While recent exits like Kevin Dunn have signaled the Vince McMahon era is over in the WWE, his previous controversies have created fresh troubles for the pro wrestling company. A shocking new report detailing a former employee's harrowing experience with McMahon and others has made major headlines, and there's a possibility it already impacted the company's plans for the Royal Rumble after name-dropping a major superstar.
Vince McMahon has come out and officially denied the claims made in a new lawsuit, which alleged that he was sex trafficking an employee to others throughout the company. With that said, let's break down these allegations in broad strokes, and think about how it may impact Brock Lesnar's involvement in the Royal Rumble.
New Horrific Details Emerged On Vince McMahon's Previous Scandal, And Brock Lesnar May Be Involved
The Wall Street Journal shared a massive report detailing the horrific details described in a lawsuit filed by previous WWE employee Janel Grant. Grant was the previously unnamed woman mentioned when word first surfaced about WWE's investigation into Vince McMahon's alleged sexual misconduct, and it was alleged that she was offered a payment of $3 million in what was then reported by WWE to be a consensual relationship.
Grant's filing notes that while she received an initial payout of $1 million, there have been no payments since then. In her lawsuit, she provided dozens of pages of text exchanges from McMahon, and she detailed situations in which the former head of WWE sex trafficked her to other executives and subjected her to several lewd and degrading acts during her time with the company. One of these incidents involved an exchange with an unnamed "former UFC heavyweight champion" the company was trying to re-sign. A follow-up report by the Wall Street Journal confirmed the person in question to be Brock Lesnar.
The report alleges that Vince McMahon instructed Janel Grant to make sexualized content and send it to the superstar. Lesnar received the content, later allegedly requested a video of Grant urinating, and messaged back the intention to schedule a "playdate." A date was set but was later canceled due to bad weather.
Lesnar Was Rumored To Return For The Royal Rumble, But It's Possible He Won't Be There
While there hasn't been any confirmation that Brock Lesnar is going to return at the 2024 Royal Rumble, surprise returns from high-profile superstars are an expected thrill of the upcoming WWE event. Additionally, we're on the road to WrestleMania 40, and as one of the biggest superstars of the past decade, many would expect Lesnar to be included in a match.
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In light of the latest news, however, Fightful Select reported that the WWE may alter plans to have Brock Lesnar involved in the Royal Rumble. As mentioned, the company has not advertised him for the event nor made any teases that he'd be involved. So it's understandable from a common sense perspective they'd keep him off the show to prevent any further backlash from fans, sponsors, and shareholders tracking the latest news.
All this to say, it's not known at this stage whether or not Brock Lesnar will be at the Royal Rumble if he'll be held back, or if he was ever invited at all. We're very much in speculative territory here. However, with the WWE fresh off of signing a massive deal with Netflix for Monday Night Raw and appointing Dwayne Johnson to its parent company's board of directors, I'd imagine it's taking the utmost care to address this troubling news and make the right decisions for the company.
WWE's Royal Rumble kicks off on Peacock on Saturday, January 27th, at 8:00 p.m. ET, per the 2024 TV schedule. Tune in to see superstars battle for a chance at making history at WrestleMania 40, as CinemaBlend continues to track the latest controversy surrounding Vince McMahon.
