After a two-year absence, Brock Lesnar made his shocking return to WWE last night when he attacked John Cena following the SummerSlam main event. We thought we'd seen the last of The Beast in WWE, as his name was very publicly dragged into the lawsuit filed against former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
It was widely reported that McMahon offered WWE employee Janel Grant—the woman he's accused of sexually abusing and trafficking—to Lesnar as a bonus, of sorts, for signing a new deal. Texts showed that Lesnar responded positively to his boss's suggestion, though we've seen nothing to indicate they ever met (Lesnar did allegedly set plans to meet, but those were scrapped due to inclement weather).
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, TKO and WWE's legal teams only gave Lesnar the green light to make his WWE return as recently as last month.
"Four weeks ago, WWE Legal cleared him. As far as why, I don’t know. And that's something to speculate on, because there's a lot of stuff," he explained. "Obviously, everything relates to the Janel Grant lawsuit, and WWE Legal is either confident that their thing goes to arbitration and Lesnar's not a factor at that point."
"Or they’re close to a settlement, and at that point Lesnar’s not a factor. Or somebody there just had a change of mind. And I don’t know which one of those it is," Meltzer continued. "I do know, everyone figured this out, but I can tell you also factually, that the reason they didn't do the press conferences was because of this angle."
For what it's worth, it doesn't appear as if Lesnar is completely free of the lawsuit (he's not the one being sued, but could be a key part of the argument made against McMahon). A spokesperson for Grant has just issued the following:
"For far too long, abuse was allowed to thrive under WWE's leadership. Instead of righting this wrong, WWE has done nothing to ensure those responsible are held accountable. This attempt to sweep misconduct under the rug will backfire. We look forward to the full set of facts, including those about Mr. Lesnar, coming out in a court of law where they belong but, in the meantime, we refer you back to Janel Grant's updated complaint, which outlines, in detail, the abuse she endured by McMahon and others while employed at WWE."
WWE hopes the case will go to arbitration, meaning the public wouldn't learn anything more than what was in the initial lawsuit and the outcome. Either way, the expectation now is that this will be Lesnar's final year in WWE, with his retirement match taking place at next year's SummerSlam in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Stay tuned for updates as we have them.