WWE: WWE Postpones 10/11 & 10/12 NXT Live Events, Full Letter from Janel Grant’s Legal Team to WWE Asking for Employees to be Released from NDAs, More News

Oct 9, 2024

WWE Postpones This Weekend’s NXT Live Events in Florida Due to Hurricane Milton

Fightful’s Skylar Russell reported that WWE recently postponed this weekend’s NXT Live Events in Florida due to Hurricane Milton issues.

WWE originally was scheduled to hold a NXT house show event on October 11th at the St. Petersburg Armory in St. Petersburg but the venue now lists this event as being postponed. This event was announced to be rescheduled to a new date of December 20th.

WWE also was originally scheduled to hold a NXT house show event on October 12th at the Englewood Neighborhood Center in Orlando but the venue now lists this event as being postponed as well. This event was announced to be rescheduled to a new date of November 2nd.

Vince McMahon Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Update – Full Letter from Janel Grant’s Legal Team to WWE Asking for Employees to be Released from NDAs

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 legal team recently emailed WWE, McMahon, and John Laurinaitis’ legal teams this past Monday requesting for WWE to release former and current employees from their non-disclosure agreements that are related to their allegations and legal case against McMahon.

Journalist B.J. Bethel recently obtained a copy of the full letter that was sent by Grant’s legal team to WWE, McMahon, and Laurinaitis requesting for former and current WWE employees to be released from their NDAs related to their McMahon lawsuit.

Dear Mr. Toal, Ms. Rosenberg, and Mr. Brennan:
World Wrestling Entertainment, LLC (“WWE”) has said that it “takes Ms. Grant’s allegations very seriously and has no tolerance for any physical abuse or unwanted physical contact.” In other words, WWE would like the world to believe that it has reformed its workplace culture. But if WWE is truly committed to change, it must allow survivors to speak their truth without fear of reprisal. We call upon WWE to publicly waive enforcement of its non-disclosure agreements (*NDAs”) to allow its former and current employees and contractors (including wrestlers contracted to perform under the WWE brand) to speak out about sexual misconduct, sexual assault, harassment, and workplace aggression or disputes concerning the toxic culture at WWE. This includes releasing women who signed NDAs related to sexual misconduct by former CEO Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis and other WWE leadership and employees as conditions of settlement. The toxic and sexualized culture at WWE during Mr. McMahon’s tenure as CEO and Chairman was open and notorious. Yet what has been publicly reported is only part of the picture. We have had witnesses come to us confidentially and describe a sexualized culture at WWE that victimizes women and men. We have received reports that many victims are currently afraid to come forward because of punitive non-disclosure and non- disparagement agreements. For example, as The Wall Street Journal reported on July 8, 2022, Mr. McMahon paid over $12 million to at least four women to secure their silence about his sexual misconduct. Our client is just one of an untold many. We therefore also ask Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis to affirm that survivors and WWE employees who witnessed abuse may speak about their experiences without fear of retribution and retaliation.
WWE cannot move on from its sordid past while its victims remain silenced. Survivors deserve an opportunity to share their experiences on their terms. Forced silence only deepens the wounds of sexual abuse. Survivors are revictimized every time they are muzzled and forced to live in fear of attack from a multi-billion-dollar business that can hire an army of lawyers to bury them in legal fees if they speak the truth. Even unenforceable NDAs, like the one our client was coerced to sign, have a chilling effect because individuals do not have the will or resources to fight them. WWE must clarity that any NDAs that it has entered are not intended to prevent disclosure of sexual misconduct, abuse, or assault, and disclaim and waive any claims it may have under those NDAs if current or former employees and contractors choose to speak out.
We urge WWE to quickly and proactively release its current and former employees and contractors from any obligations under any WWE-executed NDA that would prevent them from discussing sexual misconduct, abuse, or assault during their time at WWE without delay. WWE wants people to believe the company has changed this is its chance to prove it.

WWE News & Notes

Wednesday’s WWE Speed show on Twitter featured Candice LeRae defeating IYO SKY in the Finals of WWE’s inaugural WWE Speed Women’s Championship to be crowned the first ever WWE Speed Women’s Champion.

Wednesday’s WWE Speed show on Twitter also featured WWE revealing the full bracket for their new WWE Speed Men’s Championship #1 Contender’s tournament.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Tuesday’s NXT show in Chesterfield, Missouri ended up happening as it had been planned to even with the travel concerns by WWE officials over Hurricane Milton. It was reported that WWE officials are currently uncertain over the status of next week’s NXT show taking place at their Performance Center in Orlando, Florida due to potential Hurricane Milton issues.

As noted before, Tuesday’s NXT show in Chesterfield featured Stephanie Vaquer making her official in-person debut on the NXT brand. NXT officials reportedly were very pleased with the reception to Vaquer’s debut on Tuesday’s show, according to Fightful Select.

WWE recently released a video featuring WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque and WWE SVP of NXT & Talent Relations Shawn Michaels spoofing their D-X “State of the Union” promo from 1997 replacing profanity with modern-day lingo to hype up NXT’s arrival on The CW.

WWE recently released one new videos to their WWE Vault channel on YouTube. This new video was a singles match of Randy Orton vs. Damien Sandow from the March 27, 2013 episode of NXT.

WWE also recently released a new vlog on their official YouTube channel featuring a behind-the-scenes look at last week’s NXT premiere show on The CW.

WWE also recently released new WWE Legacy Championship belts for all 32 NHL teams ahead of the 2024-2025 NHL season, which started on Tuesday, October 8th.

In a recent interview with the Going Ringside podcast, NXT talent Oba Femi gave his thoughts about who he is interested the most from WWE’s main roster for potential matches in the future. Femi stated “Main roster (talents I’d like to face), Randy (Orton), John Cena hopefully before he retires and leaves us alone. GUNTHER, Drew McIntyre. I feel like that’s what everybody’s expecting (for myself & GUNTHER to just beat each other up if we wrestled) but it’s going to be more than that. I feel like if me and GUNTHER got in the same ring, it’s going to be poetry. It’s not going to be mindless chops. There’s going to be a lot more to it.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

In a recent interview with MuscleManMalcolm, Jey Uso gave his thoughts about the potential of future additions to The Bloodline stable. Uso stated “I’m never going to say never, especially in this business. Our family is deep. Our bloodline is really deep. I’m talking cousins. I’m talking about 10-15-year-olds who are ready right now. We deep. Eyes open. We’re always going to keep this family business rolling.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)