WWE Executives Allegedly Threatened Ashley Massaro Over Kuwait Allegations

WARNING: This article contains accounts of alleged rape and harassment.

A new claim has suggested that WWE executives threatened Ashley Massaro over the allegations she made following a WWE overseas trip to Kuwait. Stephanie McMahon also allegedly knew about the accusations from Massaro. 

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

WWE released a statement following the affidavit's release claiming they were not informed of the alleged incident and would have reported it immediately to the base commander if the company had been told. 

It has since been claimed by John Laurinaitis' lawyer, however, that WWE management did know about the allegations made by Massaro. The Naval Criminal Intelligence Service also opened an investigation into the allegations in June 2019 but the results of that investigation are unknown beyond that it was closed in January 2020. 

In a new interview with NewsNation, Massaro's friend Cara Pipia has alleged that Stephanie McMahon, a WWE executive at the time, knew about Massaro's allegations and that Ashley was threatened by higher-ups within the company. 

"She spoke with Vince McMahon many times. Vince had his daughter [Stephanie] take his place because she was a female, a woman, and to make Ashley comfortable. And they just played with her. They played with her because everything that Stephanie said made her feel comfortable. Safe. As soon as they walked into this board room meeting, Ashley was on her own completely. And she was threatened, and there was no... there was no compassion. There was no sympathy. There was nothing," Pipia claimed. 

"Right before she walked into that boardroom, she talked to the locker room doctor who was aware of everything and she was actually very sympathetic to her but he had no pull. He gave her the advice that he could, but that was it."

After being asked what she would say to Vince McMahon, Pipia added: "Shame on you. How do you look at yourself?' Obviously, he's got problems. Obviously, he's a sexual deviant. He needs help, he's not well. The problem is that people with that kind of sickness and that mindset are power, why do they thrive for so long? Why doesn't anybody stand up? Why are there so many people in that company aware of what's going on to all these women? Women who keep committing suicide year after year after year. And nobody stands up and says anything. Nobody tries to protect these young women? Why? Because it's not just Vince, it's the whole frickin' company!"  

A newly-released statement from Massaro originally written in 2017 has claimed that she witnessed Vince McMahon "preying" on female WWE workers.

Vince McMahon remains under federal investigation for multiple allegations of sexual assault. He resigned as TKO Executive Chairman in January after a former WWE employee accused him of sex trafficking, sexual assault, and physical and emotional abuse in a lawsuit that also named WWE and John Laurinaitis as defendants.

Stephanie McMahon resigned from WWE in January 2023 after Vince McMahon forced his way back into the company. 

H/T SE Scoops