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FLASHBACK: McMahons Sued Geraldo For Airing Rape Claims By Former WWE Referee

Christina Bellantoni | October 12, 2010, 8:35PM

Seventeen years ago, after a former World Wrestling Entertainment referee claimed on Geraldo Rivera's syndicated TV show that Vincent McMahon had sexually assaulted her, the WWE founder and his wife Linda McMahon filed a lawsuit against the woman and media outlets who had made her claims public, asking for $1 million in damages due to "severe emotional distress."

Linda McMahon, who served as WWE's CEO and is now the Republican Senate nominee in Connecticut, has been deflecting past stories about the wrestling company for months as she battles Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal for the state's open Senate seat now held by a Democrat. Before McMahon even captured the GOP nomination, Democrats were pushing videos of old WWE sketches that depicted mock necrophilia and simulated rape scenes. The prevalence of steroids in the "sport" and the deaths of wrestlers associated with WWE have been major political problems for the McMahon campaign.

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