Vince McMahon, WWE allowed "rampant culture of sexual abuse," lawsuit alleges

• McMahon resigned as the executive chair of WWE's parent company TKO Holdings earlier this year after being slammed with accusations of sexual assault and sex trafficking in a separate lawsuit.
• His wife, Linda McMahon, is also listed as a defendant in Wednesday's lawsuit. She currently serves as a co-chair of former President Trump's presidential transition team.

Zoom in: The lawsuit alleges that Melvin Phillips Jr., an announcer and ring crew chief, groomed and abused the children he hired.

• The McMahons "knowingly gave Phillips free rein" to entice local kids near shows to help set up and break down the ring and abuse them, sometimes in the "plain sight" of wrestlers and executives, the suit alleges.
• The alleged abuse also occurred in hotels and other venues and was sometimes filmed, according to the suit.
• Phillips allegedly lured underage boys, sometimes as young as 12 or 13, with the promise of meeting famous wrestlers, the lawsuit says.

Per the lawsuit, the McMahons allegedly knew at least as early as the 1980s that Phillips had a "peculiar and unnatural interest" in boys.

• Phillips was fired after sexual abuse allegations were made in 1988 — but rehired on the condition he "steer clear from kids." He didn't, the suit alleges.

The five John Does in the suit, who accuse Phillips of sexually abusing them when they worked as assistants in the 1980s and 1990s, are citizens of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Florida.

• Phillips died in 2012.

What they're saying: "Thanks to the bravery of our clients, we finally have a chance to hold accountable those who allowed and enabled the open, rampant sexual abuse of these young boys," said Greg Gutzler, a partner at DiCello Levitt, the firm leading the lawsuit.

• He continued: "That so many were aware of the sexual abuse of the Ring Boys and did nothing to prevent or stop it is simply unconscionable."
• A representative for the WWE did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

Jessica Rosenberg, an attorney for Vince McMahon, said in a statement that the claims were false and based on New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick's reporting of the abuse decades ago.

• "The negligence claims against Mr. McMahon that were asserted today rely on these same absurd, defamatory and utterly meritless statements by Mr. Mushnick," she said. "We will vigorously defend Mr. McMahon and are confident the court will find that these claims are untrue and unfounded."

Catch up quick: McMahon briefly retired as CEO of WWE in 2022 after an internal investigation into sexual misconduct claims and settlement payments he made to women who made the claims.

• He returned in 2023 as executive chair of the company's board and agreed to sell the company to Endeavor, a media and talent agency. The company later merged the WWE and the UFC.

McMahon is also the subject of a DOJ investigation tied to allegations of sex trafficking and sexual abuse that stem from a separate lawsuit filed by a former WWE employee.

• Investigators executed a search warrant and served a federal grand jury subpoena on McMahon, the WWE disclosed last year.
• McMahon has not been charged with any crime related to the allegations, and the case is paused pending the outcome of the DOJ probe.

State of play: Thursday's suit follows a recent Netflix docuseries, "Mr. McMahon," which highlighted a series of scandals that plagued McMahon and the WWE. These included allegations of sexual exploitation of Ring Boys and accusations of sexual misconduct against McMahon.

Go deeper: Vince McMahon's legal issues could complicate WWE-UFC merger

Editor's note: This article has been corrected to reflect that the firm leading the lawsuit is DiCello Levitt (not DiCello Levitt and Murphy).