Tom Cole, the victim at the center of the 1980s “ring boy scandal” in WWE has passed away. The death has been ruled a suicide. Our sincerest condolences go out to the Cole family and Tom’s brother Lee.
Lee Cole put out a statement on Twitter over the weekend. He addresses WWE directly in his post.
“My brother Tom Committed suicide a couple of hours ago. Vince Mc Mahon and his wife Linda let child molesters into their companies years ago and did everything possible to cover up what they did to my brother. I hope you can sleep good at night Vince. Our family suffers. Thank U,” he Tweeted.
Wresting journalist, David Bixenspan, has been Tweeting about this.
In keeping with ethical guidelines on the reporting of suicide, further details regarding the cause of death have not been posted. Suicide prevention lifeline: 1-800-273-8255. More information on warning signs as well as additional helpful information can be found here.
Lee Cole’s YouTube video talking about the 1980s ring boy scandal and his brother Tom is below:
The ring boy scandal was covered on an episode of the Donahue show in 1992.
An anonymous source spoke to Business Insider about what happened with the ring boy scandal in the 1980s.
“The boys that the company hired to put up the ring and so forth, were being … had by some of the folks who were in the wrestling ops side of things. And it was just generally known, by everybody, that it was going on.”
They also note that the McMahons “clearly knew what was going on, but really did nothing to stop it…. There was not a damn thing we could do about it.”