WWE: Vince McMahon Files Motion to Lift Court Order Pause on Janel Grant Sex Trafficking Lawsuit, CM Punk on His Current Health Status, More News

Vince McMahon Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Update – McMahon Files Motion Requesting Lifting of Court Order Pause on Lawsuit

As noted before, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit this past January against former TKO Executive Chairman Vince McMahon accusing McMahon of committing sex trafficking and sexual abuse towards her during her time in the company. Grant’s lawsuit was put on hold this past April over a request from the U.S. Department of Justice, who launched a criminal investigation into McMahon and joined the lawsuit as an “interested party.” Grant’s lawyers recently filed a petition against a WWE Wellness doctor and his clinic for medical records related to her lawsuit.

Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that McMahon had filed a motion on Thursday requesting for the court-ordered pause on Grant’s lawsuit be lifted on a limited basis.

“Mr. McMahon now asks the Court for a limited lifting of the stay to permit the filing and adjudication of his Motion to Enforce the Court’s Stay Order.”

In an official statement to Thurston, McMahon’s lawyer that the reason for their motion is due to their claims that Grant had violated the federal stay order after she seeked medical records from a WWE Wellness doctor related to her lawsuit.

“Today’s motion is in response to Ms. Grant’s flagrant violation of the federal Stay Order. After telling the Federal Court that she would pause her lawsuit, Ms. Grant immediately violated the Stay Order seeking one-sided discovery for her own benefit. Her lawyer told the media that the information sought in the new Connecticut state action is ‘to assist in our claims in the federal action.’ We are asking the federal Court to ensure that Plaintiff abides by the Court’s order and if she does not that civil contempt and financial sanctions may result.”

In the filing, McMahon is asked for the court to not allow Grant to use any of the materials that could be discovered through her requested medical records.

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CM Punk Comments on His Current Health Status & Vince McMahon’s Departure Illuminated Way for His WWE Return

As noted before, this past Monday’s WWE RAW show featured CM Punk revealing that he has been medically cleared for an in-ring return and is currently scheduled to face off against Drew McIntyre in a Special Guest Referee match at next month’s WWE SummerSlam 2024 event.

Denise Salcedo held a recent interview with CM Punk. One of the topics discussed included CM Punk provided an update on his current health status.

“Mentally, strong. Physically, 100%. Or at least as 100% as I get in the current stage of my career. I feel good. I’m anxious and I’m ready to lace up my boots.”

CM Punk also gave his thoughts about if there was a specific moment when he realized that he wanted to or needed to return to WWE.

“No, because it was never a thing that I was yearning to do. There were a lot of things that had to happen for the pathway to kind of clear. The stars had to align. There had to be a full moon. A lot of dominoes fell in order for us to get here. There was a never a, ‘Man, I’d really like to go back.’ Vince (McMahon) being out of the picture probably illuminated the way. That might have been one of the biggest things. That’s both ways, for everybody who is going to sensationalize a headline. It wasn’t me, it wasn’t him, there’s just a lot of history there. All of a sudden, one of us is removed from the equation, and I think it changed a lot of things.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1& 2

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WWE News & Notes

In a now deleted post on Instagram, Drew McIntyre posted a photo of him hanging out with AEW talent Jack Perry that had the text caption of “It’s a real photo, cry us a river.“

As noted before, Asuka has been out of action for WWE since this past March due to a knee injury. Thursday’s WWE house show event in Osaka, Japan featured Asuka making a surprise appearance and came out alongside Damage CTRL for their match against Meiko Satomura, Bianca Belair, & Jade Cargill.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Elijah Holyfield, son of legendary boxer Evander Holyfield, is currently scheduled to attend WWE’s upcoming SummerSlam 2024 weekend talent tryouts in Cleveland, Ohio.

This past Wednesday’s WWE Speed show featured Andrade defeating Baron Corbin to retain the WWE Speed Championship. The show also featured WWE revealing their newest #1 Contender tournament for title will be featuring eight competitors instead of the previous four competitors tournament format.

WWE recently announced that they will be holding a “Damien Priest Live” event on August 2nd at The Agora Cleveland in Cleveland, Ohio. It was also announced that this upcoming event will include the premiere airing of their new WWE 24: Damian Priest documentary.

Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that WWE President Nick Khan sold 22,693 shares of his TKO stock for $2,394,846.54 this past Monday. Thurston reported that Khan’s stock sale was a routine sale that is very similar to a stock sale he did last year around this same time period. Thurston also reported that the reason for Khan’s stock sale was to “cover a tax obligation resulting from the settlement of a vested equity award distribution.”

NBC News reported that the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee filed a lawsuit on July 19th before the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado against Logan Paul’s PRIME Hydration company accusing them of committing trademark infringement. In the lawsuit, the committee stated that Coca-Cola has the exclusive right to use Olympic trademarks such as ‘Olympic, Team USA, Olympian’ and ‘Going for the Gold’ on beverages sold in the US. PRIME Hydration is being accused of using those trademarks without permission to promote their brand. in the USA. The lawsuit also stated that a lawyer from the committee had reached out to PRIME on July 10th informing them to stop using the trademarks but the company continued to use them for their products. The committee is currently seeking all of the profits that PRIME generated from their products containing the trademarks and also “millions of dollars” in damages.

In a recent deleted tweet, Corey Graves reflected on Twitter about his issues with Mark Briscoe giving an unprotected chair shot to Jack Perry’s head at this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite Blood & Guts 2024 show. Graves stated “This is not meant to sound judgmental, or incite ‘us vs. them’ or question anybody’s passion, or talent or intentions. This is just coming from a guy whose career ended from a few too many ACCIDENTAL headshots. The ART of this business is protecting ourselves and each other. Trust me…the gaps in memory are not worth it. I promise.“

WWE recently announced one new match for the card of their NXT Great American Bash 2024 Week 2 event on August 6th:

• NXT Championship – Oro Mensah vs. Ethan Page (c)