WWE: Cody Rhodes on Him Believing He’s at “Tail End” of His Babyface Run, Janel Grant Requesting Documents & Emails from McMahon & WWE to Challenge NDA Arbitration, More News

Cody Rhodes Comments on Him Believing He’s at “Tail End” of His Babyface Run

Kay Adams held a recent interview with Cody Rhodes. One of the topics discussed included Rhodes’ thoughts about how people will know it is time for him to turn heel.

“You’ll know because X and Instagram will hate it. Because today, heels are like, oh, that’s a cool heel. We’re loving John Cena, no, if you’re if you’re burying it and hate it and talking about how you don’t want it on your TV that’s what an actual bad guy is.”

Rhodes also gave his thoughts about his belief that he is in the “tail end” of his current run as a babyface in WWE.

“I think you have a good solid year, maybe even three years, because I am not changing until I’m changed, if that makes any sense.My hair is naturally dark. I don’t know if I could go back. But if The Rock had it his way, I would have been changed already. So I think he sees something that maybe I don’t see, and that’s a very smart individual. So maybe I follow his lead. Maybe not.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Vince McMahon Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Update – Janel Grant Requesting Documents & Emails from McMahon & WWE to Challenge Arbitration

As noted before, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit in January of 2024 against former TKO Executive Chairman Vince McMahon accusing McMahon of committing sex trafficking and sexual abuse towards her during her time in the company. Grant filed a new amended lawsuit this past February detailing new evidence and claims against McMahon, John Laurinaitis, WWE, and others. Laurinaitis was officially dismissed from the lawsuit this past May in return for Laurinaitis helping to provide evidence for Grant’s case against McMahon.

Post Wrestling and Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that Grant filed a motion this past Monday before the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut requesting discovery specifically related to the issue of the defendants pushing for the case to be moved into private arbitration.

In the filing, Grant’s attorneys are requesting a broad range of internal WWE and McMchon communications including board materials, NDA drafts, and documents already reviewed by federal investigators. Thurston reported that the reason for this request is part of Grant challenging the enforceability of the arbitration clause in her NDA deal. Thurston also reported that such evidence could support Grant’s argument that she was under duress when she had signed the deal and the NDA should not be legally enforced.

Full list of documents and communications being requested by Grant and her legal team:

1. Documents sufficient to show the identity of each individual who participated in drafting and/or reviewing the NDA.

2. All communications between You, on the one hand, and any other person(s), on the other, concerning terminating Ms. Grant’s employment and/or the NDA.

3. All communications between any of Your employees or agents, on the one hand, and any other person(s), on the other, regarding concerning [sic] terminating Ms. Grant’s employment and/or the NDA.

4. All communications between any of WWE’s employees, officers, directors, or agents, on the one hand, and any other person(s), on the other, concerning terminating Ms. Grant’s employment and/or the NDA.

5. All drafts of the NDA.

6. All communications between You, on the one hand, and Linda McMahon, on the other, concerning Ms. Grant and/or the NDA.

7. All communications between You, on the one hand, and Dr. Carlon Colker, on the other, concerning Ms. Grant and/or the NDA.

8. Ms. Grant’s complete employment file.

9. All documents and communications generated by WWE’s human resources personnel, including but not limited to communications to and from Meredith Hutt, regarding Ms. Grant’s employment and separation from WWE and/or the NDA.

10. All communications between You and/or Your counsel, on the one hand, and Jonathan Shapiro, Esq., on the other, concerning the NDA.

11. All Board Materials from January 1, 2019 to January 30, 2025.

12. All minutes of the Board’s Audit Committee from January 1, 2019 to January 30, 2025.

13. All documents and communications between You, on the one hand, and Endeavor, on the other, concerning disclosure of WWE’s litigation liabilities from January 1, 2019 to April 3, 2023.

14. All documents and communications produced by You to government investigators, including but not limited to the Department of Justice and/or Securities and Exchange Commission, concerning Ms. Grant and/or the NDA.

15. Documents sufficient to show (a) all subpoenas and/or voluntary requests for production and/or testimony received by You and/or Your counsel concerning the SEC Action and (b) Your responses and objections, if any, to the government’s requests.

16. All documents and communications concerning WWE’s claim that, “[a]lthough WWE was a party to the Settlement Agreements—one signed in 2019 and one signed in 2022—McMahon failed to disclose the agreements to WWE’s Board of Directors (“Board”), legal department, accountants, financial reporting personnel, and auditor[,]” in the SEC Action.

17. All documents and communications collected and reviewed in response to a request and/or subpoena from the government; determined to be responsive; withheld under an assertion of privilege; and later found to be non-privileged and discoverable under the crime fraud exception by the Southern District of New York, as affirmed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in In re Grand Jury Subpoenas Dated September 13 (2025), Docket Nos. 24-1588-cv (L), 24-1589-cv (Con) (2d. Cir. Feb 7, 2025).

18. Documents sufficient to show the scope and methodology of the Board’s Internal Investigation.

19. Documents sufficient to identify all person(s) interviewed in the course of the Board’s Internal Investigation.

20. All documents and communications concerning the findings and recommendations of the Board’s Internal Investigation.

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WWE News & Notes

Tuesday’s WWE NXT show featured TNA talent Joe Hendry making another surprise appearance in the NXT brand. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Hendry is currently expected to make regular appearances on WWE’s NXT brand in the lead-up to his match against Trick Williams for the TNA World Championship at TNA’s Slammiversary 2025 event this July.

As noted before, Liv Morgan has been out of action for WWE since earlier this month due to a dislocated shoulder injury. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE officials are currently considering replacing Morgan with new Judgement Day member Roxanne Perez to team with Rodriguez going forward for the Women’s Tag titles.

WWE recently announced that country singer and rapper Jelly Roll will be making a guest appearance at their WWE SmackDown show on July 11th in Nashville, Tennessee.

2K Games recently released a new trailer video featuring Abyss as a playable character for their WWE 2K25 video game as part of the upcoming Dunk & Destruction DLC pack, which releases on Wednesday, June 25th.

WWE’s WWE Vault channel on YouTube recently posted a thank you note to subscribers celebrating the channel reaching the milestone of two millions subscribers and 1 billion total views. It was also stated that they have not been able to locate certain matches and videos that have been popularly requested by fans and the current status of other popular videos requests. It was stated “WWE Vault quietly launched one year ago. Since then, we’ve amassed more than 2 million subscribers and 1 billion views. Thank you, our subscribers, for your support, requests, recommendations and, when the situation calls for it, corrections. To make sure we stay on track, we humbly ask that you keep your ideas coming! To show that we’re not turning a blind eye to some of the more popular requests, here are some updates: We haven’t found footage of Kurt Angle vs. Owen Hart or Hogan on The Snake Pit. More Omni live event videos are coming. No, Mistico vs. Dean Malenko didn’t happen. We have some WCW Cyber Ring footage. Mostly on green screen.“

WWE recently released two new videos to their WCW Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was the full February 24, 1997 episode of WCW Nitro. The second new video was a WCW World Tag Team Championship Triangle match of Harlem Heat (Stevie Ray & Booker T) vs. Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) vs. Lex Luger & Sting (c) from the June 24, 1996 episode of WCW Nitro.

WWE also recently released four new videos to their WWE Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was a WWF Championship #1 Contender Triple Threat match of The Rock vs. Triple H vs. Kurt Angle from the June 26, 2000 episode of WWE RAW. The second new video was a “Rare Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage dark matches: From the WWE Vault.” The third new video was a Street Fight match of Kurt Angle vs. Shane McMahon from WWE King of the Ring 2001. The fourth new video was a “Goldberg’s rookie year: Watch the undefeated streak build | From the WWE Vault.”

As noted before, Asuka made her in-ring return from a knee injury at the June 16th WWE RAW show. In a recent new video posted on her official YouTube channel, Asuka gave her thought about her recent return from injury to WWE. Asuka stated “Hey… welcome to KanaChanTV, and so, we’ve been filming a video in a hurry. This is just a quick video, and I really want to say this: I’m back! I finally made my return to the ring. So, thank you so much for all your support, your kind messages, and your love. It means more than I can say. It really was a great help to me. I can’t even put it into words. Thank you so much for all your messages and support. Being away for almost a year, it wasn’t easy. This was by no means easy. It was really hard. Well, I’d been away from the ring for almost a year, and it really wasn’t easy, and to be honest, there was some tough days, but I managed to get through it… But your voice kept me going, really. Well, everyone’s voices were there, so yeah… I guess you could say it never stopped. I guess the point is that I didn’t stop. Now, I’m here again! My match was always intense. Physically and mentally, it has been pushed to the limit. I really do feel like I was on the edge, both mentally and physically. I was able to win the comeback. I would like to talk about this, but this is just the beginning…” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)