09 February 2024 , 17:57
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Senior WWE figures have been accused of knowing about rape allegations made by the late Ashley Massaro.
Massaro claimed in legal documents that she was raped on a military base in Kuwait, where she also claimed that WWE covered up the incident to avoid impacting the relationship between the promotion and the US military. Massaro died by suicide aged 39 in 2019.
According to Vice News, the attorney of former WWE executive John Laurinaitis denied it was a 'cover-up' but said he and 'most upper-level management' were aware of the allegations. This contradicts WWE’s claim that they didn’t know about the allegations.
"At no time was Vince McMahon or the management of WWE ever informed by Ashley Massaro or anybody else that she had been sexually assaulted, drugged, raped or sodomized," read WWE's statement on the allegations in 2019, as quoted by Newsweek.
Ashley Massaro died in 2019 (Getty Images)In 2019, Massaro’s sworn affidavit was released. The affidavit stated someone who claimed to be a US Army doctor allegedly injected her with a drug and sexually assaulted her during a 2006 WWE tour in Kuwait. After Massaro claimed that she was raped, she said that WWE executives urged her not to talk about what happened.
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Vice News also reported that in June 2019, an investigation was opened by the Naval Criminal Intelligence Service looking into Massaro’s allegations but it was closed in January 2020.
Vice News' report comes just days after McMahon quit WWE. The 78-year-old stepped down from his position in the wake of sex-trafficking allegations made by a former employee. McMahon has denied the allegations made against him.
Mirror Sport has contacted WWE and Laurinaitis' attorney for comment.