John Laurinaitis: Difference between revisions

John Joseph Laurinaitis (born July 31, 1965)^[1] is the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations for WWE and appears on WWE's Raw Brand as interim General Manager. He was previously a professional wrestler under the ring name Johnny Ace, and wrestled for such promotions as the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). He is credited as the inventor of the "Cutter" maneuver, dubbed by Laurinaitis as the "Ace Crusher".^[1] He is also the younger brother of Joe Laurinaitis (Road Warrior Animal; one half of the wrestling tag team The Road Warriors), and the uncle of James Laurinaitis, former Ohio State standout and currently a linebacker for the St. Louis Rams.^[2] Prior to joining WWE, Laurinaitis worked as an executive for World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

John Laurinaitis started wrestling in 1986 as Johnny Ace.^[1] At first, while wrestling in Florida Championship Wrestling Ace frequently teamed with his brother The Terminator. Later, when he wrestled for NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions he formed a tag team with Shane Douglas called "The Dynamic Dudes".^[3] They were managed by Jim Cornette until Cornette turned on them for Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane's version of The Midnight Express. Prior to entering the competition as one of The Dynamic Dudes at the NWA, he already appeared as a valet (a flagbearer) for the team of The Sheepherders.

As All Japan Pro Wrestling was cutting its ties with the NWA in 1990, Laurinaitis chose to stay in it, thus becoming a permanent foreign fixture on the roster. In AJPW, he found a lot of success, teaming with Dan Spivey, Kenta Kobashi, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Mike Barton.

Laurinaitis retired from the ring in 2000 after the split between All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah. He soon joined World Championship Wrestling where he replaced Vince Russo as head booker.

He became a road agent in the World Wrestling Federation after the sale of WCW to the WWF in 2001. In 2004, Laurinaitis was promoted to Vice President of Talent Relations for WWE; in 2007, he became Senior Vice President of Talent Relations. In 2009, he was again promoted to Executive Vice President of Talent Relations.^[4]

While generally behind the scenes, on June 27, 2011, Laurinaitis was mentioned on WWE programming, during a worked shoot on an episode of Monday Night Raw by CM Punk who called him a "glad-handing, nonsensical, douchebag, yes man" who would "tell (Vince McMahon) anything he wants to hear".^[5] Laurinaitis would subsequently make an appearance at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view as a corporate stooge the following month on July 17 with McMahon as part of a "contract renegotiation" angle. During the WWE Championship match, under McMahon's orders, Laurinaitis tried to duplicate the Montreal Screwjob, but defending WWE Champion John Cena then proceeded to knock Laurinaitis out, not wanting to win the match that way. McMahon then struck him personally after the show went off the air. The next night on Raw, Laurinaitis appeared alongside McMahon as McMahon announced an 8-man tournament to decide a new WWE Champion. On the August 1 episode of Raw, Laurinaitis would interrupt Triple H, telling him to strip Cena of his WWE Championship, which led to Cena to interrupt him and threaten to hit him again before Laurinaitis fled the ring. The following week on Raw, Laurinaitis would help Triple H officiate the contract signing between CM Punk and John Cena for their match at SummerSlam. After signing the contract, Cena would flip the table over and go face to face with Punk, but was stopped by Laurinaitis. As Laurinaitis talked to Cena, Punk would kick Laurinaitis in the back of the head, causing Cena to accidentally hit Triple H instead of Punk.

On the August 15 episode of Raw, Laurinaitis would ask Kevin Nash, who returned at SummerSlam after the WWE Championship match and attacked the winner, CM Punk, who would then lose the title to Alberto Del Rio after he cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase, for a private meeting in his office. On the September 5 episode of Raw, after Triple H fired Nash, Laurinaitis would enter Nash's limo with him, leaving the arena. At Night of Champions, Laurinaitis would try and help CM Punk win (with Punk not wanting the help), but was stopped by The Miz and R-Truth, who would attack both Triple H and CM Punk, believing the whole thing is one big conspiracy. Nash would also interfere in the match after Laurinaitis sent a text at ringside.

On the September 26 episode of Raw, Laurinaitis would advise David Otunga, a Harvard Law School graduate, to help the disgruntled wrestlers with his legal knowledge who are complaining to him about Triple H's decisions and actions as COO. On that week's edition of SmackDown, Laurinaitis and Otunga would sit down with Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger and Vickie Guerrero to discuss the matter.

On the October 10 episode of Raw, Laurinaitis was announced by Vince McMahon as the new Interim Raw General Manager, after a decision made by the Board of Directors. That same night, Laurinaitis fired Jim Ross and reinstated The Miz and R-Truth. The following week on Raw, Laurinaitis reinstates JR, and would publicly apologize to him because Laurinaitis made a mistake in firing JR, before putting him in a tag match teaming with John Cena against Alberto Del Rio and Michael Cole.

Laurinaitis' older brothers have both been involved in professional wrestling: Joseph, also known as Road Warrior Animal; and former wrestler Marcus, mainly known as one half of the tag team The Wrecking Crew (Terminator / Fury). Laurinaitis' nephew, James (Joseph's son) is a linebacker for the St. Louis Rams.

• Finishing and signature moves
  • Ace Crusher (Cutter, sometimes from the top rope) – Innovated^[1]
  • Ace Crusher II (Leg drop bulldog)^[1]
  • Johnny Spike (Spike DDT)

• Signature moves
  • Abdominal stretch
  • Big boot
  • Cobra clutch suplex

• Nicknames
  • "Mr. Future Endeavor"^[6]
  • "Funkman" (Bestowed upon by CM Punk)
  • "Johnny Ace"
  • "The Yes Man" (by CM Punk)

• Managers
  • Jim Cornette^[7]
  • Diamond Dallas Page^[8]

• Job titles
  • WCW Head Booker
  • WWE Vice President of Talent Relations
  • WWE Senior Vice President of Talent Relations
  • WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations
  • WWE Raw Interim General Manager

• All Japan Pro Wrestling

• AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Kenta Kobashi
• AJPW Unified World Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Kenta Kobashi (2), Mike Barton (1), and Steve Williams (1)
• January 2nd Korakuen Hall Heavyweight Battle Royal Winner (1991)^[9]

• Championship Wrestling from Florida

• FCW Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with The Terminator

• International Championship Wrestling Alliance

• ICWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Oregon Wrestling Federation

• OWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Other titles

• PWF Florida Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with The Terminator

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him # 77 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 1997 ^[10]
• PWI ranked him # 203 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003^[11]

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • 5 Star Match (1995) with Steve Williams vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi on March 4
  • 5 Star Match (1996) with Steve Williams vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Jun Akiyama on June 7
  • Match of the Year (1996) with Steve Williams vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Jun Akiyama on June 7

• Mick Foley (2000). Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks. HarperCollins. p. 511. ISBN 0061031011.

• WWE Superstar Profile
• WWE Corporate Profile
• CageMatch Profile
  • John Laurinaitis at IMDb

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