Ashley Massaro

Other media

Survivor Massaro was a contestant on CBS's Survivor: China, the fifteenth season of the show, in 2007. Massaro approached the WWE with the idea of doing the show, and after going through the casting process, she found out she made the show ten days before she had to leave for China to film. Prior to the experience, Massaro had never been camping before, so to train for the show she had to get used to being out in nature. In the second episode, Massaro was voted off after six days with a 6–1 vote. Massaro tried out for Playboy scouts when they were searching for models for the 50th Anniversary Playmate Hunt. She appeared in the accompanying pictorial in the December 2003. On April 20, 2007, Massaro and several other female wrestlers filmed Timbaland's video, "Throw It on Me" featuring the Hives. In 2008, she appeared in Rev Theory's video for "Hell Yeah."

Video games Massaro appeared in two WWE video games. She made her in-game debut in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 and returned in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009.

Radio On June 30, 2018, Massaro began working as a radio DJ for Long Island station WWSK-FM / 94.3 The Shark where she originally worked the Saturday portion from 10 am to 3 pm. Shortly before her death in May 2019, she was promoted to hosting the station's evening program on Wednesday nights.

On November 21, 2020, Massaro's younger brother, Ronnie Massaro, was stabbed to death in New York City at the age of 39. He was buried in the same cemetery as her, the St. James Episcopal.

Massaro had several tattoos, including a black and pink nautical star on the back of both of her elbows, a pink and red dragon surrounding Hanzi lettering that translates to "Trust No One" going down the right side of her torso, symbols on the small of her lower back, and a butterfly on her right hip. She also had several piercings, including a Monroe and snakebites.

WWE lawsuit and sexual assault In November 2016, Massaro joined a class action lawsuit against WWE, litigated by Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against the company, alleging that the company concealed risks of injury that caused them neurological damage. Massaro also alleged that she was sexually assaulted at a US military base during a WWE tour of Kuwait by a man posing as a doctor, and that WWE apologized but persuaded her to not report it to the appropriate authorities as they did not want it to affect the company's relationship with the military. The lawsuit was dismissed in late 2018. An affidavit by Massaro describing the sexual abuse allegations in detail was subsequently released by the law firm that represented her after her death. WWE later said executives there were not informed of the allegations described in the affidavit.

Despite previous denials from WWE about having knowledge of her allegation, in February 2024 an attorney representing former WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis stated that: "most upper level management at sometime became aware of the allegations and ensured all proper WWE protocols were followed, including privacy for the alleged victim." That month, Vice News reported that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service had investigated Massaro's allegations from June 2019 to January 2020, although no further information about the investigation is known at this time. A further report by Vice News revealed that Massaro had accused WWE promoter Vince McMahon of "preying on female WWE wrestlers" and that she believed he had tried to sabotage her career after she rejected an advance from him.

Epstein files In January 2026, Massaro was named in the Epstein files as a possible employee of Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted main accomplice of child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. In a redacted complaint, the claimant wrote "...She mentioned horrible things happening in the island [...] including [sic] dead body of a girl that 'had mask and was tied to a tree'. She said that 'the one from London was very mean and also the one from Miami.' Also that the man in the mention was making her [sic] fucking black guys and he liked to watch it, she was young – high school student [...] she also said that her friend Ashley Massarow [sic] (who died in 2019 – the WWE) got pregnant in high school. They both worked for Maxwell and Mechella from Miami Florida." )

Death Grave of Massaro located in the Saint James Episcopal Church Cemetery in St. James, New York On May 15, 2019, Massaro finished replying to fan mail, but did not show up for work at WWSK-FM later that night, prompting another DJ to fill in for her. At 5:23 a.m. the next morning, paramedics responded to a rescue call and discovered Massaro unresponsive at her home in Smithtown, New York.

On May 19 at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view event, WWE acknowledged Massaro's death by projecting a graphic of her at the start of the show. Visitation for Massaro was held that day and the next at the Branch Funeral Home in Smithtown. On May 21, she was buried at the Saint James Episcopal Church Cemetery in St. James, New York.

At the time of her death some news outlets, all citing the website TMZ, stated Massaro's death as a suicide. Others, including CNN and The Nation, did not. The Suffolk County medical examiner's office did not release an official cause of death, citing a New York state privacy law that allows withholding information that "would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy". In September 2021, a USA Today article stated that she had died by suicide, and wrote that her death (along with the suicides of wrestlers Hana Kimura and Daffney in the succeeding two years) had spurred a conversation about mental health in the professional wrestling industry.

Massaro had taken part in a suicide prevention music video by her WWSK co-worker Brian Orlando, who had recorded a song with Brandon B. Brown, Vinnie Dombroski, and Kevin Martin. Following her death, Orlando scrapped plans to release the video. With her family's blessing, it was released in July 2020.

Filmography

Television Year Title Role Notes 2007 Smallville Athena Episode: "Combat" 2007 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Herself 2007 Survivor: China Herself15th place

Music videos Year Title Role Notes 2007 "Throw It on Me" Herself

Championships and accomplishments Beauty pageant Hawaiian Tropic Miss Hawaiian Tropic Canada (2004) Miss Hawaiian Tropic USA (2002)

Professional wrestling World Wrestling Entertainment WWE Diva Search (2005)