Vince McMahon made female wrestlers cry in private meetings, former WWE personality says (Exclusive)

Vince McMahon's behavior toward women was common knowledge backstage in WWE, according to Dutch Mantell.

On January 25, former WWE employee Janel Grant accused McMahon of sexual assault and trafficking. The 78-year-old denied the allegations before resigning from the board of WWE's parent company TKO "out of respect."

Mantell was known as Zeb Colter in WWE between 2013 and 2016. On Sportskeeda's Smack Talk with Rick Ucchino and Sid Pullar III, the legendary manager spoke about McMahon's conversations with women behind the scenes. He also referenced how former referee Rita Chatterton accused McMahon of sexual assault in 1986.

"The only sad thing about it is that everybody knew it," Mantell said. "Everybody. It was common knowledge when I was in WWE what was going on. The girls told me what was going on. It started, of course, with Rita Chatterton, was her name, and that was before it was so well known." [5:32 – 6:01]

Mantell added that female wrestlers sometimes left Vince McMahon's office in tears backstage at shows:

"He'd pull them in a room and close the door. Of course, he did that with everybody, the guys too (…) He would get them [women] in there and I guess the term is groom them, I guess. He would get them ready for what might be possibly coming their way, and they would leave the room with tears in their eyes. Some of them, not all of them. He would upset them that badly." [6:29 – 7:10]

Watch the video above to hear Mantell's reaction to John Cena's recent controversial comments about Vince McMahon.

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Dutch Mantell spoke to female wrestlers after meetings with Vince McMahon

During his most recent run with WWE, Dutch Mantell managed Alberto Del Rio, Cesaro, and Jack Swagger. He also interacted with other wrestlers behind the scenes, including members of the women's division.

Mantell said some female wrestlers did not want to discuss their interactions with Vince McMahon:

"Of course, they were told to keep it quiet. I'd even ask about it. I said, 'Are you okay?' They went, 'Yeah, I'm okay,' and they'd have tears in their eyes. 'What happened?' 'I don't wanna talk about it.' We'll leave it like that, but I think whatever he did upset them to such a degree that they would come out of the room with tears in their eyes. You can use your imagination on that, I don't know what happened, but some of those girls cooperated, I guess." [7:11 – 7:48]

Janel Grant also accused John Laurinaitis of sexual assault. However, the former WWE executive's lawyer claims his client was a "victim" of McMahon and not a "predator".

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