Bret Hart apologizes to major ex-WWE personality after 30 years following unexpected confrontation
A former WWE personality recently revealed that she had buried the hatchet with Hall of Famer Bret Hart. She claimed he apologized to her after she confronted him at a convention.
Rita Chatterton (fka Rita Marie) was the first female referee to ever work for WWE during the 1980s. However, she left the promotion in 1986, as she later accused Vince McMahon of sexually assaulting her. As the former chairman continued to deny the allegation, Chatterton filed a lawsuit against him in December 2022. McMahon settled with the former referee later that same month to "avoid the cost of litigation," according to his attorney, despite maintaining his innocence.
In a recent appearance on the Power & Glory podcast, Chatterton recalled Bret Hart, one of WWE's top superstars in the early 1990s, insulting her in an interview on national television back then. She revealed that she confronted him at a convention a year and a half ago.
I'll tell you something. You wanna hear a real man, Bret 'The Hitman' Hart apologized to me. Bret 'The Hitman' Hart many years ago, back in the 90s, went on national television and called me all kinds of names, and it was horrible. It was horrible. About a year and a half ago, I seen him at a con, and he apologized to me. That's a real man. I walked up to him and I just said to him, I said, 'I have one question for you.' And he looked at me, and it's the first time I had seen him. And he said, 'What's that?' And I said, 'Why?'"
The 67-year-old disclosed that the WWE Hall of Famer apologized to her and she forgave him after 30 years.
"And he looked at me, I said, 'You don't know who I am, do you?' And he says, 'No, I'm sorry. I don't.' I said, 'I'm Rita Marie.' And he looked at me, and he said, 'Oh my.' He said, 'Rita, my wife and I just talked about you a few months ago, and I owe you an apology.' And the man apologized to me. That's a real man. And I forgave him. At 30, 30 years I held that, 30 years I held that in." [From 54:20 - 55:26]
Former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon addressed Rita Chatterton's allegations on his Netflix docuseries
Earlier this year, Netflix released a docuseries documenting the 'rise and fall' of former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. One of the topics that were discussed was Rita Chatterton's sexual allegations against the 79-year-old.
The former chairman continued to deny the allegations, stating that it was consensual.
"When you're accused of this, accused of that, and there is this deluge of things, 'You're this, you're that,' one of the things was an alleged r*pe, that never happened. Once you're accused of r*pe, you're a r*pist. But it was consensual, and actually, had it been a r*pe, the statute of limitations had run out. So it's all kind of crap like that people are digging up and trying to find something on you," he said.
While Chatterton remains away from WWE, Bret Hart recently made an appearance on the September 9 episode of Monday Night RAW in his hometown of Calgary.
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