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On January 25th, 2024, Vince McMahon was named in a lawsuit filed by former WWE employee Janel Grant. In the lawsuit, Grant also named former WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis and a former UFC and WWE Champion.
Since this news came to light, several massive names in wrestling have shared their views on the matter. One man who recently spoke about the ongoing Vince McMahon situation is wrestling veteran Shawn Michaels.
On the media call for NXT Vengeance Day, HBK labeled the situation, 'extremely sad.' He said:
"It’s an incredibly sad situation. As everyone knows, I have very little and absolutely nothing to do, and gladly so, with the corporate stuff that goes on. We try to focus here in NXT on the men and women that come through these doors and we do. I think we foster a safe and supportive atmosphere down here. I know that they reinstalled and upgraded I think in 2022, some of those regulations and whatnot."
Michaels further added:
"But look, we’re always conscious about that and one thing that I do, it’s incredibly important to support the talent and give them a safe working environment. I’d like to think that we do that absolutely, but look, we will always continue to try and be better about that and I’m very glad to say that I think we do a really fantastic job down here." [H/T Fightful]
Post these allegations, Vince McMahon announced his resignation from TKO Group Holdings. However, in his statement, Mr. McMahon also added that he looks forward to vigorously defending himself and clearing his name.
Shawn Michaels further spoke about the ongoing Vince McMahon situation
Additionally, on the media call, Shawn Michaels was asked if he had any conversations with talent and employees in WWE regarding a safe environment. Michaels answered by mentioning the company takes such situations very seriously. HBK said:
“Well, so look, we obviously — everyone is aware of the situation and understands it. Like I said, it’s an incredibly sad situation. I can sit here and say it sucks, but we’ve always — and I’ve mentioned it to you all in the past, we take that very seriously. I take all of the youth that come through here incredibly seriously because this is a tough line of work, regardless of what’s going on. Leaving home and coming here and pursuing your dreams is a big thing that we take incredibly seriously and we understand that young men and women that come through our doors are impressionable."
Shawn Michaels added that WWE encourages openness by telling everyone to let them know how the company can help. He said:
"So we absolutely encourage the openness and again, telling everyone to please tell us the truth and let us know how we can help. That’s something that has been here for a long time and we continue to do our best to improve on that because it is, it’s one of the most important things to me is to be able to ask those questions you’re afraid to ask. We certainly empower them to do that and give them the opportunity to do that. Right now, I feel like everybody — I’m not really trying to spin it, coming off of Royal Rumble weekend, and even going into Vengeance Day, I think that the talent in WWE and in NXT are extremely excited about the future. Look, I know we are as well and we’re looking to capitalize that at Vengeance Day. Tough situation like I said, but I got to tell you from a talent standpoint, we feel like the windows of heaven have opened up and we’re ready to go forward.”
Another question Shawn Michaels was asked on the matter was about the policies WWE has in place if a talent or employee wishes to speak to a safe person if a similar issue arises. Michaels responded by adding that such policies are in place and will continue to be upgraded. He added:
“We absolutely have all of those policies in place. As I said, we upgraded them in 2022. I have no doubt that they’ll be looking at continuing to improve those, but we absolutely do. We have numerous people on our medical team for outreach to go to outside of the Performance Center. We do understand that I can look at a talent and my head writer and my coaches, as they do, we can tell them to tell us the truth or express to us what’s going on. But as you know, they may not feel comfortable doing that, so we also provide help outside of here as well and have people that we can work with to get them in a complete objective environment that isn’t associated with the WWE or NXT in that respect."
The Heartbreak Kid concluded his statement by saying that the promotion wants everyone focused on what they are doing without having struggles going forward. He concluded by adding that the company does a great job, and he has witnessed the same on a regular basis.
