One of the biggest names whose career ended thanks to the Speaking Out movement was David Starr. Despite not being British, he became a top wrestler on the UK indie scene during the height of “BritWres“.
The Philadelphia-born star fit the classic British wrestling style perfectly and became a top star across the UK and Ireland. He held titles in numerous companies, most famously in OTT in Ireland.
However, Starr’s gimmick was his most recognisable aspect. He saw himself as the head of a human rights movement, wanting to unionise and make wrestling a better place to work. This was not just a gimmick in the ring, but something he felt strongly about, and campaigned for, outside his wrestling persona.
In an interview with VICE in 2020, David Starr spoke about his company’s push to make working conditions for the wrestlers, including providing food and water backstage for the stars of the show, even on the indies.
He said to VICE “The organizations we speak to say, ‘Reach for the low-hanging fruit.’ And that’s what we were saying. The first thing we wanted to get done is to make sure that there was food and water available at all wrestling shows for wrestlers.
“Just something to eat. Most of us drive hours and hours back and forth without a hotel,” he says. We also got Equity to push their insurers to include wrestlers in their disability welfare policy. Equity used our campaign to force that issue.”
This was some impressive mainstream attention, but by mid-2020 David Starr was completely gone from wrestling. This was due to accusations of sexual abuse that made him a pariah throughout the wrestling business.
David Starr’s Ex-Girlfriend Accused Him Of Sexual Abuse In The Speaking Out Movement
One of the biggest stars implicated in the “Speaking Out Movement” was David Starr.
The “Speaking Out Movement” was wrestling’s answer to Hollywood’s “#MeToo Movement”. It was a grassroots movement in professional wrestling in mid-2020, exposing a number of sexual predators in the business.
Multiple women came forward about their experiences via social media. The accused were mainly members of the British wrestling community, with David Starr being the biggest foreign star to be implicated
Starr’s former partner “Tori” accused him of various levels of sexual and domestic abuse, even claiming that he raped her during her relationship. These were posted in now-deleted Twitter posts on June 17th 2020, which you can read below:
“Speaking of being fooled, there are screenshots of convos w Starr coming to me confirming some things I’ve said for all the proof lovers who don’t believe women. I see you.
He’s a sack of shit who mentally, emotionally, and sexually abuses his girlfriends. He kept old screenshots from 2016 to ever use against me if I were to speak up making me look angry and crazy. He has folders for several people.
I don’t Lind [sic] posting my own screenshots. Here’s now an open letter to David Starr. What kind of piece of builds a case instead of apologizing to the girl you hurt? Sociopathic serial rapists/abusers. Just to be clear.
I don’t want anything. You want to book him, book him. You like his wrestling, whatever. This is for me because for years while I was trying to heal, he told everyone who would listen that I was a crazy liar. Every woman who’s dealt with David Starr is tired.
I already did come out better. Unfortunately I’m not the only one with terrible stories, I’m just the only one ready to post right now. This is so much harder to do than people think. No one wants to tell the world this shit. It’s embarrassing.
Is David Starr still going to use the Aziz Ansari defense to raping your girlfriend? When allegations came out against Aziz, his defense was he didn’t know it was consensual. But what Max doesn’t mention is he did know because I wanted to talk about it.
He told me I liked what he did and gave me the silent treatment for the rest of the day. A lot of my screenshots from those times are gone cuz obviously I was trying to heal and I didn’t want to be brought back to it. But I have some.
I was manipulated into this relationship when he was still w his ex K and I was manipulated out of it. “I’m not letting you leave me” If he wants to post old screenshots of an angry confused woman going through a mental breakdown caused by it all, he can be my guest. I’m not ashamed.
We’ve all had that breakup where you don’t know why you’re being treated like that & you’re stuck w your own thoughts.”
David Starr Retired After Being Outed By His Ex-Girlfriend
While he had not wrestled since the pandemic in March 2020, David Starr retired after his behaviour finally came to light.
His last bout was against Callum Newman at a “WrestleTalk Showcase” event, which took place in March 2020 (according to Cagematch).
Once the country went in lockdown, wrestling was not allowed to be performed in the UK. Opportunities dried up, and most wrestlers outside of the major companies in the US and Japan ceased operations until later that year.
Starr was the OTT Heavyweight Champion when the allegations came out, a title he had held since beating Jordan Devlin the year prior. He was quickly stripped of the title, as more and more companies (including Progress) severed any and all ties with the American.
The accused even responded to the allegations on Twitter. He admitted to the bulk of the accusations but tried to offer excuses for his actions. He apologised for his actions but claimed he had been seeing a therapist as a way of trying to deflect blame from himself. However, he did not address the claims of rape.
Nobody bought it, and David Starr’s career was quickly over. He has not attempted to return to the ring, and Starr’s whereabouts these days are unknown.
If you want to read about more wrestlers who were impacted by the Speaking Out movement, click here!
