WWE Hall Of Famer Still Respects Vince McMahon Following Lawsuit Allegations
A WWE Hall of Famer still has respect for Vince McMahon while claiming that his former boss is innocent until proven guilty.
The professional wrestling world, and in particular WWE, has been rocked over the last couple of weeks following a lawsuit alleging Vince McMahon’s involvement in sex trafficking and sexual assault was made public on January 25th.
In the lawsuit, former WWE employee Janel Grant told some disgusting stories about McMahon’s behavior toward her while also revealing text messages from him. The suit also claims that former WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis took part in the disgusting activities involving Grant. Laurinaitis claims he is a victim of McMahon like Grant is.
Vince McMahon is under a federal investigation relating to the allegations, but the former WWE Executive Chairman claims he did nothing wrong and will fight the claims against him.
Teddy Long spent a lot of time in pro wrestling and worked for WWE from 1998 to 2014 in several different roles. Fans may remember Long as a referee for several years, but he was most known as being the beloved Smackdown General Manager.
While speaking to Sportskeeda’s Wrestling Time Machine, Teddy Long said for now he still respects Vince McMahon.
“As of this moment, I still have the utmost respect for Vince McMahon. My thing is this: we must go by the rules. What that means is Vince McMahon and whoever else, they’re innocent until proven guilty. That’s what I’m basically waiting to see, what happens in the court of law. To read some of this stuff and see what was really going on, it was really kinda horrifying. Some stuff that I wouldn’t dare dream would even be happening.”
As he continued, Long talked about how the alleged victim Janel Grant noted she was vulnerable at the time when McMahon hired her and took advantage of her.
“I think that she was caught at a real gullible time. From what I heard, I heard that she lost both of her parents, they both died, and now she’s here [with] no parents, nobody, nothing, and I guess what would we say? She’s easy prey.”
Teddy Long Reacts To NDA Payments Vince McMahon Reportedly Didn’t Make
In the lawsuit, it was revealed that Vince McMahon had Janel Grant sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement, but she allegedly only received $1 million of the agreed-upon amount of $3 million. Long also questions if everything in the lawsuit is true.
“If this did happen, I can’t see Vince or anybody else, if all this woman wanted was three million dollars, Vince ain’t a dumb person. If this was really true, I can’t not see him not giving her three million dollars, sign whatever it is, and have done with that. That’s why I say there might be some stuff here that’s not true.”
Some legal experts also believe that the NDA’s that McMahon and Grant signed may be invalid, which could also be why Grant chose to come forward with a lawsuit, which could lead to other people speaking out about McMahon’s actions.