Aria Bennett is opening up about the racist abuse she received during her WWE run—and she says most people inside the WWE world were nowhere to be found when she needed support.
Bennett, whose real name is Asia Hargrave, first exposed the sick messages in October 2025 while she was sidelined with a torn ACL. She shared screenshots showing racist attacks in her inbox, including one person using the N-word and another telling her she was “almost cute enough to be white.” At the time, Bennett made it clear that the screenshots were only a small sample of what she had been receiving.
“Some of us experience racism, but we try our best to ignore it. Plenty more of these. Smh.”
Now, Bennett is giving more context about what happened—and how alone she felt inside the wrestling business. While speaking on Duke Loves Rasslin, Bennett thanked D-Von Dudley for publicly standing behind her. She said several people contacted her privately after she exposed the abuse, but very few of them were actually connected to WWE.
“D-Von, first of all, I want to say thank you because, when I did make that post, surprisingly, I did have a lot of people who DM’d me, but not a lot of people in the WWE world. So, having you have my back like that meant so much to me. I want to thank you, and I appreciate you.”
Bennett explained that she was still finding her footing in WWE at the time. She had only been with the company for a few months and had started appearing on Evolve when the racist messages began piling up.
“At the time, I was still new to WWE. I was a couple of months in, and I had just started Evolve. I was doing great in the ring, and I was becoming—not a big star—but I was coming up in the WWE world. I guess they didn’t like that.”
Bennett said she tried not to let the abuse get inside her head, but admitted it still stung because she believed WWE fans were supposed to support the people they watched every week.
“Honestly, coming into contact with that, it went in one ear and out the other because, like I said, I have God and I’m protected. I feel like people who act that way are insecure, and I don’t let it affect me. I’ve been through so much. I’ve overcome so much—things I don’t even speak about and things I have spoken about on my Instagram.”
Bennett then revealed that her strength comes from surviving something far worse as a child. She said she was raped at five years old and believes surviving that trauma gave her the ability to push through anything thrown at her.
“For one, I was raped at five years old. Overcoming that, I feel like I can overcome anything. When that happened, for a second it hurt because I was like, ‘Dang, I thought you guys had my back. I thought the WWE fans were our number-one fans,’ and then I was seeing that.”
That moment forced Bennett to stop measuring herself through the people attacking her. Instead, she focused on the people who actually supported her.
“I was like, ‘Wow, y’all don’t like me.’ But then I was like, ‘Wait, I like me. God likes me. My supporters like me. My fans like me.’ I don’t know what is going on in their world, but I can’t let it affect me.”
D-Von’s public support became especially important because it showed Bennett that somebody with a major voice in wrestling was willing to stand beside her when others stayed quiet.
“When I did see his post, I was like, ‘Okay, I’m backed up. Thank you, D-Von. I’m not the only one going through this.’ Other people are going through this, and I got through it, but I just pray for those types of people. I don’t know what is going on in their lives, but they need Jesus. They need Jesus.”
D-Von made it clear that he had no intention of staying silent while Bennett or anybody else was being targeted with racist abuse.
“I’m going to defend you and anybody else who has to go through that because I think it’s wrong. I think it is an injustice. We’re at the point in time now, in 2026, where we should be able to let that nonsense go and move on, because it’s obvious we’re not going anywhere. We’re here.”
Bennett’s update exposes another ugly side of the situation. The racist messages were bad enough, but realizing that very few people connected to WWE publicly defended her clearly left another scar. She survived the hate, recovered from her ACL injury and kept moving—but she has not forgotten who stood beside her when things got ugly.
What do you make of Aria Bennett saying very few people from the WWE world supported her after she exposed the racist abuse? Let us know your thoughts and leave your feedback below.
