History YMMV / JohnLaurinaitis

** He was also name-dropped by Wrestling/CMPunk in his now-infamous "Pipebomb" WorkedShoot promo as one of Vince's "[[YesMan gladhanding, nonsensical, douchebag yes men]]" (possibly setting up the two's ongoing feud during his tenure nearly four months before it started), and he was the man Vince [=McMahon=] sent to ring the bell during Punk's match with John Cena at ''Money in the Bank 2011'' to hand the victory to Cena and essencially recreate the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob yet again, only for Cena to ([[RunningGag you guessed it]]) punch him in the face.

* HarsherInHindsight: John Laurinaitis's onscreen character was essentially a {{Jerkass}}, MeanBoss, and (somewhat) InvincibleVillain who [[KarmaHoudini rarely got his comeuppance]] and [[KickTheDog did quite a lot of mean and detestable things]]. Based on this, one could argue that Laurinaitis and his reign of terror were an ominous precursor to Wrestling/TheAuthority.

* HarsherInHindsight: John Laurinaitis's onscreen character was essentially a {{Jerkass}}, BadBoss, and (somewhat) InvincibleVillain who [[KarmaHoudini rarely got his comeuppance]] and [[KickTheDog did quite a lot of mean and detestable things]]. Based on this, one could argue that Laurinaitis and his reign of terror were an ominous precursor to Wrestling/TheAuthority.

* [[{{MisBlamed}} Mis-Blamed]]: As an office worker, he became a yes-man and was credited with decimating pro wrestling for a decade by focusing almost entirely on bodybuilders and models; Women's Wrestling in WWE was actually pretty legit until Johnny Ace became VP of talent relations.

** As mentioned below, Laurinaitis was also this in WWE, this time due to him being one of Vince's [[YesMan yesmen]]. Despite him lacking the ability to be an onscreen performer (with [[DullSurprise poor acting and mic skills]]) and his character being not only generic and dull, but also an extremely irritating and poor Mr. [=McMahon=] wannabe overall, he got pushed to the moon as a top heel in WWE. It reached an all time high when he was the GM of both RAW and Smackdown and became a borderline VillainProtagonist. It even got as far as Laurinaitis main eventing a PPV against John Cena, [[TheHero the top face and star]] of the company, which he wound up '''''WINNING.''''' And he escaped justice so often that it seemed like he would never go away and would be around hogging the spotlight for a long time. Thankfully he didn't, and was fired at ''Wrestling/{{No Way Out|Wrestling}}''. However, on the following Raw, Laurinatis was still rewarded with bloated screentime and got to main event the show before (finally) leaving television. Somebody upstairs didn't like Laurinatis, but equally, WWE creative couldn't resist trolling both him and the audience one more time. Needless to say the fanbase did not mourn his departure.

%%* HarsherInHindsight: Given what miserable bitter jerks Shane Douglas and Johnny Ace became, The Dynamic Dudes became this.

** As mentioned below, Laurinaitis was also this in WWE, this time due to him being one of Vince's [[YesMan yesmen]]. Despite him lacking the ability to be an onscreen performer (with [[DullSurprise poor acting and mic skills]]) and his character being not only generic and dull, but also an extremely irritating and poor Mr. [=McMahon=] wannabe overall, he got pushed to the moon as a top heel in WWE. It reached an all time high when he was the GM of both RAW and Smackdown and became a borderline VillainProtagonist. It even got as far as Laurinaitis main eventing a PPV against John Cena, [[TheHero the top face and star]] of the company, which he wound up '''''WINNING.''''' And he escaped justice so often that it seemed like he would never go away and would be around hogging the spotlight for a long time. Thankfully he didn't, and was fired ''Wrestling/{{No Way Out|Wrestling}}''. However on the following RAW Laurinaitis was still rewarded with bloated screentime and got to main event the show before (finally) leaving television. Somebody upstairs didn't like Laurinaitis, but equally, WWE creative couldn't resist trolling both him and the audience one more time. Needless to say the fanbase did not mourn his departure.

* HarsherInHindsight: Given what miserable bitter jerks Shane Douglas and Johnny Ace became, The Dynamic Dudes rise from mere SnarkBait to this.

* {{Misblaimed}}: As an office worker, he became a yes-man and was credited with decimating pro wrestling for a decade by focusing almost entirely on bodybuilders and models; Women's Wrestling in WWE was actually pretty legit until Johnny Ace became VP of talent relations.

* MisBlaimed: As an office worker, he became a yes-man and was credited with decimating pro wrestling for a decade by focusing almost entirely on bodybuilders and models; Women's Wrestling in WWE was actually pretty legit until Johnny Ace became VP of talent relations.

* ReplacementScrappy: The IWC hype for Laurinaitis being an authority figure ''and'' an active wrestler due to having had a career in Japan in TheNineties proved to be a white elephant, as he just was your typical bigmouth authority figure, even in his main event match against Wrestling/JohnCena. In comparison, [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon Vince]] and even his son [[Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon Shane]] -- despite never being full-time wrestlers and not even needing to wrestle at all -- put on much better matches than Laurinaitis did. Meaning that Laurinaitis is just simply a god awful performer overall.

** When John Cena threw Edge into the Long Island Sound in 2006, Laurinaitis's distinctive voice was clearly heard trying to stop Cena, before appearing on camera only for Cena to punch him in the face. (Kinda hilarious considering his later feud with Cena.)

* RetroactiveRecognition: Careful examination from the segment from several years back where Wrestling/RandyOrton punted Wrestling/VinceMcMahon will reveal it as John Laurinaitis' first appearance on WWE programming.
** He was also name-dropped by Wrestling/CMPunk in his now-infamous "Pipebomb" WorkedShoot promo as one of Vince's "[[YesMan gladhanding, nonsensical, douchebag yes men]]" - possibly setting up the two's ongoing feud during his tenure nearly four months before it started.
** When John Cena threw Edge into the Long Island Sound in 2006, Laurinaitis was clearly heard trying to stop Cena, with Cena punching him in the face. (If WWE looked this far back, they'd have been able to use this as an excuse for him to feud with Cena in the first place.)
** Even earlier than that, he was seen when after Kane had lost his mask and went berserk on everyone. When Kane at one point tombstoned Linda [=McMahon=] on the stage, and he was one of the people trying to stop him.

* ReplacementScrappy: The IWC hype for Laurinaitis proved to be a white elephant, as he just was your typical bigmouth authority figure, even in his main event match against Wrestling/JohnCena. In comparison, [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon Vince]] and even his son [[Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon Shane]] -- despite never being full-time wrestlers and not even needing to wrestle at all -- put on much better matches than Laurinaitis did. Meaning that Laurinaitis is just simply a god awful performer overall.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: His feuds with Wrestling/JohnCena are this, with John being [[Wrestling/TheBellaTwins Nikki Bella]]'s boyfriend (and future husband) and Nikki being the daughter of Johnny Ace's fiancee.
* HilariousInHindsight: He wrestled against "Mean" Mark Callous who was being managed by Theodore Long, in 1990 with WCW, in a match announced by Wrestling/JimRoss. "Mean Mark" is now [[Wrestling/TheUndertaker the legendary Undertaker]], John is a WWE authority figure and Teddy is his archnemesis. JR changed his gimmick and is now an announcing legend.

* ReplacementScrappy: [[HypeBacklash The IWC hype for Laurinaitis proved to be a white elephant]], as he just was your typical bigmouth authority figure, even in his main event match against Wrestling/JohnCena. In comparison, [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon Vince]] and even his son [[Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon Shane]] -- despite never being full-time wrestlers and not even needing to wrestle at all -- put on much better matches than Laurinaitis did. Meaning that Laurinaitis is just simply a god awful performer overall.
* RetroactiveRecognition[=/=]EarlyBirdCameo: Careful examination from the segment from several years back where Wrestling/RandyOrton punted Wrestling/VinceMcMahon will reveal it as John Laurinaitis' first appearance on WWE programming.