Vince McMahon must never be welcome in WWE again

Brock Lesnar is named 44 times in Janel Grant’s amended lawsuit against Vince McMahon and the WWE that alleges sexual assault and trafficking. Yet, that was not enough to stop the promotion from bringing Lesnar “home” as it has been put on their own program. A few weeks later Bubba Ray Dudley floated the idea of fans being ready to “embrace” a return for Vince McMahon as a part of John Cena’s retirement. Bringing McMahon back in any fashion would be a disaster and the absolute lowest point in the promotion’s history. One that would turn off many viewers and perhaps have larger implications on business.

“If Vince were to come out in that moment to give John his final farewell, I think the people would like to see that, or would embrace it,” Bubba Ray said during a recent episode of Busted Open.

Now, here’s the tough reality. If Vince McMahon’s music were to hit after Cena’s last match, we can easily say that fans in the arena would erupt into cheers. Even when the initial allegations about problematic behavior came out, fans still cheered when McMahon showed up. He would get cheered if he returned, even at this point in 2025, with all that is alleged to have occurred over the years.

So, Dudley may be right in that sense. Those cheers in the moment would be something to see. A watershed moment that shows how far the WWE has fallen when it comes to accountability, recognition of problematic behavior, and falling further down the right-wing slide of not holding powerful men to consequences that should disqualify them from powerful positions.

The blowback would be fast and harsh. WWE stopped holding post-event press conferences to avoid questions about situations like these, but that wouldn’t stop the commentary from flowing about how a McMahon return would be a bad moment for the company.

What would be interesting to see is if viewers and critics would point their animosity toward sponsors and partners. WWE wasn’t going to initially remove McMahon from his position, but it was a threat of a major sponsor pulling out of the Royal Rumble that played a big part. Think back to 2018 when WWE was forced to change the name of the Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34. This came due to fan backlash to the allegations about her actions years before. If McMahon is brought back, do not be surprised if fans point their rage toward sponsors because it is clear that WWE, TKO, and Endeavor do not intend to hold people accountable.

Bringing McMahon back would fly in the face of WWE changing its culture and making sure the women who work there are safe. That big, new partnership with Maybelline would be a nice place to start to ask questions about how that organization will response about its partner bringing back another man accused of wrongdoing against women.

WWE should not bring back Vince McMahon in any fashion. Unfortunately, this is not an organization that can be trusted to do the right thing in these situations. If McMahon is shown, even as a part of John Cena’s retirement, expect the outrage to be loud and perhaps pointed toward the sponsors and partners, potentially having a stronger impact than the response to Brock Lesnar’s return.