An Extensive Backstage Update On Ashley Massaro's Release

There was said to be lots of discussion and confusion within WWE over Ashley Massaro announcing on her "MySpace" page that her seven year old daughter was sick and this required her to ask for an early release from WWE.

The feeling among many was that if her daughter was very ill and she had to be home for her then the company would have understood and given her time off. WWE gave former TNA star Monty Brown (who wrestled as Marcus Cor Von on ECW) months off when he had to raise his sister's children and couldn't be on the road full-time anymore. It wasn't clear until later that returning wasn't going to be possible and they granted Brown his release.

Massaro was already sent home once earlier this year (something she denied on her "MySpace" page claiming an injury) and returned for WrestleMania. Believe it or not, the push Mickie James is currently getting as WWE Women's Champion was originally booked for Massaro. However, James got the role as the feeling was it would have set a bad example to give Massaro a top push after being sent home. Massaro was considered a favorite by Kevin Dunn at one point because it was his project, the Diva Search, that discovered her. Many were second-guessing Dunn's push to get her on "Survivor" and many have realized what a mistake it was in the end.

Ashley disappeared off WWE television shortly after the Rolling Stone article came out linking her to a high-priced escort service in her days before joining WWE. The theory among some within WWE was that asking for her release was a way to vanish from the limelight in the wake of the article going public. Massaro immediately responded to the article saying it wasn't true and that she was contacting an attorney over the matter. Since then, nothing had come out regarding any kind of a retraction and all editors involved with the story from Rolling Stone stood by the article.