Vince McMahon reportedly had a big plan to end a Phil Donahue TV special about alleged inappropriate claims about WWE employees with a boy, the late Tom Cole who just died by suicide.
Dave Meltzer, who sat next to McMahon on the special, wrote in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, “Just minutes after the show ended, the lead producer came up to me and was shocked. He told me you’re not going to believe this, but somebody came up to him and said how the wrestlers on the panel were full of it and that he’s Tom Cole and the only one who cared about him was Vince McMahon.
Later Cole had told me that he was brought there and sat with Linda McMahon and Elizabeth Hullette-Poffo (The Lovely Elizabeth, who was something of an iconic television wrestling character of the 80s). In fact, during the show, there was a crowd shot of Cole and Elizabeth. The idea was that somebody would bring up his name, McMahon would reveal he was there, and he’d back McMahon and have the ‘Perry Mason’ ending to the show. But then the show ended, nobody mentioned his name, and McMahon’s scripted finish never transpired.”
David Bixenspan tweeted about Cole, “h/t @IrvineEmerson for being the first person that I can ever recall noticing that, for a brief moment, Tom Cole was visible (with Miss Elizabeth next to him) in the audience of the Titangate episode of The Phil Donahue Show. Linda McMahon is off-camera, I believe to Tom’s left.”
“In the Feb ’99 Raw Magazine (Austin crucifixion cover), a monthly ostalgia feature covered The Machines. A full-page photo showed Tom Cole—then 16—at ringside. Tom saw it and had a panic attack for the 1st time.
He said he called WWE. After the next issue, that feature was gone.”
He also said, “Covering Tom Cole’s suicide without mentioning Mel Phillips’ abuse of him in any substantive way might actually be worse than not covering it at all.”
“Something I should make clear, as I have a feeling it may come up:
Tom Cole never changed his story. Yes, there were periods where he was more forgiving of the McMahons/WWE. And yes, as more time passed, he got vague in public about what happened. But he never changed his story.” WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt has denied claims about a cover up.
h/t @IrvineEmerson for being the first person that I can ever recall noticing that, for a brief moment, Tom Cole was visible (with Miss Elizabeth next to him) in the audience of the Titangate episode of The Phil Donahue Show. Linda McMahon is off-camera, I believe to Tom's left. pic.twitter.com/TxOVMZ7gfs
— David Bixenspan (@davidbix) February 15, 2021
In the Feb '99 Raw Magazine (Austin crucifixion cover), a monthly ostalgia feature covered The Machines. A full-page photo showed Tom Cole—then 16—at ringside. Tom saw it and had a panic attack for the 1st time.
He said he called WWE. After the next issue, that feature was gone. pic.twitter.com/GuFeFCM1q4
— David Bixenspan (@davidbix) February 14, 2021
