Report: WWE Perception Of Stephanie McMahon Changes Following Ashley Massaro Allegations

WARNING: This article contains an account of alleged rape.

The internal WWE perception of Stephanie McMahon has changed in recent days, according to Dave Meltzer, after Ashley Massaro's friend Cara Pipia claimed that McMahon knew about the rape allegations made by Ashley Massaro.

Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio:

"I was in contact with talent there, again it's only a couple of people there, but the feeling there is the exact same feeling I had. It's not like they're defending him [Vince McMahon]. It's almost like, again, because they worked there and many of them have worked for Vince for years and years and years. Somebody brought that up to me is like the fact that in the Ashley Massaro story, Stephanie talked to her and it was what it was. It's kind of like you can't say they didn't know, Stephanie knew. 

"I think there was a feeling among some people that Vince is a bad guy, and John Laurinaitis as well, and we can't defend them and they're gone. And Stephanie's gone as well but there was not that negativity whatsoever for Stephanie. Stephanie was the one who lost the power play to the evil Vince. But this is the one where you look at it and you go there's not a defence of Stephanie either. I know that hit some people really hard because they had nothing negative about Stephanie but this is the one where you go, 'How do you defend this one?'"

Following her passing in May 2019, the lawyer of Ashley Massaro released an affidavit which alleged that she was injected with a paralysing drug and raped by someone representing himself as a United States Army doctor. The alleged incident occurred while WWE were on a PR tour at an army base in Kuwait in 2006. It was also alleged that WWE executives, including Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis, told Massaro not to talk about the incident to preserve the company's relationship with the United States military.

Following the affidavit's release, WWE denied any knowledge of the allegations and claimed they would have told the base commander immediately. The lawyer of John Laurinaitis has claimed in recent weeks, however, that WWE executives did know about the incident. Cara Pipia has also said that a WWE doctor knew about the rape allegation but he had no political power within the organisation at a time when WWE executives were allegedly threatening Massaro.

Stephanie McMahon was a longtime WWE executive until her resignation in January 2023 after Vince McMahon forced his way back into the organisation.

The Ashley Massaro allegations resurfaced in recent weeks following Vince McMahon's resignation as TKO Executive Chairman after former WWE employee Janel Grant accused the 78-year-old of sex trafficking, sexual assault, and physical and emotional abuse in a lawsuit that also named John Laurinaitis and WWE as defendants. McMahon remains under federal investigation for multiple allegations of sexual assault.

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