The following article contains descriptions of sexual assault against minors.
On Monday night, a former WWF ring boy publicly spoke out about his time with the company for the first time ever.
Lee Cole, the brother of Tom Cole (another former ring boy who passed away in 2021 at the age of 50), interviewed a man who was only identified as Shawn. The interview was uploaded to Cole’s YouTube channel.
In it, Shawn details how he got his start with the WWF in 1986, often traveling with former ring announcer Mel Phillips. Shawn alleged that Phillips behaved inappropriately when they were in hotel rooms, as they often roomed together on the road. He also implied that they did not always sleep in separate beds.
“There’s like two Mels. There’s the Mel Phillips that was the ring announcer, that took you to the shows, fed you, gave you money. Then there’s the behind-the-scenes Mel that, once that hotel room door shuts, it’s like a little different.”
-Shawn
Shawn added that Phillips and he used to wrestle in hotel rooms, though he didn’t think anything of it at the time. He added that Phillips also had a “thing” about feet.
“Mel had this thing about your feet. So, he would wrestle you and grab your toes.”
-Shawn
Shawn also describes his feet being put on the crotch of Phillips. According to him, Phillips would allegedly wear as little as just underwear and sit in Shawn’s lap.
Upon leaving the WWF, Shawn joined the Army, eventually doing two tours of Iraq before becoming a police officer. When Tom Cole first spoke out against Phillips, Terry Garvin, and Pat Patterson in 1992, Shawn was already in the Army. But, he recalled feeling that what happened to him was similar to what Cole detailed.
Phillips was initially fired by the WWF in 1988, with Vince McMahon telling sports columnist Phil Mushnick of the New York Post that he felt Phillips had an “unnatural” interest in young boys. He was later rehired, under the condition that he “steer clear from kids.” In 1992, the WWF fired Phillips again, this time permanently.
The rest of the interview is not publicly available at the moment, though it seems that it will be uploaded in the future.
H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription.
