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A former WWE employee who is suing the company and its former CEO, Vince McMahon, made new and graphic allegations in a filing in U.S. District Court in Connecticut earlier this week.
Janel Grant, who filed her initial lawsuit against WWE, McMahon and former executive John Laurinaitis, detailed several allegations about how she was allegedly recruited to work for WWE, the alleged “abuse” she received while WWE executives allegedly did nothing, and other allegations.
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World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. Chairman Vince McMahon makes a ring appearance during the WWE Monday Night Raw show at the Thomas & Mack Center on August 24, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Laurinaitis was previously removed from the trial.
Pakinomist Digital reached out to McMahon’s attorney and WWE for comment.
Grant, who worked at WWE from June 2019 to 2022, claimed she was “subjected to repeated physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault and sex trafficking perpetrated” by McMahon and “most senior officials and talent knew about and facilitated the abuse” she experienced.
“Instead of protecting Ms. Grant, WWE and McMahon conspired to use his coercive control over her to conceal the wrongdoing of its executives and prevent Ms. Grant from speaking out or seeking help,” the lawsuit read.
Grant made allegations of having “violent” sexual encounters with McMahon and others.
“During the three years, sex was violent, invasive, degrading and caused injuries that could not be healed because there would consistently be subsequent violent encounters, often involving other men or objects,” the lawsuit read. “Ms. Grant did not make a complaint about her abuse because she lived in a state of duress and was fully under McMahon’s control, her survival ultimately dependent on her complete submission to McMahon.”
WWE owner Vince McMahon enters the arena during WrestleMania at AT&T Stadium on April 3, 2022 in Arlington, Texas.
(Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports)
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Grant claimed in the lawsuit that McMahon pressured her to sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) and that he allegedly sexually assaulted her after she signed the document.
The troubling allegations are part of an ongoing lawsuit between the parties.
McMahon stepped down as CEO of WWE in 2022 and stepped down from TKO in 2024 after the initial lawsuit was filed. He has maintained his innocence throughout the process.
“The complaint’s outrageous allegations of sexual abuse and coercion are pure fiction – clearly intended to generate publicity – and are directly contradicted by plaintiff’s own contemporaneous statements,” McMahon said in an April 2024 filing.
“Indeed, in a love letter that Plaintiff wrote to Defendant shortly before the parties ended their relationship, Plaintiff described Defendant as”[m]y best friend, my love and my everything,’ and praised him for being the ‘wonderful, tender, vulnerable, heart-on-sleeve soul that you really are.’ It is unbelievable that Plaintiff, a then 42-year-old woman who claims on her resume to have a law degree from Pace University, would have written these words to Defendant months after all the events in the complaint alleging abuse, coercion and ‘sex-trafficking’ took place.”
TKO Executive Chair Vince McMahon appears during a ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City on January 23, 2024, where he announces that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has joined the TKO Board of Directors. (Michelle Farsi/Zuffa LLC)
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TKO Group told The Associated Press in January 2024 that it took Grant’s allegations “very seriously.”
“Mr. McMahon does not control TKO, nor does he oversee the day-to-day operations of WWE,” the company said at the time. “Although this matter predates our TKO executive team’s tenure with the company, we take Ms. Grant’s horrific allegations very seriously and are handling this matter internally.”
