Lawyer From WWE ‘Ring Boys’ Lawsuit Responds To Vince McMahon’s Statement

As previously reported, five former WWE ‘ring boys’ are suing Vince McMahon, Linda McMahon and WWE’s parent company TKO over sexual abuse that happened to them in the 1980s. The lawsuit claims that former WWE employees Mel Phillips and Terry Garvin abused them and say Vince and Linda McMahon were aware of it but did nothing. Vince later released a statement categorically denying the claims and saying the case is similar to claims journalist Phil Muschnick made in the 90s. In an interview with Post Wrestling (via Wrestling Inc), attorney Greg Gutzler, who is representing the plaintiffs, responded to McMahon’s statement.

He said: “If you read the 81-page complaint, you are going to see multiple facts, myriad facts, dozens of facts that have nothing to do with Phil Mushnick. We had the fact that we had Mel Phillips, shuttling young boys in plain sight, in front of WWE executives and wrestlers, from state to state. You have him in plain sight staying in hotel rooms with young boys. You have in plain sight Mel Phillips engaging in sexual foot fetishes in the ring in front of people, in the locker room in front of wrestlers, and he was even provided his private dressing room in certain areas. You have the FBI videotape, where the FBI said — the behavioral science unit said — this is consistent with pedophilia and sexual foot fetishes.”

Gutzler claimed that McMahon didn’t deny that he told people Phillips was interested in young boys. He noted that McMahon previously fired Phillips, only to bring him back later as long as he “steered clear of the kids.” Finally, Gutzler said that while McMahon filed a defamation lawsuit against Mushnick over his claims, the fact that he walked away from it later suggested Mushnick was accurate.