WWE megastar returns at SummerSlam amidst sex trafficking lawsuit
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After the main event of WWE SummerSlam on Sunday night, Brock Lesnar made his return to the squared circle, coming down to the ring and putting a beatdown on John Cena.
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Lesnar, who had been away from the company for two years, had been named in the ongoing sex trafficking lawsuit against former WWE head honcho Vince McMahon.
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BROCK. LESNAR. IS. BACK.
HERE COMES THE PAIN! 👊 pic.twitter.com/uR2z9RVoZu
— WWE (@WWE) August 4, 2025
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In the lawsuit, which was filed in January 2024, McMahon is accused of sexual assault and sex trafficking by former WWE employe Janel Grant.
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While Grant's original complaint did not include Lesnar's name — it only referencing a 'world-famous athlete and former UFC Heavyweight Champion' — he was officially named by Grant in federal court in an amended complaint in February.
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In the suit, Grant accused McMahon of asking her to create 'personalized sexual content' for Lesnar — who is not a defendant in the case — during his contract negotiations and that McMahon flew the superstar to Connecticut in 2021 for a sexual encounter that didn't end up happening.
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McMahon has denied all allegations by Grant while his attorney called naming Lesnar in the suit a 'publicity stunt.'
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'As expected, the proposed amended complaint is nothing more than the latest publicity stunt in an ongoing smear campaign,' McMahon's attorney Jessica Rosenberg said in a statement to ESPN. 'It is filled with desperate falsehoods from a team that continues to disregard the law and the truth.'
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With the lawsuit ongoing, the company had made efforts to distance itself from Lesnar, taking down his merchandise from its online store and removing his playable character from the WWE 2K24 video game.
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His previous appearance had been at SummerSlam in 2023, which also was held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. On Sunday night, after Cody Rhodes defeated Cena to win the WWE Universal Championship, Lesnar came down to the ring and hit his F5 finishing move on Cena before celebrating.
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His appearance garnered a mixed reaction by those in attendance and was widely criticized on social media.
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WWE defended its decision to bring back Lesnar despite the allegations and ongoing nature of the suit.
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'My reaction was exactly what I thought it was gonna be, which was, if there had been a roof on this place, it wouldn't be here anymore,' WWE chief content officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque said during the SummerSlam post-show.
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'The dynamic in the room in WWE changes when The Beast is here,' he added. 'Seeing Brock Lesnar come back, anything that you thought was happening sort of all goes out the window because the factor of Brock now just changes that dynamic so incredibly. It makes it unpredictable.'
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