According to a shocking report, a WWE star claimed Vince McMahon preyed on female wrestlers and ruined their careers after she turned down his advances in an affidavit shortly before committing suicide.
Ashley Massaro, who accused the disgraced wrestling mogul and other WWE executives of covering up a rape allegation at a Kuwait military base while on tour in 2006, committed suicide in 2019.
In an unpublished statement to her lawyer before her death, she said: Retrieved from VICE NewsMassaro claimed that McMahon propositioned her for sex.
This statement was not included in the lawsuit Massaro and others filed against WWE. The incident involved a concussion, Vice reported on Friday.
But the issue resurfaced last month, days after federal authorities opened an investigation into sex trafficking allegations against McMahon by former WWE staffer Janelle Grant.
McMahon, who resigned as WWE chairman and CEO in the wake of Grant’s lawsuit, denied Grant’s claims.
The Post has reached out to McMahon, WWE, WWE majority owner Endeavor and the newly formed entity TKO Group for comment.
Massaro’s comments before his death painted a frightening image of McMahon as a sexual predator.
Massaro said she felt “very uncomfortable” and claimed that McMahon called her multiple times and invited her to come to his hotel room alone late at night.
“He started calling my hotel room phone and my cell phone incessantly.”
Massaro, who joined WWE in 2005 and was released in 2008, claimed that he witnessed McMahon “flirting” with female wrestlers in the locker room and sexually harassed him.
When she rejected his offer, Massaro claimed that McMahon had written a humiliating script for her to perform.
Massaro claimed that the script was designed to damage her reputation and jeopardize her career.
Her affidavit states that John Laurinaitis, another WWE executive named in McMahon and Grant’s lawsuit, told her to keep quiet about a rape allegation that occurred on a military base in 2006. It is also claimed that it was done.
Massaro was on a WWE tour in Kuwait in 2006 when she was drugged and raped by a man claiming to be a U.S. military doctor, according to an affidavit released by her lawyer after her death five years ago. Was.
“While the woman was guarding the door, the man started injecting me with drugs that left me unable to move or scream.” Massaro claimed in his affidavit:
“The man then violently raped me and sexually assaulted me.”
“The drug he injected me with left me temporarily paralyzed, so I was completely powerless to defend myself against this attack,” Massaro said.
“Despite not being able to control my movements, I remained fully conscious during every second of the seizure,” she claimed.
Naval Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) has launched an investigation into Massaro’s claims. The investigation was concluded in 2020, according to VICE News.
Massaro said in the affidavit that McMahon, Laurinaitis, and other executives at WWE’s Stamford, Conn., office asked him to keep quiet about the incident so as not to jeopardize WWE’s relationship with the U.S. military. He claimed that he was instructed to do so by her.
Massaro said she reported the rape to a WWE doctor, who said, “WWE executives who met with Massaro shortly thereafter apologized for their negligence, but persuaded her that it would be better not to report it to the appropriate authorities.” “I did,” he said.
According to Vice, in court documents filed in 2016, WWE called Massaro’s allegations “outdated and unsubstantiated” and denied that Massaro ever reported the sexual assault to WWE officials.
“The allegation that Mr. Laurinaitus helped cover up the rape allegations is a complete lie,” Laurinaitus’ attorney Edward Brennan told VICE News.
“Johnny, like most upper management, became aware of this allegation at some point and ensured that all proper WWE protocols were followed, including the privacy of the alleged victim. We object to the use of the word cover-up because there was never any planning or conspiracy to cover up or aid.”
