ESPN Addresses Brock Lesnar Working WWE Wrestlepalooza

Brock Lesnar is scheduled to work his first match since returning to WWE at Wrestlepalooza on Saturday, September 20 when he goes one-on-one with John Cena.

WWE bringing back Lesnar has received criticism due to Lesnar being named in Janel Grant's ongoing sex trafficking lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE. The former WWE Champion working Wrestlepalooza, though, seemingly had little to do with ESPN, with ESPN Programming and Acquisitions Lead Matt Kenny noting on a media call that WWE maintains creative control and they are simply the distributor of Wrestlepalooza in the United States.

"Our relationship with the WWE is such where they have creative control. I think it's important to provide some context there, we are distributors of the events. It's not all that dissimilar to the other rights holder relationships we have, where we have relationships with the league. Obviously, a glove, stick, and ball league is a little bit different than the combat sports world, as we could all appreciate," Kenny said.

"But in regard to our relationship with the WWE, they retain creative control, which, by the way, we're fine with, because they have built an incredible business for a long period of time. For as much as I playfully talked about my WWE fandom at the top of the call, I don't need to be opining on what a script should be to WWE. We're excited about what they do, how they do it, and can't wait for Saturday."

WWE Wrestlepalooza will air on ESPN Unlimited in the United States, while the show will air on Netflix internationally. Wrestlepalooza will be the first WWE pay-per-view on ESPN Unlimited since the two parties agreed to a multi-year deal.

H/T Fightful