History Wrestling / JohnLaurinaitis

Laurinatis would end up terminated from the company in August 2022 following a massive sexual misconduct scandal that would also force Wrestling/VinceMcMahon to temporarily step down as CEO. Laurinatis has been de-facto retired from the industry since, only returning to attention after being named as a perpetrator by [[https://www.wsj.com/business/vince-mcmahon-accused-of-sex-trafficking-by-wwe-staffer-he-paid-to-keep-quiet-0b19b21c?mod=hp_lead_pos2 Janel Grant]] in a lawsuit in January 2024.

Laurinatis would end up terminated from the company in August 2022 following a massive sexual misconduct scandal that would also force Wrestling/VinceMcMahon to temporarily step down as CEO.

** His desire to see magazine models in professional wrestling rings is well known, with most of his finds not having what it takes to ever make it to television. His most successful cases he found in from same fashion publication. Neither one showed any interest in the developmental contracts offered to them at first but the magazine told them it would be a good idea. Wrestling/KellyKelly was pushed hardest by the WWE machine, while Wrestling/AliciaFox is the most liked from critical standpoint([[NormalFishInATinyPond she at least learned her fundamentals]]) as well longevity in the business(likely because of said fundamentals). Regardless this recruitment process is usually what grumblings about models being hired are referring to, not [[Wrestling/TrishStratus Trish]] or [[Wrestling/LisaMarieVaron Victoria]].

Laurinatis would end up terminated from the company in August 2022 following a massive sexual misconduct scandal that would also force Wrestling/VinceMcMahon to step down as CEO and retire from the industry.

Nowadays Laurinatis seems content to just enjoy his retirement, though he still makes the sporadic appearance. He is currently married to Kathy Colace, the mother of WWE's [[Wrestling/TheBellaTwins Bella Twins]].

** TheDogBitesBack: Otunga, Laurinaitis' thoroughly loyal [[TheDragon Dragon]][=/=][[TheEvilGenius Evil Genius]], made at least some effort as his tag team partner, taking most of the heat of the match due to the latter refusing to tag, supposedly due to his injuries. Laurinaitis finally tags in only when Cena is supposedly incapacitated, revealing his injuries are ''[[WoundedGazelleGambit completely fake]]'', leading a disgusted Otunga to walk out and leave him to face the match alone just as he made him.

** His fiancee's daughters are the Wrestling/BellaTwins, which also means that he's the father-in-law of two of the most popular wrestlers of all time with the two separate factions of the fandom: casual fans (Wrestling/JohnCena, engaged and soon-to-be-married to Nikki Bella) and smarks (Wrestling/DanielBryan, married to Brie Bella).

* HumiliationConga: Starting on the June 11th ''Wrestling/WWERaw'', where Wrestling/VinceMcMahon pretty much openly mocks him all night, along with Wrestling/{{Sheamus}}. It continues on ''[=SmackDown=]'', where John Cena knocked him out on his ass. It ultimately culminates at ''Wrestling/{{No Way Out|Wrestling}}'', where Wrestling/BrodusClay holds him while Wrestling/JohnCena escapes the cage and seals Laurinaitis' fate. He's then promptly fired and put through the announce table by Wrestling/JohnCena. Finally, on the next ''Raw'', he gets mocked by Wrestling/MickFoley, and has Wrestling/TheBigShow and Wrestling/DavidOtunga walk out on him since [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he's no longer the boss and thus no longer useful to them]], leaving him to Wrestling/JohnCena, who, at the request of the fans, gives him ''three'' Attitude Adjustments and makes him tap out to the STF. Oh, and his favorite [[KickTheDog dog to kick]] Theodore Long watches this from ringside clapping and cheering.

** PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny: "[[BlatantLies People Power]]" - which includes things like shoving your authority down everyone's throat, confiscating signs saying things you don't like, a PropagandaMachine insisting you're as popular as you're actually hated, constantly engaging in [[KickTheDog both injury and insult]], and overall reveling in humiliating employees and competitors for the [[DisproportionateRetribution slightest provocations]] or merely for being threats to your power - often either enslaving them in everything but name, [[DealWithTheDevil turning them]] into your cronies, or simply making their lives as miserable as you can.

* NotSoDifferent: A legitimately creative and talented wrestler saddled with stupid gimmicks and pushed well beyond his ability in spite of audible audience disapproval due to executive favoritism. Are we talking about Johnny Ace... or John Cena?

** Equally well known is his preference for badly worked but [[FanService titillation heavy]] matches, which is why Wrestling/GailKim had so many with Wrestling/DawnMarie off camera that had [[OutOfCharacterMoment nothing to do]] with what Kim did on camera.

* FanNickname: "John Laryngitis," in reference to his raspy, "dying man" voice.

* '''JerkAss'''

** Equally well known is his preference for badly worked but [[FanService titillation heavy]] matches, which is why Wrestling/GailKim had so many with Wrestling/DawnMarie off camera that had [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment nothing to do]] with what Kim did on camera.
** Less known is his love for [[AmazonianBeauty giant shredded black women]], which is why Linda Miles and Trenesha Biggers hung around so long despite not being good in the ring, and why Miles got the {{dominatrix}} gimmick [[BadassDecay that sunk the careers]] of the Basham Brothers([[FakeBoobs as well as the breast implants]] angle with the [[Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield Bradshaw]]). It's also why Lenda Murray was considered for developmental (precedent lead to fans [[ShootTheMessenger rejecting her on principle]]).

** He looked up Wrestling/KellyKelly and Wrestling/AliciaFox after seeing pictures of them in a fashion magazine and offered them developmental contracts. Neither one showed any interest at first but the magazine told them it would be a good idea. When you hear complaints about models getting hired, ''this'' is probably what is being referred to, not [[Wrestling/TrishStratus Trish]] or [[Wrestling/LisaMarieVaron Victoria]].
** He also liked to hire wrestlers seeking to go to, or other heavily interested in the wrestling scene of Japan (Wrestling/MontelVontaviousPorter).

Laurinatis is hard to separate from his off-screen decisions, since he regularly took the heat for WWE debacles. Between stuff like torpedoing the planned 2005 Cruiserweight reboot and replacing them with dwarves, to combing through swimsuit catalogs to find Divas, Johnny Ace sounds like he was doing everything possible to water the product down. It took over 10 years to get any sort of development system up and running thanks to him. In actuality, he tried bringing in legitimate talent. He's always been a big proponent of Japanese wrestlers who've made it in the U.S. (Wrestling/KennyOmega credits Laurinaitus for sticking up for him), and Wrestling/LanceStorm owed his brief-but-tremendous run in WCW (when he became the top {{heel}} and held three championships at once) to Laurinaitus. Russo didn't understand the appeal of a Canadian who wrestled, but Laurinaitis stuck to his guns and even told Lance off for giving his opponents too much offense. Years later, {{Wrestling/Ryback}} told a story about how, when Laurinaitus tried to fire him in 2011, the latter went out of his way to give Ryback contacts from his Japan days. There's a story floating around about him showing Wrestling/VinceMcMahon a tape of a Japanese wrestler who was really good. Vince had no interest, told him to look elsewhere, and... well, Big Johnny did. Also, they were big into hiring fitness models, which is where {{Wrestling/Trish|Stratus}} and {{Wrestling/Charlotte}} started. They had the bonus of being athletic. But afterwards...Seeing as how Vince signed off on all of those swimsuit models, it's hard to say that Johnny Ace was wrong in doing so.

He wrestled mainly in Japan before his retirement, then became the head booker for Wrestling/{{WCW}}, replacing the outgoing Wrestling/VinceRusso. This job proved less-than-secure in 2001, so he jumped ship to WWE: first as a road agent, then as the now-infamous head of Talent Relations until 2012 (see below). He also briefly served as on-screen "General Manager" of both ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]'' and ''[[Wrestling/WWESmackDown SmackDown]]''.

Laurinatis is hard to separate from his off-screen decisions, since he regularly took the heat for WWE debacles. Between stuff like torpedoing the planned 2005 Cruiserweight reboot and replacing them with dwarves, or combing through swimsuit catalogs to find Divas, Johnny Ace sounds like he was doing everything possible to water the product down. It took over 10 years to get any sort of development system up and running thanks to him. In actuality, he tried bringing in legitimate talent. He's always been a big proponent of Japanese wrestlers who've made it in the U.S. (Wrestling/KennyOmega credits Laurinaitus for sticking up for him), and Wrestling/LanceStorm owed his brief-but-tremendous run in WCW (when he became the top {{heel}} and held three championships at once) to Laurinaitus. Russo didn't understand the appeal of a Canadian who wrestled, but Laurinaitis stuck to his guns and even told Lance off for giving his opponents too much offense. Years later, {{Wrestling/Ryback}} told a story about how, when Laurinaitus tried to fire him in 2011, the latter went out of his way to give Ryback contacts from his Japan days. There's a story floating around about him showing Wrestling/VinceMcMahon a tape of a Japanese wrestler who was really good. Vince had no interest, told him to look elsewhere, and... well, Big Johnny did. Also, they were big into hiring fitness models, which is where {{Wrestling/Trish|Stratus}} and {{Wrestling/Charlotte}} started. They had the bonus of being athletic. But afterwards...Seeing as how Vince signed off on all of those swimsuit models, it's hard to say that Johnny Ace was wrong in doing so.

Laurinatis is hard to separate from his off-screen decisions, since he regularly took the heat for WWE debacles. Between stuff like torpedoing the planned 2005 Cruiserweight reboot and replacing them with dwarves, or combing through swimsuit catalogs to find Divas, Johnny Ace sounds like he was doing everything possible to water the product down. It took over 10 years to get any sort of development system up and running thanks to him. In actuality, he tried bringing in legitimate talent. He's always been a big proponent of Japanese wrestlers who've made it in the U.S. (Wrestling/KennyOmega credits Laurinaitus for sticking up for him), and Wrestling/LanceStorm owed his brief-but-tremendous run in WCW (when he became the top {{heel}} and held three championships at once) to Laurinaitus. Wrestling/VinceRusso didn't understand the appeal of a Canadian who wrestled, but Laurinaitis stuck to his guns and even told Lance off for giving his opponents too much offense. Years later, {{Wrestling/Ryback}} told a story about how, when Laurinaitus tried to fire him in 2011, the latter went out of his way to give Ryback contacts from his Japan days. There's a story floating around about him showing Wrestling/VinceMcMahon a tape of a Japanese wrestler who was really good. Vince had no interest, told him to look elsewhere, and... well, Big Johnny did. Also, they were big into hiring fitness models, which is where {{Wrestling/Trish|Stratus}} and {{Wrestling/Charlotte}} started. They had the bonus of being athletic. But afterwards...Seeing as how Vince signed off on all of those swimsuit models, it's hard to say that Johnny Ace was wrong in doing so.

Laurinatis is hard to separate from his off-screen decisions, since he regularly took the heat for WWE debacles. Between stuff like torpedoing the planned 2005 Cruiserweight reboot and replacing them with dwarves, or combing through swimsuit catalogs to find Divas, Johnny Ace sounds like he was doing everything possible to water the product down. It took over 10 years to get any sort of development system up and running thanks to him. In actuality, he tried bringing in legitimate talent. He's always been a big proponent of Japanese wrestlers who've made it in the U.S. (Wrestling/KennyOmega credits Laurinaitus for sticking up for him), and Wrestling/LanceStorm owed his brief-but-tremendous run in WCW (when he became the top {{heel}} and held three championships at once) to Laurinaitus. Wrestling/VinceRusso didn't understand the appeal of a Canadian who wrestled, but Laurinaitis stuck to his guns and even told Lance off for giving his opponents too much offense. Years later, there's a story floating around about him showing Wrestling/VinceMcMahon a tape of a Japanese wrestler who was really good. Vince had no interest, told him to look elsewhere, and... well, Big Johnny did. Also, they were big into hiring fitness models, which is where {{Wrestling/Trish|Stratus}} and {{Wrestling/Charlotte}} started. They had the bonus of being athletic. But afterwards...Seeing as how Vince signed off on all of those swimsuit models, it's hard to say that Johnny Ace was wrong in doing so.

He wrestled mainly in Japan before his retirement, then became the head booker for Wrestling/{{WCW}}, replacing the outgoing Wrestling/VinceRusso. This job proved less-than-secure in 2001, so he jumped ship to WWE: first as an road agent, then as the now-infamous head of Talent Relations until 2012 (see below). He also briefly served as on-screen "General Manager" of both ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]'' and ''[[Wrestling/WWESmackDown SmackDown]]''.