Vince McMahon Betrayed By John Laurinaitis, Brock Lesnar Erased By WWE? | WrestleTalk - video Dailymotion

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If you want something more lighthearted, check out the video below: 10 Worst Wrestling Entrance Themes | Tables, Lists & Chairs  https://youtu.be/GM49vJchVt8 More wrestling news on https://wrestletalk.com/ 0:00 - Coming up... 0:18 - Vince McMahon Betrayed By John Laurinaitis 5:32 - WWE Lawsuit Fallout 6:47 - Shawn Michaels Responds To Vince McMahon Allegations 7:30 - Brock Lesnar Removed From WWE Supercard 8:55 - AEW Major Announcement Leaked Vince McMahon Betrayed By John Laurinaitis, Brock Lesnar Erased By WWE? | WrestleTalk  #VinceMcMahon #BrockLesnar #WWE  Subscribe to WrestleTalk Podcasts   https://bit.ly/3pEAEIu Subscribe to partsFUNknown for lists, fantasy booking & more  https://bit.ly/32JJsCv Subscribe to NoRollsBarred  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5UQPZe-8v4_UP1uxi4Mv6A Subscribe to WrestleTalk  https://bit.ly/3gKdNK3 SUBSCRIBE TO THEM ALL! Make sure to enable ALL push notifications!  Watch the latest wrestling news: https://shorturl.at/pAIV3 Buy WrestleTalk Merch here! https://wrestleshop.com/   Follow WrestleTalk: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_WrestleTalk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WrestleTalk.Official Patreon: https://goo.gl/2yuJpo WrestleTalk Podcast on iTunes: https://goo.gl/7advjX WrestleTalk Podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3uKx6HD  Written by: Oli Davis Presented by: Oli Davis Thumbnail by: Brandon Syres Image Sourcing by: Brandon Syres  About WrestleTalk: Welcome to the official WrestleTalk YouTube channel! WrestleTalk covers the sport of professional wrestling - including WWE TV shows (both WWE Raw & WWE SmackDown LIVE), PPVs (such as Royal Rumble, WrestleMania & SummerSlam), AEW All Elite Wrestling, Impact Wrestling, ROH, New Japan, and more. Subscribe and enable ALL notifications for the latest wrestling WWE reviews and wrestling news.  Sources used for research: https://wrestletalk.com/news/netflix-vince-mcmahon-allegations-wwe-deal-concerns/  https://wrestletalk.com/news/wwe-svp-shawn-michaels-vince-mcmahon-allegations-lawsuit/  https://wrestletalk.com/news/aew-announcement-vince-mcmahon-allegations/   Youtube Channel Comments Policy We appreciate the comments and opinions our viewers provide. Do note that all comments are subject to YouTube auto-moderation and manual moderation review. We encourage opinions and discussion, but harassment, hate speech, bullying and other abusive posts will not be tolerated. Decisions on comment removal are made by the Community Manager. Please email us at support@wrestletalk.com with any questions or concerns.

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00:00 Vince McMahon betrayed by John Laurinaitis, WWE erasing Brock Lesnar and more accusations

00:06 apparently set to come out.

00:08 I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.

00:18 On the 25th January, former WWE employee Janelle Grant filed a lawsuit accusing then TKO Executive

00:24 Chairman Vince McMahon of sex trafficking and sexual assault.

00:28 Vince resigned from his position the day after, issuing a statement that strongly denied the

00:33 allegations.

00:34 But it wasn't just McMahon who was named in the suit.

00:37 Grant also accused WWE's former head of talent relations John Laurinaitis, alleging

00:42 "the expectation from both McMahon and Laurinaitis that she engage with Laurinaitis sexually,

00:48 both physically and with explicit content."

00:51 The lawsuit describes a toxic workplace where a schedule was put in place for her to have

00:55 sex with Laurinaitis and other men.

00:57 If you want to watch the full breakdown of the lawsuit's allegations, there's a link

01:01 to Luke's WrestleTalk News episode in the video description below.

01:04 Now Laurinaitis has issued his first comments on the lawsuit, via his lawyer Edward Brennan,

01:09 in a statement to Vice News.

01:12 "Mr. Laurinaitis denies the allegations in the misguided complaint and will be vigorously

01:16 defending these charges in court, not the media.

01:20 Like the plaintiff, Mr. Laurinaitis is a victim in this case, not a predator.

01:26 The truth will come out.

01:28 Read the allegations.

01:30 Read the federal statute.

01:31 Power, control, employment supervisory capacity, dictatorial sexual demands with repercussions

01:37 if not met.

01:38 Count how many times in the complaint Vince exerts control over both of them."

01:44 I'm not going to debate whether Laurinaitis is a victim, or whether he's signalling

01:47 to authorities that he's willing to corroborate against Vince in exchange for more lenient

01:51 treatment himself.

01:52 We can't yet say.

01:54 But one message from Laurinaitis' statement is certainly clear - he's also accusing

01:59 Vince of "power, control, employment supervisory capacity, dictatorial sexual demands with

02:05 repercussions if not met", potentially corroborating the original lawsuit's allegations.

02:11 Neither TKO or Grant's lawyer have yet responded to Laurinaitis' statement.

02:15 Just in case you're not aware of John Laurinaitis, here is a brief summary of his weird life.

02:20 He was the less successful wrestling sibling to his real-life brother Road Warrior Animal,

02:25 one of the biggest tag team wrestlers of all time.

02:28 Instead, Johnny Ace, as he was known, wrestled predominantly in all Japan through the 90s.

02:33 Where, and I've only just found this out, he had two Dave Meltzer 5 star rated tag team

02:38 matches in 1995 and 96, teaming with Dr. Death Steve Williams against Kenta Kabashi and Masao

02:45 Takao. He also created the Cutter Move, which would be later used by Randy Orton as the

02:50 RKO. He joined WWE as a road agent in 2001 following

02:54 the company buying out WCW, where he had worked for the previous year.

02:58 In 2004, he replaced Jim Ross as head of talent relations, which he held until 2012, where

03:04 he was heavily criticised for a decline in building new stars.

03:07 Then, after being name dropped by CM Punk in his infamous 2011 Pipe Bomb, where he said

03:12 Vince is a millionaire who should be a billionaire, but he surrounds himself with clat-handed,

03:17 nonsensical douchebag yes-men like John Laurinaitis, who's going to tell him everything he wants

03:23 to hear - a line that hits differently in light of the lawsuit's allegations - Laurinaitis

03:27 became Punk's raspy-voiced authority figure antagonist in storyline.

03:31 But the following year, Triple H took over talent relations, and Laurinaitis was demoted

03:36 to being a road agent again. He then married Cathy Colase in 2016, which

03:40 is notable because of who his stepdaughters then became.

03:44 Then WWE wrestlers The Bellas. Which also makes him Bryan Danielson's

03:49 stepfather-in-law via Danielson's marriage to Brie Bella, and, for a couple of years

03:54 period, potentially John Cena's stepfather-in-law too when Cena was engaged to Nikki.

03:59 Following the lawsuit's allegations, the Bella Twins released a statement not directly

04:03 naming their stepfather. "We are shocked and disheartened with the

04:07 recent allegations against members of the WWE. There's been a lot to process since

04:12 we found out this past week, just as you all did. This is something we don't stand for

04:16 or condone from anyone, no matter who they are. We want all women to feel safe and supported

04:22 in the workplace and in their everyday lives." Vince re-hired Laurinaitis in March 2021 as

04:28 head of talent relations. Fightful Select reported that during this

04:31 time women in NXT blamed him for a new edict implying they had to "dress sexier like

04:38 the then Mandy Rose character" under the guise of "fashion consulting and fashion

04:43 aid to play up the fact that the women on the brand were larger than life stars."

04:48 Fightful did note they couldn't confirm Laurinaitis' involvement in that decision-making, but it

04:53 did coincide with him taking over from Triple H.

04:56 It was the same month Laurinaitis took over talent relations that Grant's lawsuit alleges.

05:01 McMahon verbally directed her to transfer to the talent relations department, reporting

05:05 to defendant John Laurinaitis on March 9th, 2021.

05:10 The lawsuit alleges McMahon had been cultivating a relationship between Grant and Laurinaitis

05:15 from the previous November. Laurinaitis was replaced by Bruce Prichard

05:18 as head of talent relations in June 2022, following Washington Post first reporting

05:23 on allegations against Laurinaitis and Vince McMahon.

05:26 For Laurinaitis to officially be released that August, after 21 years at WWE, Grant's

05:33 attorney Anne Callis has told NewsNation that this "could just be the start. My office

05:38 and my inbox have had a barrage of people wanting to come forward to attest about this

05:43 culture of corruption and also possible victims. We are just beginning now to wade through

05:48 all this, but we're frankly overwhelmed." Grant's hope is that by coming out, by stepping

05:53 forward, by bringing this complaint and putting her face to this complaint, the other victims

05:58 of Vince McMahon and the WWE will end up becoming public. She wants to help them find her voice

06:06 and get justice. Which isn't what Netflix, who announced

06:08 a $5 billion 10-year deal with WWE just two days before the lawsuit was made public, want

06:14 to hear. Which is probably why they're hoping this is just a Vince McMahon problem, and

06:19 not a larger brand issue. Netflix's Chief Content Officer Bella Badgeria

06:24 was asked about her concerns over the deal in light of the allegations, which The Hollywood

06:28 Reporter has her replying as "He's gone, so he's not there. He's gone."

06:34 It's important to remember, though, that this isn't just a lawsuit against Vince

06:38 McMahon or even John Laurinaitis. WWE itself is a named defendant in the suit, as it makes

06:44 allegations of a larger toxic company culture. If anything, especially with Callis saying

06:49 other people want to come forward, this news story is only going to get uglier and potentially

06:54 louder. So whenever WWE, or anyone involved with them, do media interviews, they should

07:00 at least have a prepared response when they get asked about it.

07:03 Ahead of the deadline Premium Live event on Sunday 4th, NXT's Shawn Michaels fielded

07:08 multiple questions about the lawsuit in a media call. He concluded saying "Thank you

07:13 guys. I will say this. For me, I won't lie to you, this is the toughest call I've ever

07:19 done. I understand and appreciate y'all doing your job and you have to do that, so

07:23 I hope we're able to put the past behind us and again, not discounting any of the pain

07:29 that has gone on with that." Grant's lawsuit also alleges McMahon offered

07:33 her to a world famous athlete and former UFC heavyweight champion, with whom WWE was actively

07:38 trying to sign a new contract. And ultimately did sign that contract. The Washington Post

07:43 then reported that people in the know believe this to be Brock Lesnar.

07:47 As a result, Lesnar was reportedly pulled from his Royal Rumble return that weekend,

07:52 with all his spots instead being given to Brom Breaker. Dave Meltzer later followed

07:56 up that some in WWE think Lesnar could be finished with the company forever.

08:02 In a sign that WWE could be erasing Lesnar from their product, PWInsider is reporting

08:07 Brock has been removed from the WWE Supercard mobile game, which is published by 2K.

08:12 It would appear that 2K, as a licensee for WWE, is following the company's lead after

08:18 WWE backed off on using Lesnar last weekend at the Royal Rumble event.

08:23 Going forward, PWInsider.com has been told by sources familiar to the matter that we

08:28 should expect to see Lesnar downplayed, if not outright removed as he was in the Supercard

08:33 game as much as possible going forward by 2K and potentially other licensees.

08:38 2K will be releasing WWE 2K24 on the 8th March, which is built around a 40 years of WrestleMania

08:45 theme. Considering how many historic WrestleMania moments Brock has been a part of, we'll

08:50 have to see how he features in the game considering it's only one month out from release.

08:55 The Vince McMahon lawsuit is so industry shaking, it's even causing plans to get changed in

09:00 other companies. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, AEW

09:04 were going to announce Mercedes Monét on the Saturday 27th episode of Collision, potentially

09:09 as a way to undermine the Royal Rumble they'd be going head to head with.

09:12 The decision was made to delay the announcement, though, as the news cycle was so dominated

09:17 by the Vince McMahon lawsuit. So they decided to save Monét's debut for a time when she

09:22 could at least be the main story of one day. It's widely expected that Mercedes Monét

09:27 to AEW confirmed will be Tony Khan's major announcement for the 7th February episode

09:32 of Dynamite next week in Winnipeg, to promote levelling up with Shazam Fury of the Gods.

09:40 It's been a rough time for wrestling. The Royal Rumble was supposed to be fun, so to

09:45 bring back the good vibes, unless any more horrible stories break, we're having a tables,

09:51 lists and chairs weekend on WrestleTalk. Saturday will see us countdown the worst Royal

09:56 Rumbles of all time, and Sunday has me making my TLC debut to countdown the best ones. Subscribe

10:02 and enable notifications to know when those go live first. Here's a clip to get you

10:07 in the mood.

10:26 "

10:27 (upbeat music)

10:29 (upbeat music)

Vince McMahon Betrayed By John Laurinaitis, Brock Lesnar Erased By WWE? | WrestleTalk

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