As accusations in opposition to Vince McMahon and the WWE proceed to pile up, VICE NEWS has obtained a beforehand unpublished assertion by former wrestler Ashley Massaro given earlier than her dying that claims McMahon preyed on feminine wrestlers and ended Massaro’s profession as a result of she rejected his sexual advances.
Legal professionals collected the assertion as a part of a 2018 lawsuit filed by Konstantine Kyros and Erica Mirabella, attorneys who represented Massaro and dozens of different WWE wrestlers seeking to search damages associated to traumatic mind accidents sustained from wrestling. The attorneys collected statements from wrestlers throughout the WWE about their expertise with the group.
Massaro’s assertion was ultimately lower from the ultimate affidavit as a result of it was not clearly related to the lawsuit largely centered on concussions.
“Our colleagues finally determined we should always focus solely on the sexual assault and bodily in-ring accidents Ashley sustained,” Mirabella mentioned to VICE, “so I mentioned this with Ashley and he or she agreed that we might take away it, so it was deleted. We then finalized the affidavit, she signed it, and we submitted it to the court docket.”
Mirabella additionally famous that Massaro was “extraordinarily detailed, considerate, and thorough all through your complete course of,” in keeping with VICE Information. Massaro died in 2019 of an obvious suicide.
The assertion from Massaro particulars McMahon “making out” with different feminine wrestlers within the locker room, harassing Massaro with repeated telephone calls late at evening, and ultimately tanking her profession with adverse promos after she rejected his sexual advances.
“On considered one of these events, Vince was trying to get me alone with him in his resort room late at evening and I felt terribly uncomfortable,” Massaro mentioned in her assertion. “He started calling the resort room telephone and my cellphone nonstop. I known as Kevin Dunn to clarify the state of affairs and he mentioned I ought to inform Vince I used to be not feeling properly and would see him on TV the following day, so I did.”
After this second, in keeping with Massaro, McMahon took over writing her promos – one thing he doesn’t do for feminine wrestlers. In Massaro’s eyes, the promos had been particularly written “with the clear intention of ruining [her] profession.”
“I introduced the primary script Vince wrote for me to the WWE worker in command of Inventive on the time, Michael Hayes,” Massaro’s assertion learn, “and he mentioned, ‘you’re not saying this, who the [expletive] wrote this?’ and I informed him that Vince did. He mentioned, ‘Properly child, these are the breaks,’ that means that Vince needed to finish my profession and destroy my status on my method out.”
McMahon was additionally accused of overlaying up Massaro’s alleged rape at a Kuwait army base in a civil intercourse trafficking lawsuit. These allegations initially got here out in June 2019 however the investigation was closed in January 2020. In Massaro’s affidavit, longtime WWE manufacturing chief Kevin Dunn allegedly informed Massaro “to not let one unhealthy expertise destroy the work they had been doing,” referring to her talking out about her sexual assault. Dunn was unable to be reached for remark, and a lawyer mentioned to signify McMahon didn’t reply to a request for remark.