Retired WWE pro wrestler Lance Storm weighed in on “disgusting” claims that Vince McMahon sexually abused a female staffer, including with sex toys that he named after wrestling stars, per a bombshell lawsuit filed Thursday.
“Look, I was one of the few that said he needed to be gone when the story first broke,” Storm said of a Wall Street Journal report from 2022, when it was first revealed WWE was investigating payouts to multiple women who had alleged sexual misconduct.
McMahon had briefly retired as WWE’s chairman and CEO in July 2022, but returned as the executive chairman of TKO Group Holdings, WWE’s parent company, in January 2023.
“I was outspoken against him being allowed back in the office, being allowed back in shows,” Storm told “Wrestling Observer Live” co-host Bryan Alvarez on Thursday, adding that he boycott WWE programming upon McMahon’s return to an executive role in 2023.
“That’s classic sexual predator stuff — find someone down on their luck and start grooming them and bending them to your will,” Storm added of the explosive lawsuit filed in Connecticut federal court this week, which names one of the women that allegedly received a payout from McMahon.
Janel Grant broke her silence in the court documents, which revealed that McMahon’s use of sex toys on her caused injuries such as bruising and bleeding.
In another shocking incident, the wrestling magnate allegedly defecated on Grant’s head during a threesome in May 2020, and sex trafficked her to other WWE executives, per the complaint.
“This is absolutely disgustingly horrible and he needs to be gone and done, and I hope there’s criminal charges brought if any of this is even remotely true,” Storm said.
“With there being so many NDAs [non-disclosure agreements] and a long list of things, I can’t fathom how it isn’t,” added 54-year-old Storm, who retired from the ring in 2004.
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In light of the allegations, Storm — who now works as a producer for TNA Wrestling — added that “he [McMahon] be booted off the board, take his keys to the office away [and] bar him from going to the shows.”
“I think there needs to be a legitimate cleaning of house of anyone who covered anything up, who knew about this.”
John Laurinaitis, WWE’s former head of talent relations, is named as a defendant in the lawsuit after allegedly being recruited by McMahon to have sex with Grant.
Grant was told by McMahon to visit Laurinaitis in his hotel rooms where she had sex with him before workdays, per the lawsuit.
In another encounter at WWE headquarters in Stamford, Conn., in June 2021, McMahon and Laurinaitis forced themselves on her and took turns restraining her for the other, it was alleged in the lawsuit.
“No means yes” and “Take it, b—h” were among the things McMahon and Laurinaitis said to Grant during the alleged assault, the court documents state.
Despite allegations of sexual misconduct involving McMahon going back at least three years, the WWE has said in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that while government investigations into McMahon remain ongoing, no charges have been brought.
And though WWE formed a “special committee” to review allegations against McMahon in 2022, it was concluded by November of that year.
McMahon said in a statement at the time: “Throughout this experience, I have always denied any intentional wrongdoing and continue to do so. I am confident that the government’s investigation will be resolved without any findings of wrongdoing.”
Users on social media, however, don’t seem as convinced.
In response to Storm’s comments on the wrestling news-focused radio show, many agreed that “Vince gotta go.”
“Vince is a dam sick monster. Get him gone now!” another wrote, while a user by the name of Matt Cruz warned that “it’s a lot easier said than done to get rid of everyone.”
“Vince is so powerful, the ones who are complicit could easily say they were forced or risk losing their livelihood,” Cruz cautioned.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
