The lawsuit against Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis and WWE continues to be looked into, and there’s a little more information we can divulge.
As noted, Fightful is working with additional mainstream media outlets on their efforts to cover the lawsuits, and will continue to look into the allegations and the lawsuit.
In regards to the unnamed executives that are being heavily speculated on, that remains a mystery to many within WWE as well. However, one source high up in the WWE said that they are of the belief that one of them had “long been gone from WWE.”
John Laurinaitis has been outspoken via his attorney, which at least one source said they saw coming. The source, a longtime WWE employee, said that they effectively looked at Laurinaitis as McMahon’s “fall guy” since the summer of 2022, but figured he had some sort of golden parachute that took care of him financially. However, the source said that the looming possibility of actual charges being filed is what many in the company saw as the main turning point of Laurinaitis on McMahon.
Another source said “I’m sure he thinks he’s doing himself favors by saying management knew and proper WWE protocols were followed, but too many things happened there under his watch.”
The late Massaro was in headlines again this past week due to a Vice article. Fightful had been in contact with Massaro in March 2019 to set up an interview in Las Vegas that May at Starrcast II. Massaro was hoping to talk about her plans to resume in-ring training, and said that she was weighing whether or not to open up further about her claims that was raped while on a WWE Tribute to the Troops tour. Unfortunately, Massaro passed away just two weeks prior to Starrcast.
Based on the talent that we’ve spoken to, they’ve not been briefed or told they can’t speak about the nature of the lawsuit in interviews or appearances, and several have been asked about it. While we’ve heard so far that no other companies are actively participating in the investigations, we’ve heard that talent from several other US-based companies have been given the green light to speak about issues or participate in the investigations if they feel comfortable doing so.
We’ve spoken to one former talent who has indicated that they’re weighing the options of whether to tell their story via the media, or whether or not they wanted to take legal action. We will not provide their identity unless they approve of such.
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