Amid controversy after Ashley committed suicide during her pending lawsuit in which she alleged she sustained concussions and was at risk for an occupational disease (CTE) that can result in suicide, WWE released a statement on 5/23/19 denying some of the allegations she made in her affidavit to a Federal Judge.
The very brief internal WWE “investigation” into the veracity of Ashley’s claims reported by WWE spokesman/lawyer Jerry McDevitt concluded components of her affidavit were “complete bullshit,” as reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The methodology, independence, conduct of the investigation and resulting written report were not revealed nor was its conclusion released with any degree of professionalism, integrity or credibility. As such the WWE’s conclusions should be approached cautiously.
Breaking this down from a legal standpoint it appears that WWE is saying that Ashley Massaro committed Perjury when she submitted her affidavit to the Court.
WWE reaction. So first, according to WWE in statements they released the day after her death she had apologized (excerpts, in a private email, sent to an unidentified person, with no context) to them for being in a lawsuit (that she did not ever withdraw from and that is still active in a Federal Appeals Court). Second, the WWE featured tributes to her in a PPV. Thirdly, the WWE says in an extraordinary statement that Ashley was apparently perjuring herself all along in an affidavit to a Federal Judge. Aside from the oddity of all this, it looks like a WWE Corporate cover-up, concealment of the health crisis in wrestlers after the death of a young woman who was seeking help from WWE in an active lawsuit who very likely died from neurological injuries she sustained at WWE. (The family can authorize a CTE study to prove it!)
The WWE Spokesman/lawyer (Jerry McDevitt) making the statement denying Ashley’s allegations (about a meeting) calling it “complete bullshit” to the media is hardly an unbiased source, he is the same lawyer who derided the notion that Chris Benoit (who hung himself after killing his wife and one of his children) could have had CTE. And he spends most of his time attacking the lawyer helping the wrestlers and ignoring similar allegations made by 60 wrestlers in Ashley’s lawsuit (in 60 affidavits- are these also BS?). And no Mr. McDevitt did not pause his antics to offer any condolences to her lawyers.
Conclusion/Call to to Action: It seems that in the absence of a Trial in which Ashley would have testified, witnesses would have appeared, and facts could be assessed by an impartial Jury, the best step for the Board of Directors of the WWE to take to resist this controversy and get to the truth would be to hire outside counsel- unaffiliated law firms (like CBS did with Les Moonves and other companies with #meToo type issues) to conduct a completely independent investigation into all of these allegations. Justice for Ashley. She deserves no less.