Brock Lesnar Surprises with His WWE Return at SummerSlam
In an unexpected turn of events, Brock Lesnar made his return to WWE on Sunday night at SummerSlam, marking his return to the ring after a period of absence. Lesnar’s return occurred during the main event of the second night of SummerSlam at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Cody Rhodes won the Undisputed WWE Championship in a “street fight” against John Cena, who has announced his retirement as an active wrestler after this year. Cena, alone in the center of the ring, was cheered by the fans. After kneeling and kissing his hand, he placed it on the canvas, at which point Lesnar’s entrance music resonated, causing a furor among the audience. Lesnar, finally, entered the ring and executed his finishing move, an “F-5”, on Cena, ending the spectacle. Known as “The Beast Incarnate”, Lesnar is a former amateur wrestling champion from the University of Minnesota and also a UFC fighter between 2008 and 2011. His fame is mainly due to his multiple championships in WWE, where he has been a seven-time world champion. Lesnar’s reappearance comes after he was identified in a lawsuit filed against the company and former executive Vince McMahon. Janel Grant, a former WWE employee, officially identified Lesnar in a filing on January 31st in the U.S. District Court, related to her lawsuit filed against WWE and McMahon in January 2024. The original lawsuit referred to a star wrestler in the accusation, but did not provide Lesnar’s name. Lesnar is not a defendant in the lawsuit.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. She claims that McMahon demanded her to create “personalized sexual content” for Lesnar in July 2021, at a time when McMahon was trying to keep Lesnar under contract with WWE. In addition, it alleges that McMahon sent 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, after Grant’s lawsuit was filed. WWE has tried to avoid commenting on the ongoing litigation. In the post-event program, Paul Levesque, WWE’s Chief Content Officer, addressed 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 discussed the accusations against McMahon on the UK-based podcast “The Sports Agents”, which launched on Friday. In the podcast, Levesque, known as Triple H during his days in the ring, commented: “All we can do is move forward, for us as a company and creatively. Accusations are accusations, right? It’s a complicated relationship for anyone in life. Nobody is perfect. But accusations are made and that is something totally legal that is totally separate and apart from what we do. 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 place right now and continues to grow.”“If there were 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. Incredible to have him back”.
Paul Levesque
