Ex-WWE employee details graphic abuse in McMahon lawsuit filing
Janel Grant, a former WWE employee suing the company and its co-founder Vince McMahon, outlined graphic sexual abuse allegations in a new filing this week in U.S. District Court in Connecticut. The document expands claims from her original suit against McMahon and former executive John Laurinaitis, whom a judge later removed from the case. Grant alleges repeated physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault and trafficking by McMahon, with senior WWE officials aware and complicit.
Grant worked at WWE from June 2019 to 2022. She claims McMahon recruited her under false pretenses, subjected her to violent sexual encounters involving others and objects that caused lasting injuries, and pressured her into an NDA before assaulting her again. The filing states WWE leaders ignored her plight and that McMahon exerted coercive control to silence her.
McMahon, who resigned as WWE CEO in 2022 and as TKO Group executive chairman in 2024 after the initial suit, denies the claims. In an April 2024 court filing, he called them "pure fiction" contradicted by Grant's own past statements, including a love letter praising him. TKO, WWE's parent company post-merger with UFC, stated in January 2024 it takes the allegations seriously but noted McMahon does not control operations.
The case continues in federal court amid McMahon's maintained innocence.
