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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 the U.S. District Court of Connecticut earlier this week.
Janel Grant, who filed her initial lawsuit against WWE, McMahon and former executive John Laurinaitis, detailed more claims about how she was allegedly recruited to work for WWE, the alleged “abuse” she received while WWE leaders allegedly did nothing and other assertions.
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World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. Chairman Vince McMahon appears in the ring during the WWE Monday Night Raw show at the Thomas & Mack Center Aug. 24, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Laurinaitis was previously removed from the lawsuit.
Fox News Digital reached out to McMahon’s lawyer and WWE for comment.
Grant, who worked at WWE from June 2019 to 2022, alleged that she was “subjected to repeated physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault, and sexual 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 its leaders’ wrongdoing and bar Ms. Grant from speaking out or seeking help,” the lawsuit read.
Grant made allegations of having “violent” sexual encounters with McMahon and others.
“Throughout the three years, sex was violent, invasive, degrading, and produced injuries that could not heal because there would consistently be subsequent violent encounters, often involving other men or objects,” the lawsuit read. “Ms. Grant did not raise a complaint concerning her abuse because she lived in a state of duress and was fully under McMahon’s control, her survival ultimately depending on her complete submission to McMahon.”
WWE owner Vince McMahon enters the arena during WrestleMania at AT&T Stadium on Apr 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 non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and that he allegedly sexually assaulted after she signed the document.
The sordid allegations are a part of an ongoing lawsuit between the parties.
McMahon stepped down as the CEO of WWE in 2022, and stepped down from TKO in 2024 after the initial lawsuit was filed. He has maintained his innocence through the process.
“The Complaint’s outrageous claims of sexual abuse and coercion are pure fiction—plainly intended to garner publicity—and are flatly contradicted by Plaintiff’s own contemporaneous statements,” McMahon said in an April 2024 filing. “Contrary to Plaintiff’s false allegations, Plaintiff and Defendant (collectively, the ‘Parties’) engaged in a consensual relationship during which Defendant never coerced Plaintiff into doing anything and never mistreated her in any way.
“In fact, in a love letter Plaintiff wrote to Defendant shortly before the Parties ended their relationship, Plaintiff described Defendant as ‘[m]y best friend, my love and my everything,’ praising him for being the ‘wonderful, tender, vulnerable, heart-on-your-sleeve soul you really are.’ It is incredulous 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 of alleged abuse, coercion, and ‘sex-trafficking’ took place.”
TKO Executive Chairman Vince McMahon appears during a ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City on Jan. 23, 2024, announcing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has joined TKO’s board of directors. (Michelle Farsi/Zuffa LLC)
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TKO Group told The Associated Press in January 2024 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. “While this matter pre-dates our TKO executive team’s tenure at the company, we take Ms. Grant’s horrific allegations very seriously and are addressing this matter internally.”
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