Brock Lesnar Shocks at SummerSlam with a Stunning WWE Return
The world of wrestling was shaken on Sunday night at SummerSlam, when Brock Lesnar, known as “The Beast Incarnate”, reappeared in the WWE ring, marking his return after several months of absence. Lesnar’s last appearance at a WWE event was at SummerSlam 2023, where he was defeated by Cody Rhodes at Ford Field in Detroit. His return on Sunday came after the main event of the second night of SummerSlam, held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Cody Rhodes regained the Undisputed WWE Championship in a “street fight” against John Cena, who has announced his retirement as a wrestler in the ring after this year. Cena, after the match, remained alone in the center of the ring, while the fans chanted: “Thank you, Cena!”. Then, Lesnar entered the ring and applied his finishing move, an “F-5”, to Cena, ending the spectacle. Lesnar, a prominent amateur wrestler at the University of Minnesota and former UFC fighter between 2008 and 2011, is recognized for his multiple championships in WWE, where he has been a seven-time world champion. Lesnar’s reappearance comes after his name was officially mentioned in a lawsuit filed against WWE and former executive Vince McMahon. The original lawsuit, filed in January 2024, referred to a star wrestler, although Lesnar’s name was not initially specified. Lesnar is not one of the defendants in this lawsuit. In a statement issued by McMahon’s attorney at the time, the amended lawsuit was called a “publicity stunt”.Janel Grant, who worked in the company’s legal and talent departments, alleges that McMahon forced her to have a sexual relationship to keep her job. Grant claims that McMahon demanded that she create “personalized sexual content” for Lesnar in July 2021, while McMahon was trying to keep Lesnar under contract with WWE. In addition, she alleges that McMahon took Lesnar to Connecticut in 2021 for a sexual encounter, which ultimately did not happen. McMahon resigned in January 2024 as executive chairman of the board of directors of TKO Group, the parent company of WWE, following the filing of Grant’s lawsuit. WWE has avoided commenting on the ongoing litigation. There were no press conferences after SummerSlam, as the company opted for its wrestlers to speak exclusively on the post-event show instead of answering questions from journalists. Paul Levesque, WWE’s chief content officer, was not questioned about the lawsuit on Sunday night, but he did address Lesnar’s return.As expected, the proposed amended complaint is nothing more than the latest publicity stunt in an ongoing smear campaign. It is filled with desperate falsehoods from a team that continues to ignore the law and the truth.
Jessica Rosenberg, McMahon’s lawyer
Levesque also spoke about the accusations against McMahon on the UK-based “The Sports Agents” podcast, which was released on Friday.If there had been a roof on this place, it wouldn’t be here anymore. The dynamic in the room changes when the Beast is here. Anything you thought was happening, goes out the window. The Brock factor changes everything incredibly and makes it unpredictable. It’s incredible to have him back.
Paul Levesque, WWE Chief Content Officer
Levesque added: “My job is to present the best creative product that WWE can make. Fortunately and happily, it has been successful. The business is in a good moment right now and continues to grow.”All we can do is move forward, for us as a company and creatively. The accusations are accusations, right? It’s a complicated relationship for anyone in life. Nobody’s perfect. But accusations are made and that’s something totally legal that is totally separate and apart from what we do.
Paul Levesque, WWE Chief Content Officer
