WWE Reportedly Blacklists Former Champion Brock Lesnar Over Allegations Related To Vince McMahon
Jacob Smith
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WWE has another case of the Chris Benoits with a megastar who has been a staple of their programming, and the top of their cards, on and off since 2002.
Brock Lesnar, who has been everywhere and done it all, multiple times even, may never see the light of WWE television again. For a former UFC Champion, a 10-time WWE Champion, a two-time Royal Rumble winner, and a five-time WrestleMania main-eventer, that says a lot.
He’s not alone either as WWE Chairman and impresario Vincent Kennedy McMahon was knocked off a pedestal he firmly occupied since the dawn of Hulkamania — not to mention WrestleMania itself.
On January 25th, the company was rocked and many were left aghast by the major scandal implicating McMahon in misdeeds that included sex trafficking former employee and assistant Janel Grant.
In a 67-page complaint that goes into lurid detail, Grant alleged that McMahon forced her into threesomes and to make explicit content he then shared without her consent with other WWE employees.
She was also ordered to engage in sexual activities with them. Most of those employees worked at WWE’s headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, but one is described in the suit as a “former UFC champion that Vince McMahon was desperate to re-sign.”
Lesnar wasn’t named in the lawsuit, but he is the only current active superstar who fits that bill. McMahon allegedly shared explicit photos of Grant with him, according to the suit, and reacted with approval.
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Salacious text exchanges between Grant and McMahon and later between her and Lesnar followed in 2021, along with a lewd video sent to the superstar. It’s never claimed that Grant and Lesnar ever met or had contact after that incident.
Lesnar’s return at this year’s Royal Rumble was scrapped once the story went viral, and his foreseeable future with the company is very much in doubt.
Dave Meltzer, purveyor and creator of The Wrestling Observer, thinks we may have seen the last of Lesnar in WWE thanks to the ongoing scandal.
“It appears that Brock Lesnar is not going to be around for a while. Some people think ever. When it comes to talent, I hate to say forever because most of the time it’s not the case, especially if somebody can draw, they seem to find a way back,” Meltzer said via WrestlingNews.co.
In a further nail in his coffin, Lesnar was erased from WWE’s 2K Supercard mobile game and may be removed from all 2K games and licensed products going forward — much like Benoit was after 2007 and as Hulk Hogan was for a while.
Per Mike Johnson of PWInsider, “Several PWInsider.com readers sent word that Brock Lesnar has disappeared from the WWE 2K Supercard Digital Collectible Game online. In asking around, we have confirmed Lesnar was indeed pulled from the game.”
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“It would appear that 2K, as a licensee for WWE, is following the company’s lead after WWE backed off on using Lesnar last weekend at the Royal Rumble event,” Johnson continued. “Lesnar was slated to return and begin his Wrestlemania season storyline, but in the wake of the Janel Grant lawsuit filed against WWE, Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis several days before, we are told the company chose to ‘withdraw’ Lesnar’s involvement.”
WWEShop.com has taken action on their end and discounted much of Lesnar’s merchandise in the wake of all the news, which leaves the impression they are trying to be rid of him, too, and his stuff.
Lesnar himself has not been accused criminally or been arrested, but with the FBI in the mix investigating McMahon, things could get ugly.
Mike Johnson reported (via TJR Wrestling) in a follow-up that Ari Emanuel, CEO of WWE’s parent company Endeavor, is ready to “ferociously eradicate” anyone associated with the ousted 78-year-old to protect a business his daughter, Ashlee, works in.
NEXT: Brock Lesnar Removed From Creative Plans And WrestleMania 40
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