KawadaSmile Posted May 16, 2019 Report Share Posted May 16, 2019 https://www.tmz.com/2019/05/16/ashley-massaro-wwe-superstar-dead-at-39/ I am speechless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmartMark15 Posted May 17, 2019 Report Share Posted May 17, 2019 I started watching wrestling in 2006 and I've always been a Survivor fan so I have a soft spot for Ashley. I remember her best for her run with London & Kendrick feuding with MNM. She also played in a top 3 Survivor season despite being an early boot. Real shame, far too young. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.S. Posted May 17, 2019 Report Share Posted May 17, 2019 This is a shocker. Re: Survivor - I only started watching last season with David vs. Goliath because I was curious about Johnny Survivor's chances, and now I'm hooked. Wish I was a fan when Ashley was on the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hernan Posted May 17, 2019 Report Share Posted May 17, 2019 I was pretty shocked when I heard the news. This was totally unexpected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted May 17, 2019 Report Share Posted May 17, 2019 A lot of wrestlers' reaction tweets seem to imply it was a suicide, which is just awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotJayTabb Posted May 17, 2019 Report Share Posted May 17, 2019 If it is suicide, that's terribly sad and really hammers home that you never know what's going on in people's lives. Her last tweet from a day ago was a cheery message about sending out some fan mail, while Bull James tweeted that she'd been training for a wrestling comeback and, in his words, was SO excited about it. RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.S. Posted May 18, 2019 Report Share Posted May 18, 2019 This is horrible... Long thread, so worth clicking through to the tweet to see the rest. Poor Ashley. Now that we're in the #metoo era, does Vince escape the repercussions so easily this time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted May 18, 2019 Report Share Posted May 18, 2019 4 minutes ago, C.S. said: Now that we're in the #metoo era, does Vince escape the repercussions so easily this time? Of course he does, Vince always escapes repercussions since the non wrestling world just considers him the wacky rasslin' guy (to his eternal disdain). He shouldn't, of course, but it's been shown time and time again that's what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted May 18, 2019 Report Share Posted May 18, 2019 That's not even remotely close to being the worst thing he has been accused of either. So I doubt it sticks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted May 18, 2019 Report Share Posted May 18, 2019 Support to the Troops takes quite the other kind of meaning here. Military raping women ? So unexpected... Yeah, this is fucking awful. "Not let one bad experience ruin the relationship between WWE and the US Military." The day Vince dies, I probably won't handle the crocodile tears very well... Fuck these people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Thread Killer Posted May 18, 2019 Report Share Posted May 18, 2019 I don't see any fallout for Vince either, since WWE (showing their typical tact and sensitivity) have already released excerpts of an email Ashley Massaro allegedly sent them last year, attempting to "mend fences." Pretty sickening that this poor girl's body isn't even in the ground yet and WWE is releasing private emails to basically say "this wasn't our fault, see?" I guess they're worried people are going to draw a line from her previous claims of CTE, to her reported depression and suicide, to WWE. Quote The late Ashley Massaro’s relationship with WWE wasn’t great in the last several years, but Massaro tried to make amends last year. As previously reported, Massaro, who passed away on Thursday at the age of 39, had been part of the class-action suit against WWE over the company’s treatment of talent in relation to concussions. That suit was ultimately dismissed late last year. According to WWE, Massaro reached out after the lawsuit was dismissed to apologize for her involvement. The company issued a statement to The Blast stating that Massaro sent an email in October and said she was misled by Konstantine Kyros, the attorney responsible for many of the concussion lawsuits filed against WWE. The statement notes: Long after Ashley Massaro filed an affidavit, which WWE only learned of the contents after she passed away, Ashley sent an email to WWE on Oct. 20, 2018 – approximately one month after the Court dismissed all claims against WWE and sanctioned the lawyer who brought the suit against WWE, Konstantine Kyros, for repeated misconduct including pursuing false allegations. WWE also provided the site with excerpts of the email, which included Massaro saying, “I love WWE, you all were my family the whole time I was there … The lawsuit got out of control very fast-I had been roped in by the lawyer representing the others.” She also said that she “knew it was a bad idea but was convinced by the lawyer and I want to acknowledge that I should’ve contacted you guys before agreeing to be involved-i was basically poached … [I accept] my part of the responsibility and just want to formerly apologize and express my regret.” The exceprts also quote Massaro as saying, “You all changed my life and I couldn’t be more grateful … express my sincerest regret to Vince, Stephanie, Hunter and Kevin Dunn.” (Credit: "The Blast" & Jeremy Thomas) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted May 18, 2019 Report Share Posted May 18, 2019 Gotta love the lengths WWE goes when someone dies to make it clear they no longer worked for the company/weren't at fault for the death/the person loved the company still. It's a real telling indicator of the status of wrestling too, by all rights Vince should have been the first in front of the firing squad when #metoo first became a thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirEdger Posted May 18, 2019 Report Share Posted May 18, 2019 Technically, he should've been. But outside of the pro wrestling bubble, who really takes Vince McMahon seriously and not as an eccentric unusual carny promoter? Not a whole lot of people. Maybe once he dies, the can of worms will be open and who knows where this will all lead. But it would take a massive name in the mainstream talking against Vince for anything to change around him. And even there, who would? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted May 18, 2019 Report Share Posted May 18, 2019 The people effected by his actions weren't celebrities, long forgotten or dead. I think the lack of attention on his actions have as much to do with the victims and them not being types the media cares about as much as the carny labels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted May 18, 2019 Report Share Posted May 18, 2019 13 minutes ago, The Thread Killer said: I don't see any fallout for Vince either, since WWE (showing their typical tact and sensitivity) have already released excerpts of an email Ashley Massaro allegedly sent them last year, attempting to "mend fences." Pretty sickening that this poor girl's body isn't even in the ground yet and WWE is releasing private emails to basically say "this wasn't our fault, see?" They truly are awful, awful people. 9 minutes ago, sek69 said: It's a real telling indicator of the status of wrestling too, by all rights Vince should have been the first in front of the firing squad when #metoo first became a thing. Yep. I mean, stories in every lines of entertainment have surfaced. Pro-wrestling, the seediest this side of porn ? Nah. Nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted May 18, 2019 Report Share Posted May 18, 2019 Honestly wrestling came out a little cleaner than Hollywood did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted May 18, 2019 Report Share Posted May 18, 2019 6 minutes ago, Mad Dog said: Honestly wrestling came out a little cleaner than Hollywood did. In terms of scale, yeah, but Hollywood is way bigger than wrestling so that would be expected. Pound for pound it's pretty darn close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted May 18, 2019 Report Share Posted May 18, 2019 1 minute ago, sek69 said: In terms of scale, yeah, but Hollywood is way bigger than wrestling so that would be expected. Pound for pound it's pretty darn close. Oh yeah. Really close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Posted May 21, 2019 Report Share Posted May 21, 2019 The affidavits aren't new, they've been out a couple years. Why did this get glossed over and missed so badly while she was still alive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted May 21, 2019 Report Share Posted May 21, 2019 Because a girl who says she's been raped by military under a WWE tour and that Vince told her to basically not talk about that "bad experience" is not interesting to people, I guess. The fact WWE jumped the gun while her body was still warm by publishing post-failed lawsuit e-mails to basically say "Hey, look, she loved us, she surely didn't kill herself because of depression linked to those bogus incident stories." makes the whole thing a new level of disgusting. Hey, look, a new title ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted May 21, 2019 Report Share Posted May 21, 2019 I actually remember there being some discussion about it at the time, but it didn't seem to gain much traction. People were more interested in the story of if she was or wasn't an escort at some point was true. Besides, it would have never gotten much traction since it would go against so many ingrained beliefs. First you have the people who believe WWE can do no wrong, then the people who feel the military can do no wrong, followed by people who believe a woman that would make such a claim is lying/golddigging/slutty/whatever. It was the perfect storm of "people won't want to talk about this". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.S. Posted May 21, 2019 Report Share Posted May 21, 2019 FWIW, this got picked up by the Survivor Reddit page (and I am assuming/hoping other more mainstream Survivor sources as well). I doubt this will be the thing that bites Vince and the company in the ass, but between this and John Oliver gaining traction, maybe something will finally give somewhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted May 22, 2019 Report Share Posted May 22, 2019 Looks like it was more or less confirmed it was a suicide by hanging. The story seems to be catching some traction as it made the front page of Reddit (not just a Survivor or wrestling oriented subreddit), but Dave was over on his board trying to rain on any expectations by pointing out that a judge threw out the case already. That seems to willfully ignore the case in question was about concussions and CTE, but then Dave has always had a noted issue with believing women in these matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dooley Posted May 22, 2019 Report Share Posted May 22, 2019 What a vile story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted May 22, 2019 Report Share Posted May 22, 2019 I'll be honest, the story in the affidavit sounds pretty fishy to me. For a celebrity on a USO tour to be drugged and raped in a military hospital would require the complicity of pretty much the entire hospital. I find it implausible that something like that could happen without any kind of word getting out in the ensuing decade. The affidavit says that Ashley confided in Maria Kanellis shortly afterward, so she should be able to corroborate it one way or the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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