As the shock of Brock Lesnar’s return to WWE at SummerSlam starts to wear off, the questions are starting to come. After all, it was just a few weeks ago that Daniel Cormier was describing Lesnar as person non grata in WWE due to Janel Grant’s lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE. While Lesnar wasn’t a defendant in the suit like McMahon, he had been referenced without being named in Grant’s original complaint before being named over 40 times in her amended lawsuit, and was believed to have been kept off WWE programming as a result.
With Lesnar now back, many are wondering what changed. The answer is overall unclear. Fightful Select reports that the decision came from the WWE’s legal department “in recent weeks,” confirming previous reports they had signed off on it. Due to that, some, including WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, have taken it to mean Lesnar was cleared of wrongdoing or that Grant’s lawsuit could be reaching a conclusion.
That is not the case, however, as a statement from Grant’s representatives yesterday confirmed the case was still on, while condemning WWE’s usage of Lesnar. Furthermore, Grant’s legal team is expecting more stuff to come out regarding Lesnar’s involvement should the case reach discovery. Grant had been granted a bill of discovery regarding documents involving Carlton Coker in early July, but a similar ruling granting or rejecting discovery against McMahon has yet to be made.
As such, the mystery remains as to why WWE decided now was the time to bring Lesnar back, even with the Grant case still unresolved. Those within WWE had previously denied Lesnar would be back “any time soon” after rumors popped up regarding a WrestleMania 40 appearance, and continued to tow that line in the months after, with Lesnar not even being included in video packages, a similar edict that was dictated towards McMahon.
