Janel Grant's Lawyer Says WWE, Vince McMahon & John Laurinaitis Have All Been Served

While plenty about WWE's backstage culture over the decades has surfaced in the wake of Janel Grant's lawsuit against Vince McMahon and John Laurinanits, accusing both of sex trafficking and abuse, the lawsuit's process itself has moved slowly. One reason for that had been the lack of response from McMahon and WWE, also named in the suit, with only Laurinaitis legally acknowledging it in mid-March.

However, a move by Grant's legal team has guaranteed that a response from WWE and McMahon will be coming sooner rather than later. Speaking with Wrestlenomics and POST Wrestling on Wednesday, Grant's attorney Ann Callis confirmed that both McMahon and WWE have been served with a court summons which forces both WWE and McMahon to respond to the lawsuit by mid-May. Their response time will be similar to Laurinaitis', who when acknowledging the lawsuit said he'd be responding within 60 days.

The revelation of the summons comes during a week of developments regarding the case, including the leak of an email Grant sent to McMahon in December 2021. While McMahon's legal team has framed the letter as a "love letter" and proof of a consensual relationship between McMahon and Grant, Callis has since said Grant was "coerced" into writing the email by McMahon. 

The leaked email also made mention to several higher-ups, including "Mickey, Paul, Chef, Brad, Nick, and Johnny," being aware of Grant and McMahon's relationship. In regards to the names, Callis would state it was "safe to assume" that the "Brad and Nick" Grant was referring to were former WWE exec Brad Blum and current WWE President Nick Khan, who had previously been identified as Corporate Officer #1 and #2 mentioned in Grant's lawsuit.