WWE Legal’s Reported Reason For Clearing Brock Lesnar’s Return Revealed

Brock Lesnar was back at WWE SummerSlam because the company’s legal team cleared him from what was preventing him from being back sooner.

The former WWE Champion, Brock Lesnar, was kept away from the company for two years. The main reason is that, in January 2024, Brock Lesnar was implicated in Janel Grant’s sex trafficking lawsuit against WWE, Vince McMahon, and John Laurinaitis.

While WWE never officially stated that was the reason, it was widely reported and assumed by most people that Lesnar wasn’t being used due to his past involvement with McMahon, who was removed from TKO Group after the lawsuit came out.

Even though Lesnar is named in the lawsuit filed by Grant against McMahon, he is not charged with anything, nor is he a defendant.

At WWE SummerSlam, Brock Lesnar shockingly returned to the company to face off with a former rival, John Cena. After circling the ring while Cena was in it, Lesnar went into the ring and hit an F5 to end the show. It will likely lead to at least one more Lesnar-Cena match. The two men trained together in OVW 25 years ago, and both were called up to the main roster in 2002, leading to careers that will see both of them enter the WWE Hall of Fame one day.

Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted that WWE likely believes that there is not a legal case against Vince McMahon, but the civil trial will continue.

“The big unanswered question is what made WWE legal change their viewpoint on Lesnar.

The belief, despite Janel Grant’s attorneys indicating this wasn’t a sure thing and a judge ruling in the case that indicated an investigation was still going after we got word it was over, is that there is no legal case against Vince McMahon.

That was believed to have been tabled at the same time the SEC investigation of McMahon completed, which was early January. The civil trial is ongoing.”

As he continued, Meltzer mentioned that Lesnar’s involvement likely won’t be considered a major issue if there’s a settlement.

“Do they see that as less of a threat? One would think so by this action. If the case goes to arbitration, everything related to Lesnar becomes irrelevant. If they see a settlement coming, the Lesnar stuff is likely not a major factor either.”

WWE Kept Brock Lesnar Under Contract For Two Years While He Was Away

The last match that Brock Lesnar had in WWE was at SummerSlam 2023 when he lost to Cody Rhodes. In the two years since then, Lesnar remained under contract to WWE, according to Meltzer.

“Lesnar was still, even though not used, fully paid during that time period and was among the highest paid wrestlers in the company. He was never suspended and obviously kept under contract.

If what he did was going to end their relationship with him, he’d have been let go. That’s the reality. He was always going to return when legal cleared him. Legal cleared him about one month prior to the show, which was kept secret, and allowed for the return.”

It’s not yet known when Lesnar will wrestle again in a WWE reign, but his next match is likely going to be against Cena.