UPDATE: Vince McMahon has since stepped down from his role as executive chairman at TKO Group Holdings, which is the parent company of both the WWE and UFC.
A new lawsuit filed against WWE founder and pro wrestling icon Vince McMahon reveals more shocking and appalling details about his misuse of power while running the promotion.
On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal broke the news of a lawsuit filed by former WWE staff member Janel Grant. In the Connecticut Federal Court filing, Grant claims that she “was the victim of physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault and trafficking,” while working as an employee for WWE.
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In the suit, there are several stunning claims made by Grant during what was a nearly four-year relationship she had with the long-married former owner of the professional wrestling juggernaut. In one claim, she alleges that Vince McMahon shared explicit photographs and videos of her with “members of the television production ‘tech’ team, executive(s), producer(s), and a world-famous athlete and former UFC Heavyweight Champion with whom WWE was actively trying to sign to a new contract.”
Another accusation claims that McMahon and former Vice President of Talent Relations, John Laurinitis, sexually assaulted her in the latter’s office despite her pleas to stop.
New lawsuit claims Vince McMahon sexually assaulted a former co-worker at WWE headquarters
“Behind a locked door, the two men cornered her and pulled her in between them, forcibly touching her, before ultimately putting her on top of a table in between them,” the lawsuit alleges. “She begged them to stop, but they forced themselves on her, each taking turns restraining her for the other, while saying ‘No means yes’ and ‘Take it, [expletive].'”
One of the most salacious allegations is that Vince McMahon defecated on Grant during a sexual encounter with an unknown individual.
“As one example of McMahon’s extreme depravity, on May 9, 2020, he defecated on Ms. Grant during a threesome, and then commanded her to continue pleasuring his ‘friend’— with feces in her hair and running down her back—while McMahon went to the bathroom to shower off.
“Upon his return from the bathroom, McMahon and his ‘friend’ actively resumed the threesome, which lasted over an hour and a half, while Ms. Grant remained covered in McMahon’s filth. When McMahon’s ‘friend’ left, McMahon ordered her to stay and to continue to sexually gratify him.”
– Allegation against Vince McMahon
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The suit alleges the sexual side of the relationship began between the two after meeting at an event and McMahon continued to dangle the idea of “long-promised employment at WWE” so Grant felt trapped and feared his previous warnings of public ruin if she denied his physical advances and revealed their relationship.
She would eventually be given an entry-level role in WWE’s legal department in 2019. Her working relationship with the company ended in March of 2022.
The shocking allegations come a year after Vince McMahon stepped down from his leadership role with WWE after a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed a deeper history of extra-marital relationships and payoffs unknown by members of the company’s board of directors. An internal investigation would eventually follow.
However, he returned to his company late in 2023 to shepherd WWE’s merger with the UFC and currently serves as one of the top executives at the newly formed parent company TKO Group Holdings.