Jessika Carr Not WWE’s First Female Referee

As part of the Mae Young Classic women’s tournament airing on the WWE Network, the WWE has brought aboard Dudley Boys Academy graduate Jessika Carr as an in ring official, claiming that she is the WWE’s first full time in ring official on their website and other media. However, much like many claims in the wrestling world, this is not true.
The person who lays claim to being first woman referee for the company is Rita Chatterton, going under the name of Rita Marie. She had a brief run with the company between 1985-1987, back when the company was called the WWF. She is not widely remembered as she never got the chance to officiate on any big shows like any Pay-Per-View events and only appeared briefly on a few episodes of Saturday Night’s Maine Event episodes and a couple of video tape releases.
She is however remembered for the same reason why the WWE and Vince McMahon would like people to forget her. In 1992, many years after her run in the company ended, she was a guest of tabloid journalist Geraldo Rivera and accused Vince McMahon himself on propositioning her and forcing himself on her in his private limo. She joined others is claiming sexual harassment charges against Vince and members of the company including Pat Patterson, then ring announcer Mel Phillips, and former agent Terry Garvin. All three were released from the company at the time, with Patterson quickly being rehired. However, despite these claims, no legal action was taken against the company. Vince McMahon however, did file suit against Geraldo for the episode, claiming that Rita was part of a conspiracy against him.

Interestingly, while the company line on Carr is that she is the first woman ref for the company, a small nugget of the truth was kept into the commentary of the Mae Young Classic. During the first round of the tournament, during one of the matches that Carr was officiating, Lita mentioned that Carr was the first full-time women’s referee “since the 80’s”. What is even more interesting is that her broadcast partner Jim Ross has said that he and Lita had redubbed 16 matches worth of commentary, so that minor line was left in tact, possibly during the redubbing of the show’s commentary.
It is also worth noting that between the time of Rita Marie and the current Jessika Carr, other women have also been referees, even for the short term. WWE Hall of Fame member Jacqueline Moore briefly worked as an in-ring official in 2002 before returning as a competitor later that year. Also, being a referee is part of NXT training for both men and women, even for only a match or two, before training wrestlers are made into stars on television.
So while Jessika Carr may not be the first, we certainly hope the best for her run with the WWE.