John Laurinaitis has been one of the most influential people in the professional wrestling industry for the best part of two decades. While WWE fans will know him as the 'People Power' on-screen general manager, that was just one of the roles he fulfilled in WWE. Laurinaitis has worked almost every job in wrestling from road agent all the way to head of talent relations.
John and his brothers, Marcus (Terminator) and Joe (Road Warrior Animal) all got into the wrestling game with varying degrees of success, and after a brief stint in the NWA Johnny Ace, the name he wrestled under, went to Japan where he carved out a fantastic career, teaming with Dr Death Steve Williams, Bart Gunn as well as Japanese icon Kenta Kobashi, earning a Meltzer 5-star rating on two separate occasions, as well as a Wrestling Observer match of the year.
He is also credited with inventing the Ace Cutter, now universally known as the RKO. His return to America with WCW never reached the same heights, his only real run being part of the Dynamic Dudes tag team with Shane Douglas before being moved onto the WCW creative team.
When WWE bought WCW Johnny Ace was transitioned onto the WWE creative team, and the rest, as they say, is history. However, as influential to wrestling as John Laurinaitis has been, the last 20 years have been just as controversial for him, with multiple complaints and accusations levied against him. Here are 10 of those backstage stories that make Johnny Ace look bad.
10 The Vince McMahon Investigation
As the investigation into former WWE CEO Vince McMahons affairs and payoffs is still ongoing, the facts of the case are not fully in the public domain yet, but from what little the Wall Street Journal has released it pertains to multiple affairs with women and payments to buy their silence.
As stated, the investigation is still ongoing, although Laurinaitis was the only person other than Vince to be named, and was quietly released in August 2022 only fueling speculation of his involvement in the whole affair.
9 Finlay And Hornswoggle
Dave 'Fit' Finlay is one of the best and most respected mat wrestlers of the 90s, making a name for himself in Europe before starting with WCW. After an injury to his leg after a table spot, Finley retired, joining the backstage team until WWE purchased WCW, where Finlay would go to work for them. In 2006 Fit made an in-ring return and enjoyed arguably his best ever run alongside Hornswoggle.
This was not meant to happen as Hornswoggle was initially put with Finlay to try to derail Finlay's push by Laurinaitis, who had an issue with Finlay. Thankfully both Finlay and Hornswoggle were good enough and committed enough to get the pairing over and are still remembered fondly by fans still.
8 Head Of Talent Relations
John took over the job as head of talent relations from Jim Ross in 2004 which made letting talent know their services were no longer required when they were future endeavored. While he himself isn't the final word on who stays or goes, his job was to deliver the news.
This has led to several controversial firings, most recently Oney Lorcan, whose name on his release was misspelled. WWE received so many complaints that John was forced to ring all the released stars personally to apologize.
7 The Wrong Austin
In his role as head of talent relations, another of his duties is hiring new talent, be they established stars or young talent coming in as enhancement talent as well as for tryouts. It was for a tryout John invited Adam Cole to come to WWE, however when Cole received his travel documents the name was wrong.
As it transpired Cole, whose real name is Austin, was mixed up with another wrestler with the 1st name Austin, Xavier Woods. Laurinaitis apologized and got Cole a job as an extra in a CM Punk Straight Edge Society vignette, but it took several more years for Cole to get back on WWE programming.
6 The Wrong One Legged Wrestler
Zach Gowen is a one legged wrestler, and in 2003 was working for TNA when he came up on the WWE's radar, with Vince wanted to run a program with this talented young athlete with an obvious selling point. Laurinaitis was tasked with signing him to a contract so WWE could start the story.
However when it came time for him to start, the wrong one legged wrestler had been given a contract instead of young Gowan, forcing WWE to shelve their plans until they got the right man.
5 AJ Lee Was 'Too Ugly'
AJ Lee played a huge part in launching the women's revolution, both her wrestling style and her connection with the fans changing the way women's wrestling was viewed.
In her book, while not mentioning him by name, only his job title, AJ wrote how early in her career how she was approached by a backstage official saying she was too ugly to succeed, as men wouldn't want to see her. It's fair to say AJ Lee went on to have the last laugh, by drawing and outperforming the army of swimsuit models recruited by Laurinaitis.
4 Swimsuit Catalogue Models
When it came to the Divas, Johnny Ace didn't care how talented a girl was, but what they looked like in a bikini. Names like Alicia Fox, Kelly Kelly, and his future daughter in laws, The Bella Twins, were all recruited from swimwear and lingerie cataloges with zero wrestling experience.
Many argue that this derailed the women's division after the success of Lita, Trish Stratus, Victoria and Molly Holly had elevated the women into a competitive scene capable of main eventing Monday Night Raw.
3 Interfering With Developmental Booking
One of Johnny Ace's duties in his head of talent relations roles was to interact with the people who ran the developmental system. Regular listeners to Jim Cornette's podcasts will have heard several tales of the complete disregard that John had for the way they ran things.
There are multiple stories of wrestlers getting called up with no notice, often days before they were due to pay off an angle, or models with no training being sent down and told they must be on the show that was already booked. The interference was so regular it caused Cornette to quit.
2 Lesnar's Shooting Star Press
Brock Lesnar is a freak athlete, capable of agility that defies his build. While in developmental Brock would often show off his agility by performing the shooting star onto the crash dummy, but only once using it on an OVW show. Paul Heyman quickly interjected telling him never to do it again, because it simply wasn't needed to get over and would result in long-term wear and tear. Lesnar heeded that advice for almost all of his career.
In the WrestleMania 19 main event against Kurt Angle, Johnny Ace convinced Brock to pull this move out, which almost ended his career, as he landed wrong, dropping hard on his head.
1 Cowboy Bob Orton
During his run as the Legend Killer, Randy Orton engaged in a brutal, bloody, and career making rivalry with The Undertaker. Starting at WrestleMania 21, Randy, seconded by his father, the legendary Cowboy Bob Orton, feuded with Taker for most of the year, having four PPV matches, with each one exceeding expectations, culminating in a Hell In A Cell match at the 2005 Armageddon PPV.
During the match, Cowboy got busted open in a prearranged spot. Despite knowing that Bob Orton was suffering from hepatitis, Laurinaitis signed off on the blood spot in the match without informing The Undertaker of the condition.