Promotions Cut Ties With David Starr Over Abuse Allegations, Other Wrestlers Also Accused

Several independent promotions have cut ties with indie wrestler David Starr (real name Max Barsky) over allegations of abuse from a woman who previously dated him.

A woman with the display name “Victoria” on Twitter alleged on Wednesday that Starr “pressured [her] into sex” and “emotionally,” “sexually” and “mentally” abused her. She revealed the allegations in screenshots of a message that she sent Starr:

Max, I am so tired of talking about you. I am so tired of you in general.

It took a long fucking time to get over the trauma of dealing with you and trust me I’ve tried all of the ways. Anger, sadness, trying to be nice. Literally anything. I left Twitter for a year to never see your name again, I left wrestling, the only thing that meant anything to me because you shat on it and I hate who I became after you.

But I did it, I healed and I came back and I was fine so why do I have a girl I don’t know reaching out to me to discuss the shit ways you treat women. Emotionally. Sexually. Mentally. You rape women and you gaslight them after. I know you know you do it because you told people you were scared I would speak up. How dare you have the audacity to tell me you don’t remember that night in the hotel and then telling your future girlfriends about it. That wasn’t even the only time you pressure me into sex. You pressure a lot of women into sex it seems.

You’re evil and disgusting.

I don’t want to bring down your career. I have nothing to do with pro wrestling aside from tweets, I don’t attend and will never see you again so that doesn’t matter to me. Plus it’s a pandemic so that wouldn’t even make sense if this was about your career. I want you to stop hurting women and I want you to leave me the fuck alone when it comes to your relationships. You can save this for your Victoria folder and read it however many times you need to.

Starr responded on Twitter, but has now deactivated his account.

I didn’t do what Victoria is accusing me of.

I am not a sexual predator

I have been an awful partner.

If this is the end of wrestling for me, that’s ok. I know I’m not a predator and I know the truth of this situation. I know that I’ve learned from my wrongdoings. There’s no sense in going on the offensive. No matter what I say, I’m the bad guy. No pity party. It is what it is.

I’m gonna keep working on me so that I can be the partner i need to be to someone someday.

To be clear, I am not a sexual predator, but I’ve been a dickhead to my partners. I’m owning up to that and taking this time to grow. I will not go on the offensive. I was a cunt to Victoria. I know I’ve been an emotionally immature dickhead to my partners, Victoria especially.

Victoria then responded:

There was a verbalized no and a “I don’t want to do that”. Why else would you tell me i liked it and gave me the silent treatment all day? You’re remembering it wrong for the internet.

And Starr responded:

There wasn’t, but it’s ok. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I was a cunt to you (and others) as a partner. Regardless of the anger I felt towards you for your repeated harassment and leaking of my nudes, I know that came from a place of hurt that I caused.

It’s ok. I am not entitled to a platform. I am not entitled to wrestle. I’m not entitled to be believed when I say I’m not a predator. I know I’m not.

I hope that you’ve found peace with this as I found mine over the past several weeks. I’ve let go of my anger. I’m looking inward and taking responsibility for things I’ve done wrong. I’m gonna move forward and be better. That’s all I can do.

In response to the allegations, several wrestling promotions announced that they have cut ties with Starr and have stripped him of their titles, including Over the Top Wrestling, Revolution Pro, TNT Extreme Wrestling and Beyond Wrestling.

With immediate effect we declare the OTT championship as vacated. A decision on the future of the title will be made as we return to active competition pic.twitter.com/lmeviENzD6

— OTT WRESTLING (@OTT_wrestling) June 18, 2020

The Southside Championship has been declared vacant.

The future of the championship will be addressed in due course as we continue to prepare for our return to in ring competition. pic.twitter.com/FMGRrR00LO

— Revolution Pro (@RevProUK) June 18, 2020

TNT Extreme Wrestling’s statement pic.twitter.com/BxIyhKTZ2R

— TNT Extreme Wrestling (@TNTExtremeWres) June 18, 2020

Effective immediately Beyond Wrestling will no longer be working with David Starr.

The safety of our fans and wrestlers alike has and will always be our top priority.

— Beyond Wrestling (@beyondwrestling) June 18, 2020

“We the Independent,” an organization that was co-founded by Starr that pushes to unionize pro wrestling, also said that they were cutting ties with him.

Our statement pic.twitter.com/3GF66hstpK

— We The INDEPENDENT (@wetheindie) June 18, 2020

Other Accusations

In the past day, other accusations have been made against people in the wrestling community – many in the UK wrestling scene. Some can be viewed under the Twitter hashtag #SpeakingOut.

A woman using the name “Hannah” on Twitter tweeted about NXT UK’s Jordan Devlin, posting photos of some bruises on her lower body and saying, “This is scary. I’m really scared. Jordan Devlin did this to me. And this is just the physical damage. Not including my arse and back bruises….because I don’t fancy posting that online.”

Her tweets are not publicly viewable because her account is now private.

WWE responded to the allegations in a statement to media, saying, “We take any allegation of this nature very seriously and are looking into the matter.”