You have to hand it to WWE: It takes one hell of a twist to blow both of your main event competitors out of the water — at least in terms of the conversation online — within minutes of said massive main event finishing.
It isn’t like we didn’t have enough to talk about. We’d already had the confirmation that the John Cena heel turn is done, as the now-former champ brought back his full-color entrance this past Sunday, prompting elation from the live crowd at WWE SummerSlam Night 2. We’d already had Cody Rhodes reclaiming the Universal Championship in a sensational match, turning a page on the events of WrestleMania 41 and giving Cena a chance to show that he can still summon a vintage night at age 48.
Then, just as the broadcast appeared to be wrapping up, it happened. That shriek-like guitar lick which can only mean one thing: The return of one of WWE’s most dominant — and controversial — talents, “The Beast Incarnate.”
Leaving aside the potential storyline implications for now, it's worth saying that the choice to bring back Brock Lesnar is a bold call by WWE given the former champion’s involvement in one of the company’s bigger controversies of the 21st century, the Vince McMahon sex trafficking scandal.
We should be clear from the off: Lesnar himself is not being sued or investigated for anything. But he is named in an ongoing federal lawsuit against McMahon and WWE, which very much has yet to be resolved. Given that, it’s worth a recap of the pertinent facts and how they relate (or not) to Lesnar.
In January 2024 — four months after helping to oversee the TKO merger — McMahon resigned from WWE’s parent company, following a bombshell report in the Wall Street Journal that a former WWE employee, Janel Grant, filed a lawsuit against the company (as well as McMahon and former WWE executive John Laurinaitis) alleging that McMahon had sexually assaulted and trafficked her.
How does that affect Brock Lesnar? As part of its claims against McMahon, the lawsuit alleges that WWE’s founder had shared sexually explicit images of Grant with what it called a “world-famous athlete” and “former UFC fighter," in order to entice the performer to sign a new WWE contract.
While the lawsuit didn’t name Lesnar, the Journal was able to look at the specific details and come to the conclusion that it couldn’t possibly be anyone else. Grant’s legal team have since amended their complaint to explicitly name Brock Lesnar.
After the story broke, WWE reportedly shelved a plan to bring back Lesnar for the 2024 Royal Rumble. Since then, he’s been gone from WWE programming, though not entirely persona non grata — Lesnar's old matches have recently been posted to the company's YouTube channel, for example, and he still gets mentioned from time to time on commentary. But he hasn’t appeared in-person.
At 9.45 p.m. local time Sunday in New Jersey, that all changed when Lesnar made his unannounced return to attack Cena, presumably setting up a match for Aug. 31's Clash in Paris event or Crown Jewel: Perth later this year in October. It was an explosive end to what was already a massive weekend in the pro-wrestling calendar. But what will it mean for WWE and Lesnar?
Again, Lesnar himself isn’t in any legal jeopardy, and we can probably assume from his return that the WWE doesn’t see any risk of that situation changing soon. (Indeed the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has reported that WWE’s legal team came to that conclusion four weeks ago.)
Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re not risking any reputation fallout by working with Lesnar. We can see from Grant’s lawsuit (which has been the subject of some stellar reporting from Brandon Thurston) that the descriptions of Lesnar's alleged actions are fairly vulgar, to say the least. It isn’t implausible that brand sponsors carry out their own risk assessment. There will inevitably be awkward questions to come at press availabilities and the danger that conversations get out of hand on social media.
What we can safely say from Sunday night is that WWE has decided that working with Lesnar — a massive draw, in anyone’s estimations — is worth risking that kind of backlash.
In fairness, it isn’t like WWE CCO Paul Levesque hasn’t been asked about Lesnar in the recent past. Last year, he told the Daily Mail that WWE would be “open” to a return provided that Lesnar was interested. At last night’s post-show, he suggested that it was Cena’s desire to work with Lesnar once more that tipped the balance.
As for the lawsuit itself, there’s no confirmation (yet) that it will go to trial. TKO continues to say they treat any allegations seriously, while McMahon has claimed that the case is a “smear campaign.” Laurinaitis has since settled with Grant out of court. Lesnar has never made a public comment.
No doubt some will link Lesnar's return to WWE’s increasing willingness to alienate some parts of his fan base (for example, by promoting Levesque's appearance at the White House last week). But, in truth, the sheer star power of the man probably meant that a return was more likely than not in the long run.
“It's about John being able to go out the way he wants to go out,” said Levesque on WWE's Sunday night post-show, suggesting that the bigger story is what will happen in the ring with Cena and Lesnar. He’s certainly right that it will be a massive event — but he’s kidding himself if he thinks it will be the only story.
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