#SpeakOut - Sexual Assault Allegations Superthread

JP Liz V1

Sirsok wrote: »

Only a matter of time before WWE main roster starts getting hit.

The Ashley Masaro to story from a few years ago is grim

What happened Ashley?

Lord TSC

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

What happened Ashley?

In her own words, from an affidavit she signed.

I am a strong supporter of the US military and was always very enthusiastic when given the opportunity to do something to help the men and women fighting 5 overseas for our freedom. I am also very friendly and personable by nature so I developed a strong rapport with the many veterans and active service members that I encountered in my work with the WWE. As a result, I was one of four performers chosen to go on a two-week tour in support of our troops in Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. The other performers in attendance were Maria Kanellis, Ron Simmons, and Jimmy Hart. Gary Hart was also in attendance in a supervisory role.

While I was initially thrilled to have this opportunity, I began experiencing issues from the outset. At the beginning of the trip, I received harsh treatment from several men in Saudi Arabia, even while wearing a burqa. Maria Kanellis did not receive this type of treatment, so I suspected that it was related to my fair skin and light eyes. This made me very uncomfortable, but I brushed it off and was still looking forward to the tour.

Then, after we had arrived in Kuwait, I began to suffer from menstrual cramps. I had asked to rest in the Humvee, which was air-conditioned during a break, and the US Army soldiers insisted I was suffering from dehydration, notified Gary, and insisted on taking me to a nearby military base in Kuwait. I was told at the base that I needed an IV for dehydration. I protested but they insisted that I needed it and it was very common due to the hot weather.

When I arrived at the sickbay, an IV was placed in my arm almost immediately. After sitting with the IV in my arm for what felt like hours, Jimmy Hart came to check up on me and make sure I was ok. I told him I was fine but that they wouldn’t let me leave because they said I had to wait to see a doctor. Jimmy said he and the rest of the group were going to get lunch and left.

Another couple of hours went by and then a man appeared in the sickbay, dressed in an orange t-shirt and cargo shorts, and I had heard others comment that it was his birthday. He represented himself as a US Army doctor but I observed that all the other doctors at the facility had been wearing scrubs so I do not know whether this was true. He was with a woman who was dressed in full military fatigues. While I was still in the sickbay, he approached me and almost immediately administered an IV of an unknown substance in my other arm. Almost 6 immediately after, the alleged doctor and the woman in fatigues moved me into a room that did not appear to be a treatment room and placed me on a table. The woman guarded the door while the man proceeded to inject me with a drug that caused me to be unable to move my body or to scream.

The man then proceeded to violently rape and sodomize me. I was completely helpless to defend myself against this attack as the drug he injected rendered me temporarily paralyzed. Despite being unable to control my movements, I remained fully conscious for every second of the attack. I felt excruciating pain as a result of this man penetrating me by force and against my will, in a violent and aggressive manner, while I was completely defenseless. Each second that went by was excruciating and I have never felt more helpless or been more terrified in my entire life.

The experience was a living nightmare. I don’t know exactly how long this went on for but if felt like an eternity. The suffering I endured far surpassed all the injuries I had ever suffered in the ring put together; I was experiencing not only severe physical pain but severe emotional and psychological trauma. I have always considered myself to be a fighter and survivor so I can’t even find the words to describe what it felt like to be thrown on a table and stripped and then brutalized in the worst possible way that one human being is capable of brutalizing another – all while being unable to move or speak. In addition to the pain and terror, I felt almost dehumanized, and was extremely disturbed by the feeling that I was somehow given to this man as some type of sick birthday present, and it also made me sick that the female soldier willingly guarded the door for him while he raped me without blinking an eye.

Finally, Gary returned and was banging on the door. The man and woman yelled “one minute” and threw a dirty quilt on me as I was lying naked on the table, and when Gary entered the room he attempted to ask them what was going on but they immediately stormed out. At the time, my body was still limp and my speech impaired, so Gary wrapped me in the quilt and carried me out to the Humvee outside and took me back to my hotel room and then put me in my bed, as I needed to sleep.

Gary said to call when I woke up and that he, or one of the others we were traveling with, would come back to get me. 7 Three hours later, I woke up suddenly and jumped out of bed and had regained the ability to move and speak. My mind however could barely process the fact that I had just been drugged and then violently and brutally raped and sodomized repeatedly by a man who was celebrating his birthday and claimed to be a US Army doctor.

I also felt a sense of abandonment and wished someone had just stayed with me at the base as this likely would never have happened had I not been left there alone. Shortly after I woke, Maria appeared in my hotel room. She had heard from Gary that when he picked me up from the base, my body was limp and my speech was impaired. I explained to her that I was injected with an IV of an unknown substance, which left me unable to move or scream, and then was sexually assaulted.

She was very sympathetic and nice when I told her what had happened. She then relayed this information to Jimmy, Ron, and Gary. I then met the rest of the group because we had to head to the next location on the tour schedule. Obviously, given my mental and physical condition, and that I was in Kuwait and the group had to leave for the next destination, I was not in a position to stick around by myself and have a rape kit administered.

While en route to the next destination, I told Jimmy, Ron, Maria that I did not want them to tell anyone else was had happened. They agreed to respect my wishes. Finally, the tour was over and we were in Saudi Arabia and about to get on our flight home via London and my ticket was inexplicably missing. We couldn’t get another ticket and Gary could not get in touch with WWE’s travel coordinators to get me a ticket on their flight. Their solution was to leave me in Riyadh alone and put me up in a hotel by the airport. At this point, I had already given the burqa I had borrowed from the US Service members back to them and they had left; Riyadh was the location where I was harassed at the beginning of the trip when while wearing a burqa; and I had just been drugged and viciously raped.

I could not believe that anyone would expect me to stay there overnight alone given the circumstances. Nevertheless, Gary and rest of the group left and got on their flight. I could not believe what was happening, but there was no way I was staying 8 alone in a hotel without a burqa in Riyadh for the night so I called a friend who is a travel agent who arranged for me meet an airline employee who by some miracle got me onto a flight. Thankfully, I was able to return home, but I was still incredibly upset at the fact that I had been abandoned in a dangerous situation by my colleagues who knew what I had just endured, and thought it was inappropriate that even the WWE office, while not aware of the rape yet, would think it was a good plan for the rest of the group to leave me alone there overnight.

After I returned to the US, Dr. Rios set a meeting with me and questioned me about the incident. I have no idea how he knew anything had happened. I suspect that either something showed up in my drug test results, one of the other individuals on the tour reported it to him, or he could just sense from my demeanor that something was wrong.

Regardless, he told me that I needed to tell him what had happened. I finally agreed on the condition that he not disclose the information to anyone else and told him what had occurred. Dr. Rios then informed Vince, who informed Kevin Dunn, John Laurinaitis, and several other company executives or lawyers that I had never even met but were all present at a meeting that I was called into shortly after.

Vince led the meeting with these men and asked me to recount what happened in Kuwait. Then he said it was not in the best interest of the WWE for me to make the information about my attack public. I was still completely traumatized at that point and I just agreed. It was clear that there had already been a conversation and that they had reached a decision on their own prior to consulting with me as this was not a debate but rather Vince instructing me to keep this confidential.

Vince did at least apologize for what I went through, but then stressed that if I disclosed this incident it would ruin the relationship between the WWE and the US Military. He told me not to let one bad experience ruin the good work they were doing.

His lack of sensitivity in referring to my ordeal as “one bad experience” left me speechless. Vince went on to say that I would not be required to travel to the Middle East ever again and that the WWE would institute a new policy where any time a female WWE performer went to the Middle East, she would have a female WWE escort with her 24/7 to ensure this did not happen again. This did not make 9 me feel better about the situation.

It had already happened to me and the damage was already done. But again, I felt so defeated at that point that it seemed pointless to protest. I also admittedly was uncomfortable with the thought of all the wrestlers finding out so I asked Vince and those in the room to keep the incident quiet and they agreed.

The White Wolf

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

What happened Ashley?

She was associated with Fat Hardy back in the day that will tell you everything.

Agent Coulson

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

What happened Ashley?

She alleged she was sexually assaulted at a US military base during a tour in Kuwait. The WWE later apologized to her and forced her not to report it.

Itssoeasy

Will this make any of ye stop watching wrestling ? It's a question I've seen asked other places and honestly no I won't stop me. I'll still watch hours of stuff on the WWE network archive and still watch the PPVs live because some very bad apples won't make me stop watching the genuinely good people in WWE and wrestling as a whole.

JP Liz V1

OMFG

And I thought Orton being a dick, pooing in a locker or bag was bad

B.A._Baracus

Shocking about Jordan Devlin the more I think about it.

Sorry if I am out of the loop on this one but is Hannah Francesca a wrestler or someone Jordan knew?

Shocking images she posted.

Monokne

Lord TSC wrote: »

In her own words, from an affidavit she signed.

I am a strong supporter of the US military and was always very enthusiastic when given the opportunity to do something to help the men and women fighting 5 overseas for our freedom. I am also very friendly and personable by nature so I developed a strong rapport with the many veterans and active service members that I encountered in my work with the WWE. As a result, I was one of four performers chosen to go on a two-week tour in support of our troops in Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. The other performers in attendance were Maria Kanellis, Ron Simmons, and Jimmy Hart. Gary Hart was also in attendance in a supervisory role.

While I was initially thrilled to have this opportunity, I began experiencing issues from the outset. At the beginning of the trip, I received harsh treatment from several men in Saudi Arabia, even while wearing a burqa. Maria Kanellis did not receive this type of treatment, so I suspected that it was related to my fair skin and light eyes. This made me very uncomfortable, but I brushed it off and was still looking forward to the tour.

Then, after we had arrived in Kuwait, I began to suffer from menstrual cramps. I had asked to rest in the Humvee, which was air-conditioned during a break, and the US Army soldiers insisted I was suffering from dehydration, notified Gary, and insisted on taking me to a nearby military base in Kuwait. I was told at the base that I needed an IV for dehydration. I protested but they insisted that I needed it and it was very common due to the hot weather.

When I arrived at the sickbay, an IV was placed in my arm almost immediately. After sitting with the IV in my arm for what felt like hours, Jimmy Hart came to check up on me and make sure I was ok. I told him I was fine but that they wouldn’t let me leave because they said I had to wait to see a doctor. Jimmy said he and the rest of the group were going to get lunch and left.

Another couple of hours went by and then a man appeared in the sickbay, dressed in an orange t-shirt and cargo shorts, and I had heard others comment that it was his birthday. He represented himself as a US Army doctor but I observed that all the other doctors at the facility had been wearing scrubs so I do not know whether this was true. He was with a woman who was dressed in full military fatigues. While I was still in the sickbay, he approached me and almost immediately administered an IV of an unknown substance in my other arm. Almost 6 immediately after, the alleged doctor and the woman in fatigues moved me into a room that did not appear to be a treatment room and placed me on a table. The woman guarded the door while the man proceeded to inject me with a drug that caused me to be unable to move my body or to scream.

The man then proceeded to violently rape and sodomize me. I was completely helpless to defend myself against this attack as the drug he injected rendered me temporarily paralyzed. Despite being unable to control my movements, I remained fully conscious for every second of the attack. I felt excruciating pain as a result of this man penetrating me by force and against my will, in a violent and aggressive manner, while I was completely defenseless. Each second that went by was excruciating and I have never felt more helpless or been more terrified in my entire life.

The experience was a living nightmare. I don’t know exactly how long this went on for but if felt like an eternity. The suffering I endured far surpassed all the injuries I had ever suffered in the ring put together; I was experiencing not only severe physical pain but severe emotional and psychological trauma. I have always considered myself to be a fighter and survivor so I can’t even find the words to describe what it felt like to be thrown on a table and stripped and then brutalized in the worst possible way that one human being is capable of brutalizing another – all while being unable to move or speak. In addition to the pain and terror, I felt almost dehumanized, and was extremely disturbed by the feeling that I was somehow given to this man as some type of sick birthday present, and it also made me sick that the female soldier willingly guarded the door for him while he raped me without blinking an eye.

Finally, Gary returned and was banging on the door. The man and woman yelled “one minute” and threw a dirty quilt on me as I was lying naked on the table, and when Gary entered the room he attempted to ask them what was going on but they immediately stormed out. At the time, my body was still limp and my speech impaired, so Gary wrapped me in the quilt and carried me out to the Humvee outside and took me back to my hotel room and then put me in my bed, as I needed to sleep.

Gary said to call when I woke up and that he, or one of the others we were traveling with, would come back to get me. 7 Three hours later, I woke up suddenly and jumped out of bed and had regained the ability to move and speak. My mind however could barely process the fact that I had just been drugged and then violently and brutally raped and sodomized repeatedly by a man who was celebrating his birthday and claimed to be a US Army doctor.

I also felt a sense of abandonment and wished someone had just stayed with me at the base as this likely would never have happened had I not been left there alone. Shortly after I woke, Maria appeared in my hotel room. She had heard from Gary that when he picked me up from the base, my body was limp and my speech was impaired. I explained to her that I was injected with an IV of an unknown substance, which left me unable to move or scream, and then was sexually assaulted.

She was very sympathetic and nice when I told her what had happened. She then relayed this information to Jimmy, Ron, and Gary. I then met the rest of the group because we had to head to the next location on the tour schedule. Obviously, given my mental and physical condition, and that I was in Kuwait and the group had to leave for the next destination, I was not in a position to stick around by myself and have a rape kit administered.

While en route to the next destination, I told Jimmy, Ron, Maria that I did not want them to tell anyone else was had happened. They agreed to respect my wishes. Finally, the tour was over and we were in Saudi Arabia and about to get on our flight home via London and my ticket was inexplicably missing. We couldn’t get another ticket and Gary could not get in touch with WWE’s travel coordinators to get me a ticket on their flight. Their solution was to leave me in Riyadh alone and put me up in a hotel by the airport. At this point, I had already given the burqa I had borrowed from the US Service members back to them and they had left; Riyadh was the location where I was harassed at the beginning of the trip when while wearing a burqa; and I had just been drugged and viciously raped.

I could not believe that anyone would expect me to stay there overnight alone given the circumstances. Nevertheless, Gary and rest of the group left and got on their flight. I could not believe what was happening, but there was no way I was staying 8 alone in a hotel without a burqa in Riyadh for the night so I called a friend who is a travel agent who arranged for me meet an airline employee who by some miracle got me onto a flight. Thankfully, I was able to return home, but I was still incredibly upset at the fact that I had been abandoned in a dangerous situation by my colleagues who knew what I had just endured, and thought it was inappropriate that even the WWE office, while not aware of the rape yet, would think it was a good plan for the rest of the group to leave me alone there overnight.

After I returned to the US, Dr. Rios set a meeting with me and questioned me about the incident. I have no idea how he knew anything had happened. I suspect that either something showed up in my drug test results, one of the other individuals on the tour reported it to him, or he could just sense from my demeanor that something was wrong.

Regardless, he told me that I needed to tell him what had happened. I finally agreed on the condition that he not disclose the information to anyone else and told him what had occurred. Dr. Rios then informed Vince, who informed Kevin Dunn, John Laurinaitis, and several other company executives or lawyers that I had never even met but were all present at a meeting that I was called into shortly after.

Vince led the meeting with these men and asked me to recount what happened in Kuwait. Then he said it was not in the best interest of the WWE for me to make the information about my attack public. I was still completely traumatized at that point and I just agreed. It was clear that there had already been a conversation and that they had reached a decision on their own prior to consulting with me as this was not a debate but rather Vince instructing me to keep this confidential.

Vince did at least apologize for what I went through, but then stressed that if I disclosed this incident it would ruin the relationship between the WWE and the US Military. He told me not to let one bad experience ruin the good work they were doing.

His lack of sensitivity in referring to my ordeal as “one bad experience” left me speechless. Vince went on to say that I would not be required to travel to the Middle East ever again and that the WWE would institute a new policy where any time a female WWE performer went to the Middle East, she would have a female WWE escort with her 24/7 to ensure this did not happen again. This did not make 9 me feel better about the situation.

It had already happened to me and the damage was already done. But again, I felt so defeated at that point that it seemed pointless to protest. I also admittedly was uncomfortable with the thought of all the wrestlers finding out so I asked Vince and those in the room to keep the incident quiet and they agreed.

In the interest of fairness, Ashley also apologised to WWE later, although for what it's not clear. Feels likely that Kyros sensationalised the story somewhat, although I am sure there was an incident.

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…I apologize that I was part of this class action suit and 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. But I accept my part of the responsibility and just want to formally apologize and express my regret.You all changed my life and I couldn’t be more grateful…

Express my sincerest regret to Vince, Stephanie, Hunter and Kevin Dunn.”

beakerjoe

The White Wolf wrote: »

She was associated with Fat Hardy back in the day that will tell you everything.

What will it tell us?

Itssoeasy

Monokne wrote: »

In the interest of fairness, Ashley also apologised to WWE later, although for what it's not clear. Feels likely that Kyros sensationalised the story somewhat, although I am sure there was an incident.

Just from reading the second part it sounds like the concussion lawsuit which she apologised for being part of.

Monokne

beakerjoe wrote: »

What will it tell us?

That The White Wolf dislikes matt hardy?

Omackeral

oneilla wrote: »

There's a name I haven't seen in donkey's years. An absolute paragon of virtue no doubt. 100% gentleman.

The stories around about him would cast him in the creep category for sure.


*Disclaimer, this is nothing to do with a boards user but rather a self-professed wrestling insider and all of this stuff is available to see on reddit and other sites.

Insect Overlord

https://twitter.com/LeanneMarieWres/status/1274050745105555459?s=20

Things might quieten down for a few days on this side of the Atlantic now that the police are getting involved in England, but I'd say more will come out from victims based elsewhere.

SketchyPrince

Not sure if it's been mentioned but Davis and Devlin have been stripped of their Progress tag titles and suspended indefinitely, Travis Banks has been suspended indefinitely.

"Those under suspension will have their situation reviewed periodically between now, and events starting again."

sky88

https://twitter.com/nwa/status/1274078353469984768?s=21

Agent Coulson

Well that is a huge name from the production side of the wrestling business WWE/TNA/ROH & NWA

Itssoeasy

A tweet from a British wrestler has said she has been in contact with West Yorkshire police and they are taking these allegations seriously and have asked for people to stop posting stuff on twitter and to take it directly to them and they will take a statement. They reason they ask to stop posting stuff is to preserve the case.

briany

No fed's going to have a functional roster after all the cancelling that's going to happen.

B.A._Baracus

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Well that is a huge name from the production side of the wrestling business WWE/TNA/ROH & NWA

That's him screwed.

Agent Coulson

briany wrote: »

No fed's going to have a functional roster after all the cancelling that's going to happen.

Anyone who uses the term Cancel/Cancelled/Cancelling should be Cancelled themselves. :pac:

Itssoeasy

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Anyone who uses the term Cancel/Cancelled/Cancelling should be Cancelled themselves. :pac:

Well one female wrestler has said that it's not about cancelling anyone, it's about being treated with respect. Not an unfair request.

littlekiller

Only here because I saw a tweet from @karolinecelly where that comedian linked to Galway has come up again—apparently 'liking' the David Starr story while being an abusive perv himself.

CastorTroy

Seeing other female wrestlers tweeting their support and basically saying they have stories to tell as well but they're not ready like Kylie Rae and Jordynn Grace.
Reminded as well that Mia Yim is a Domestic abuse survivor so hopefully some are reaching out to the likes of her for advice if needed, since I know she was talking on The Wrestlers about it and how she's a advocate

SketchyPrince

https://twitter.com/Jordan_Devlin1/status/1274087954651234311?s=19

J. Marston

That's a strong denial from Devlin.

Edit: Same from Riddle.

https://twitter.com/danlaw74/status/1274088379844526081

Itssoeasy

SketchyPrince wrote: »

https://twitter.com/Jordan_Devlin1/status/1274087954651234311?s=19

Well we've heard his side of the story and he's bringing in lawyers.

Agent Coulson

Devlin should have done what Riddle did and say nothing himself and let is lawyers speak for him.

Itssoeasy

J. Marston wrote: »

That's a strong denial from Devlin.

Edit: Same from Riddle.

https://twitter.com/danlaw74/status/1274088379844526081

The statement is strong by that lawyer but could they have found paper to use instead of sticky labels ?

ThePott

Itssoeasy wrote: »

The statement is strong by that lawler but could they have found paper to use instead of sticky labels ?

Jesus let's not bring Lawler into this or the assault allegations are going to get even stickier than Matt Riddle's lawyer releasing a statement.

Itssoeasy

ThePott wrote: »

Jesus let's not bring Lawler into this or the assault allegations are going to get even stickier than Matt Riddle's lawyer releasing a statement.

Damn it. Autocorrect.