George Barrios Comments on Returning to WWE Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Vince McMahon, If He Read Janel Grant’s Lawsuit

POST Wrestling’s John Pollock recently sat down with former WWE Co-President George Barrios, who was discussing his new book release, Sometimes Wrong but Never in Doubt: How a Cuban Kid from Queens Transformed WWE. During the conversation, Barrios discussed returning to the WWE Board of Directors in early 2023. This occurred after former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon initially resigned from WWE in July 2022, following a report from The Wall Street Journal documenting claims of sexual misconduct against McMahon.

The allegations of sexual misconduct and trafficking by McMahon would later emerge from former WWE employee, Janel Grant, who filed a lawsuit against McMahon and WWE in January 2024. During the conversation with Pollock, Barrios revealed what he knew about the allegations and his initial conversation with McMahon in bring him and Wilson back to the Board of Directors. Below are some highlights:

George Barrios on What He Knew About Janel Grant’s Allegations

“I’ll be honest, I knew about it. I wasn’t spending my time pouring over things because everything that was being alleged either happened long before we got there, and I think there was one that happened after. My recollection was it wasn’t anything while we were there that anybody was alleging, so I wasn’t paying that much attention. And a lot of the stuff, as you know John, had already been out there, so it wasn’t new. There was some elements of non-disclosure stuff and payments, things like that, but some of the stuff, like the fact that he had an affair, was not new.”

George Barrios on His Conversation With McMahon About His Return to the WWE Board

“So, in any event, when he does call me and says, ‘Hey, look, I want to do one other big thing. I need the A-team. The current folks are great, but they’re not up to something that big. Would you and Michelle come back?” This part I’ll keep private. We did have a conversation about it. Number one, I was with the guy for 12 years, and I saw the character he displayed around me. That’s what I have to go on. When he said what he said to me on that call, the combination of my experience with him and what I saw and what I knew, I said, ‘Yeah, I’m comfortable.'”

On If He Read Grant’s Lawsuit

“I read a lot of stuff. I’m not a lawyer. I did talk to one. Part of me said, some of this stuff doesn’t seem to make sense. Explain it to me, even the chronology and so on. Ultimately, did I read it? Yes. Did I get comfortable with it? Yeah. I don’t want to comment on anyone’s particular perspective, but I got comfortable with it.”

On the Claims He Returned to WWE Because He Was a McMahon Loyalist

“No. I’m not a loyalist to anybody. In fact, I’m somewhat of a disagreeable person. I do what I think is right, and if somebody doesn’t like it, I’m very comfortable if somebody doesn’t like the decisions I make. For better or worse, that’s the way I’m built. I always say Vince and I had an amazing business relationship. It was like high-performing teammates. We weren’t buddies. We weren’t chit-chatting, and part of it is, I think, there was a modicum of respect. I wasn’t in there trying to kiss his ass. He had been surrounded by that for a long time. That’s not me, for better or for worse. A loyalist? No. I’m loyal, but I’m not a loyalist. I don’t do shit because somebody said, ‘Hey, I need you to do this, come in.’ That’s not me. I do it because I think it’s the right thing to do.”

According to George Barrios, McMahon did not reach out to him regarding ways to sell WWE, but to look for the best plan of action for the business. Barrios also speculated that McMahon’s misconduct allegations did not influence his decisions to sell the company to WME, but it was more due to McMahon’s age and desire to build a legacy.

As previously reported, the judge in Grant’s lawsuit motion to move the case to arbitration after Grant, McMahon, and WWE filed a joint motion to move the lawsuit into that legal dispute phase.