A new lawsuit was filed earlier today by former WWE employee Janel Grant against TKO Group Executive Chairman Vince McMahon.
In her filing, Grant claims that McMahon had sexually abused her and sex trafficked her to others within WWE.
The Wall Street Journal’s Khadeeja Safdar reported that Grant had signed a nondisclosure agreement in 2022 which she would receive $3 million in hush money payment in return for her to remain silent about her allegations and relationship with McMahon. Safdar reported that WWE received an anonymous tip in 2022 about this relationship which led to their investigation into McMahon’s conduct at the time.
In her lawsuit, Grant alleges that payments that were promised to her had stopped after the initial $1 million payment and is seeking to void the agreement and be awarded unspecified damages.
In regards to the allegations, Grant is claiming that McMahon had her “create personalized sexual content for a WWE superstar that he was trying to re-sign.” Safdar reported that while Grant’s lawsuit did not specifically name the wrestler in question, those spoken to familiar with the matter stated that this person was Brock Lesnar.
Besides McMahon, former WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Grant is also claiming that McMahon had pressured her into sexual situations and degraded her in exchange for giving her an administrator-coordinator job in WWE’s legal department following a meeting with her in 2019.
Grant also alleges that in June of 2021, McMahon and another WWE executive had locker her in her office and took turns sexually assaulting her. Grant also alleged that several days later, McMahon had locker her in his private locker room and “forced himself on her.”
Grant also claims that McMahon had forcefully used sex toys on her including dildos he named after WWE superstars causing her to suffer bruises and bleeding. Grant also claims that she complained to McMahon and made attempts to end their relationship over the violent actions.
Besides physical sexual abuse, McMahon is also alleged to have committed emotional sexual abuse over sending explicit text messages to Grant and other people within WWE about Grant. In her lawsuit, Grant provided screenshots of McMahon’s texts as evidence of her claims. McMahon was alleged to have wrote to Grant “i’m the only one who owns U and controls who I want to f— U.” in one text message.
Besides text messages, McMahon is also alleged to have sent explicit photos of Grant to other executives within WWE. This allegedly led to several WWE executives expressing their interest in having sex with Grant after being shown the photos and McMahon texting a response of “She may scream and try to say NO!!although it would B difficult to say anything with a c— down her throat.”
Grant also alleges that McMahon had told her on multiple occasions to go to Laurinaitis’ hotel rooms and have intercourse with him before workdays.
In regards to Lesnar, Grant alleges that after Lesnar had signed a new contract with WWE, McMahon had sent her a text message stating “that part of the deal was f—ing U.” McMahon is alleged to also have given Grant’s cellphone number to Lesnar and Lesnar had allegedly asked her to send a video of herself urinating. Lesnar allegedly also told Grant that he wanted to “set a play date” with her in December of 2021 despite him being married but a snowstorm had caused those plans to be cancelled.
In regards to the NDA, Grant is claiming that McMahon had pressured her to sign the NDA in January of 2022 after his wife Linda McMahon became aware of their relationship.
Grant also alleges that WWE tried to minimize her allegations of sexual assault by making their investigation into McMahon’s sexual misconduct in 2022 revolve more around McMahon’s hush money payments and how they were reported.