VICE reports John Laurinaitis, through his attorney, admitted that WWE management knew of Ashley Massaro’s claim that she was [forced against her will] in Kuwait while on a WWE Tribute to the Troops tour in 2006.
WWE has publicly denied knowledge of such a claim in 2019 after she later passed away following a battle with depression.
In a sworn affidavit her lawyer released in 2019, after her death, former wrestler Ashley Massaro said that she was injected with a paralyzing drug and [forced against her will] by someone representing himself as a U.S. Army doctor while on tour with WWE in Kuwait in 2006.
Massaro also said that top executives at the company, including McMahon and Laurinaitis, told her not to talk about the incident and agreed to not talk about it themselves, in part to preserve the company’s relationship with the military.
“He told me not to let one bad experience ruin the good work they were doing,” Ashley said of McMahon in the affidavit.