"As a state representative, Dick Blumenthal voted for a bill, which as a proponent explained, "deregulates [wrestling], which means that it would be no longer considered a professional sport," Team McMahon states.
Many observers say Vince and Linda McMahon's greatest coup was persuading state regulators to take a hands-on attitude toward pro-wrestling. The move paved the way for wrestling to essentially police itself -- and for the McMahons to dominate the industry and amass a vast fortune.
For Blumenthal, a guy who has staked his reputation on his image as a fighter for people's rights, the McMahon campaign's allegations would seem to expose a contradiction.
But Blumenthal campaign manager Mindy Myers said the Senate candidate cannot be held accountable for failing to foresee the problems that would later plague professional wrestling.
"When Dick voted in 1985, there had not been a single serious injury to any wrestler in 400 events over ten years,'' Myers said via email.
"It was impossible to know then what we know now about how Linda McMahon would lobby for and exploit deregulation to foster a deadly culture of steroid abuse, extreme violence, and lax safety protections, without paying for health insurance or disability benefits for her wrestlers, all to increase her own profits."