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IRELAND'S OVER THE TOP WRESTLING & OTHERS DECLARES THEIR CHAMPIONSHIPS VACANT IN WAKE OF SEXUAL ASSAULT ACCUSATIONS

Ireland's top independent wrestling promotion Over the Top Wrestling announced this morning that their championship is now vacant:

While the promotion did not name the previous champion or their reasoning for stripping him of the title, over the last 24 hours, there have been sexual assault accusations made against David Starr by Tori, a woman he once dated, who came forward several years after the incident in question.  

Starr responded to those accusations via Twitter, but in doing so, at one point accused his accuser of leaking nude photos of him and all but admitted there had indeed been an incident between the two after attending a concert together that Starr even admitted might have been non-consensual.  In his responses, Starr apologized for being a "c**t" towards former girlfriends, naming several other women by first names, which has left him open to criticism that he may have outed other potential former victims by their first name.  The fact that some of his tweeted responses were listed as "sponsored" led to accusations Starr had paid to have his responses promoted in an attempt to raise their awareness was also met with criticism on Twitter.

Tori wrote, "It took a long f**king 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.”

Tori claimed that Starr kept screenshots of previous communications in order to attempt to make her look "crazy" to downplay if she ever came forward.  Starr quicky released a number of letters he had written to her as well as screenshots of notes he stated were previously written as he's been going through therapy and trying to address previous issues.   

He later wrote, "I can’t take away the lying and cheating. I can’t take away the emotional and mental pain I’ve caused my partners and myself. I can make sure it doesn’t happen again.  I’ve accepted my wrongs and whatever those consequences are, no excuses, but I am not a sexual predator."

There is at least a belief other accusations are about to be made.

Revolution Pro Wrestling and TNT Extreme Wrestling have also stripped Starr of their Championships:

Starr, 29, originally broke into the business through the Wild Samoans School in Pennsylvania.  He was a regular for CZW and made appearances for independents across the United States and Europe before moving to the UK and settling into the European wrestling scene.  His bout with WALTER for OTT was one of the best matches in the history of the promotion.  In recent months, he has pushed for the unionization of professional wrestling and attacked larger wrestling promotions for how they treat talents.  At the same time, he has argued against charges that his push was simply a backdrop of move merchandise based around the movement.   Today, that group #WeTheIndependent, announced that Starr has ended his association with them.  With the accusations that came out yesterday and potentially more on the horizon, Starr's future in professional wrestling is no longer clear, to say the least, and the doors to working for larger, national promotions are likely shut forever.

Starr continues to profess his innocence, writing the following on Twitter:

 David Starr later deleted his Twitter account.

Beyond Wrestling also announced they had severed ties with Starr:

If you or someone you know needs assistance, the National Sexual Assault Hotline is 800-656-4673

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