WWE: Chad Gable Expiring Contract Update & Interest from AEW, Rhea Ripley Shoulder Injury Update, Vince McMahon Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Update

Chad Gable Expiring WWE Contract Status Update

As noted before, Chad Gable’s contract with WWE is currently set to expire at the end of today. Despite his expiring contract, Gable is currently scheduled to compete for the Intercontinental Championship at WWE’s Clash at the Castle 2024 event on June 15th in Glasgow, Scotland.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE officials have made an “excellent offer” to Gable to try to keep him in the company.

Meltzer reported that while AEW is not legally allowed to make an offer until his contract with WWE officially expires, there are a lot of key people within AEW pushing for the company to sign Gable if he were to become a free agent.

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Rhea Ripley Shoulder Injury Status Update

As noted before, Rhea Ripley has been out of action for WWE since this past April due to a shoulder injury.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Ripley opted to not undergo surgery and instead is currently rehabbing her shoulder.

In regards to a timetable for her potential return, Meltzer reported that WWE officials currently do not have Ripley scheduled to return for their SummerSlam 2024 event this August in Cleveland, Ohio. Those spoken to reportedly stated that should Ripley heal up faster than expected or if the current storyline involving Liv Morgan, Dominik Mysterio, and Judgement Day changes to where they need her for an appearance, then she would be scheduled for SummerSlam.

Meltzer reported that should Ripley’s rehab not be able to mend her shoulder injury, then Ripley would likely need to undergo surgery, meaning that she would end up being out of action for a even longer period of time.

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Vince McMahon Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Update

As noted before, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit this past January against TKO Executive Chairman Vince McMahon accusing McMahon of committing sex trafficking and sexual abuse towards her during her time in the company. McMahon, former WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis, and WWE all recently filed motions requesting for Grant’s lawsuit to be moved to private arbitration. Grant recently paused her lawsuit against McMahon on behalf of a request made by the United States Department of Justice, who officially launched their own criminal investigation and joined the lawsuit as an “interested party.”

A recent episode of Post Wrestling and Wrestlenomics’ Pollock & Thurston podcast featured University of Tennessee Knoxville law professor Alex B. Long as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Long’s thoughts about what a “stay” in McMahon’s civil lawsuit could mean for McMahon and the other parties involved.

“My first response was, ‘Oh, [the] DOJ was thinking at least of bringing criminal charges and something has happened recently that makes DOJ want to have this stay issued so they can proceed. Whether they are on the verge of indicting Vince [McMahon] and John Laurinaitis, whether they found some witness that hasn’t been referenced before who’s willing to talk to them. Maybe they’re trying to flip John Laurenaitis, who knows.

I think the idea of the stay is just to try to keep the evidence separate.”

Long also gave his thoughts about why it would be in the best interest for Grant and the Department of Justice to work together for this legal case.

“As you might imagine, they [the cases] kind of intersect with each other and kind of interfere with each’s evolution and development a little bit.

They can use the criminal process to help them discover the relevant facts. They can also pin the defendants down on things that they said during the criminal hearing. If Vince or somebody testifies at trial that they said XYZ, and then they bring out the civil proceeding and Vince doesn’t say the exact same thing, he says something a little off, they can use that to go [and] impeach his credibility. There’s definitely an advantage for the plaintiffs in a civil proceeding to kind of let the criminal proceeding play out and then cherry-pick what comes out of that criminal proceeding for their own benefit.”

Long also stated that should a criminal case be brought against McMahon, then the stay on Grant’s lawsuit case would likely be extended until after the criminal case is over.

“Criminal matters are going to take precedent.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com