garvin made an “unwelcome homosexual solicitation” for Tom to “engage in immediate sexual activity with him,” which Tom said he refused.Then, in 1990, Tom got a surprising call from Garvin: the WWF wanted him back.
Lee spoke with Mushnick at length. “Phil said, ‘You guys are in the position where you better just get a lawyer already,’ ” Lee recalls. On February 26, 1992, the Post published a Mushnick column: “WWF to Face Suit Alleging Child Sex Abuse.” A few days went by without any major articles. But the industry was abuzz. “The Post story will soon be joined by other mainstream newspaper stories focused on the WWF in the coming weeks,” warned a leading wrestling newsletter called Pro Wrestling Torch on March 5.
Meanwhile, Vince had been running frantic defense. According to Mushnick, Vince made a “pour-his-heart-out phone call” to Mushnick. Apparently fearing that Mel Phillips would soon become part of the public scandal, Vince told him “that he had let Phillips go four years ago [in 1988] because Phillips’ relationship with kids seemed peculiar and unnatural,” Mushnick recalled. “McMahon said he rehired Phillips a few months after that with the caveat that Phillips steer clear from kids.
Meltzer claims he got a similar call from Vince around the same time as Mushnick, in March 1992. “He didn’t say Terry Garvin and Mel Phillips were guilty, ” Meltzer recalls. “He just goes, ‘There was an innocent person here: Patterson.’ He didn’t say the others.” As it turned out, the Union-Tribune had prepared a full week’s worth of exposés about the WWF; the story for the next day, March 12, was about the psychological effects of steroids and so-called roid rage. That same day, the Los Angeles Times ran a story about the WWF’s scandals, as did various newswires.
Eventually, Fuchsberg and Vince started arguing. Vince’s words grew frightening: “I’m like a rat,” the boss said. “I’ll go for the throat if I have to. I won’t be backed into a corner.”“No, no, don’t go!” Tom yelled to the departing McMahons. “I just want my job back!”“I loved wrestling,” Tom would later say to justify what he did next. “I loved working for the business. It’s what I wanted to do my whole life.
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