Janel Grant lawsuit against Vince McMahon & WWE officially moves to private arbitration
Janel Grant’s long running lawsuit against both Vince McMahon and WWE is officially heading to private arbitration and out of the public eye.
The move was previously approved by a judge in Connecticut nearly a month ago. As a result, the lawsuit will be dismissed within the next five business days while Grant’s claims and defenses will still be able to be pursued in the arbitration process.
In a joint status report, Grant’s attorney Ann Callis submitted the following:
“Pursuant to the Court’s July 13, 2026 order, ECF No. 151, Plaintiff Janel Grant, Defendant World Wrestling Entertainment, LLC, and Defendant Vincent K. McMahon (together, the “Parties”) jointly report that the Parties have executed an agreement to arbitrate their dispute. Pursuant to that agreement, within five business days, Plaintiff shall execute and cause to be filed a Stipulation of Voluntary Dismissal with Prejudice causing the action to be dismissed in its entirety, as to both remaining defendants, but without prejudice to the Parties’ rights to pursue their claims and defenses in arbitration.”
The McMahon side had been pushing for arbitration, citing a clause in the non-disclosure Grant signed with McMahon in 2022 with Grant’s side saying it was signed under duress. It’s unknown what made the Grant side change their stance.
The move is the next step in bringing the Grant lawsuit against McMahon and WWE to a close. Filed in January 2024, Grant accused McMahon, WWE and John Laurinaitis of sex trafficking and sex abuse — the alleged details of which came out in the two+ years afterward and also included allegations against other WWE executives regarding their knowledge of what was going on and also Brock Lesnar for his alleged involvement. Laurinaitis was later dropped from the lawsuit.
After the lawsuit was filed, McMahon stepped down from his position as TKO executive chairman and hasn’t appeared on WWE programming since.
After staying out of the public eye, Grant has both begun to appear more and post on Instagram more this year in an effort to support sexual assault victims and the process in which they seek justice. A recent example is that three weeks ago, Grant posted on IG that sexually explicit images of her were shared with WWE Board members without her consent during a 2022 special investigation.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.