Janel Grant, Vince McMahon & WWE get approval to move lawsuit to private arbitration
This story was updated on Friday.
Janel Grant’s 2024 lawsuit against WWE and Vince McMahon has been approved to move to private arbitration.
In a motion filed jointly by Grant, McMahon, and WWE on Thursday, all parties asked the court to cancel a scheduled hearing for June 16 so that they could focus on “progressing the potential arbitration agreement.”
Wrestlenomics/Post Wrestling’s Brandon Thurston reported that Judge Sarah F. Russell agreed to the ruling on Friday, requiring them to file a joint status report by July 10. If an agreement isn’t reached at that point, another hearing will be put on the docket for August.
“I interpret “agreement” here as referring to the conditions of moving into arbitration, not necessarily a settlement of the entire Grant v. WWE & Vince McMahon dispute itself,” he wrote.
Due to the nature of the move, details of the proceedings will likely not become public.
From Thursday’s filing:
“PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the parties respectfully submit this joint motion for a short adjournment of the upcoming hearing on Defendants’ Motions to Compel Arbitration and Plaintiff’s Renewed Motion for Leave to Serve Motion-Related Discovery, which is currently scheduled for June 16, 2026.
The parties are in active discussions regarding a potential agreement to arbitrate the dispute in confidential arbitration that would moot those motions. They seek this relief in good faith, to avoid unnecessarily consuming the Court’s and the parties’ resources—and so they can focus on progressing the potential arbitration agreement. The Parties respectfully propose that the Court temporarily adjourn the hearing and allow them to file a Joint Status Report within 21 days.”
The June 16 hearing had been scheduled for the court to hear arguments on whether the case should be sent to arbitration.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.