Massaro quietly released by WWE

(The Phanatic Magazine) - World Wrestling Entertainment quietly released Ashley Massaro earlier this week.

In May, Rolling Stone reported that Massaro was formerly a high-priced call girl for the Bella Models international escort service in Los Angeles.

The magazine reported details of the FBI's investigation into the service, listing names of Playboy models, Maxim models and porn stars who were used as escorts by the agency, which had several prominent television stars, Fortune 500 CEOs, and athletes as clients and charged up to $25,000 per night.

Things were clouded when many questioned that the escort could have been a second Ashley Massaro, who is a bikini model from Las Vegas.

The FBI did track down e-mails between an Ashley Massaro and Bella Models, with the agency made arrangements for Massaro to meet with clients.

According to Rolling Stone, the FBI found emails in which the company's madam, Michelle "Nici" Braun states: "All I do is make the introductions between famous girls and rich guys who want to meet them. I think the rates I charge are justified just to meet these women, even if nothing happens."

The WWE's Massaro quickly denied any involvement on a My Space post titled..."False...False...False."

"Just got buzzed on some BS that is going around," Massaro wrote. "Don't believe it for a second. Getting in touch with my lawyer as we speak. I'm beyond upset."

Rolling Stone contributing editor Michelle Grigoriadis, who penned the piece, stood by it.

"Obviously, I stand by my story," Grigoriadis wrote in an e-mail to Pro Wrestling Insider. "Massaro is named in an FBI search warrant that was executed on Michelle Braun's property in October, 2007. I have no knowledge of another woman by the same name."

Meanwhile, an old ad for Ashley Massaro through Bella Models was cached. The Web site is no longer operating (the links don't work and the photos have been removed) but lists Massaro's location as New York City.

The WWE star is from Long Island, while the bikini model has never lived on the East Coast.

Also, the escort service was made up almost exclusively of women recruited from the ranks of Playboy, Penthouse, Maxim and the porn industry.

Massaro was involved with Playboy before she joined WWE in 2005, doing a few pictorials in 2003 and early 2004 under the name Ryan Mackenzie.

Other "escorts" mentioned in the story include Playboy playmates Tishara Cousino and Tina Jordan, Penthouse Pet Lanny Barby and porn star Krystal Steal.

For her part, Massaro claims to have asked for the release to care for her sick child.

"I have some thing to tell you guys and I wanted u to be the first to hear it," Massaro wrote on her My Speace account on July 2. "I tried very hard out of the respect I have for her privacy and not wanting her to be exposed in any negative light but I have a 7yr old daughter and I just found out today that she not well and I can't be on the road with WWE when my own flesh and blood needs me.

"I am a single parent trying to juggle taking care of my child and working my butt off for her and now at this point when she is sick and needs me home I have to make the decision to bow out of wwe for a while and take care of my daughter...I wish I could do both and that there were more ways to get everything done but with the severity of the situation I'm going to have to ask for an early release for now...I may be back if she gets better...please keep her in your prayers...I love the wwe."