John Joseph Laurinaitis, a former wrestler under the name Johnny Ace. He wrestled mainly in Japan, before his retirement, then became head booker for WCW, before coming to WWE, first as an road agent, then became the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations for WWE until 2012, and was GM of both Raw and Smackdown. He is a former 4x All Japan Pro Wrestling World Tag Team Champion, holding the belts once with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, twice with Kenta Kobashi and once with Mike Barton (formerly WWE's Bart Gunn), and a 2x All Japan Pro Wrestling All Asia Tag Team Champion, holding the belts both times with Kobashi.
Tropes associated with Mr. Excitement, John Laurinaitis includes:
Spent years in the background in WWE, until 2011 when CM Punk cut a promo where Laurinaitis was included. The he became the Raw and Smackdown GM. That is until he was "fired" by Vince McMahon.
Author Appeal: He looked up Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox 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 Trish or Victoria.
Heck, EVERYONE that wanted change except the Heels probably feel this way.
Even some of the heels, since after Laurinaitis reached power, a lot of them were no longer given the backup he promised as they helped him up the ladder. The Miz in particular was told he was only good as a personal suck up and that he was on his own when he asked for something to be done about R-Truth.
Big Bad Wannabe: He's a blatant wannabe of Vince McMahon and is being pushed as a top heel on both RAW and Smackdown. He comes up short however since Vince is the head of the company and the Big Bad and Evil Overlord of WWE, Laurinaitis is just a manager whose no different than other heel GMs who were "Mr. McMahonwannabes" in the past (he isn't even the only one to have run two shows at the same time). And just like past GMs his job is constantly threatened when he goes to far, with him barely managing to keep it on more than on occasion. Given the track record of past heel GMs, he'll probably be fired and replaced by another eventually.
After Over the Limit, he's even less intimidating, either hobbling around on crutches or zipping around on his Old Man Potter wheelchair.
Blatant Lies: He claims that his reason for his Jerk Ass decisions are because "That's what the people want", even going as far as calling his era "People Power" when his decisions are clearly for his sadistic pleasure.
Butt Monkey: Both on-screen and off. On-screen he is a butt of many jokes from Cena and especially CM Punk. Off-screen he is hated by many wrestlers who feel they were unfairly treated by him and by proponents of stronger women's wrestling.
Evil Is Petty: This is a guy who publically humiliated an employee and forced him to beg for his job on national television only to fire the man anyway simply because said employee mocked his voice.
Five-Bad Band: Seemed to lead an informal one when running WWE TV under "People Power", although the actual number of members could be disputed.
The Brute: Definitely Tensai, and possibly the pair of Tyler Reksand Curt Hawkins, who were seen working security or 'muscle' jobs for Laurinaitis in recent months.
He very briefly shows this ability in his match against Cena, and lays a few good moves. Otherwise however it was a one sided comedic beatdown which would have even embarrassed Vince.
Fun with Acronyms: His trio with Kenta Kobashi and the Patriot (Del Wilkes) in Japan: GET, which stood for Global Energetic Tough.
He's Back: He returned on the March 29th edition of Smackdown. But doing so in the middle of "Story time with The Rock probably wasn't one of his better ideas however, since it ended in a Rock Bottom and People's Elbow.
Hidden Depths: Apparently is a very creative agent (person who plans matches with wrestlers). You won't hear that from scores of wrestlers who don't like him though.
He challenged John Cena to a match at Over The Limit, clearly intending to fix the match in some way shape or form. Too bad that right as he was about to get into the specifics, the board of directors imposed very specific conditions of their own that cut him off at the pass. Oh, and if he lost, he'd be fired.
Humiliation Conga: Starting on the June 11th Raw, where Vince McMahon pretty much openly mocks him all night, along with Sheamus. It continues on SmackDown, where John Cena knocked him out on his ass. It ultimately culminates at No Way Out, where Brodus Clay holds him while John Cena escapes the cage and seals Laurinaitis' fate. He's then promptly fired and put through the announce table by John Cena. Finally, on the next RAW, he gets mocked by Mick Foley, and has The Big Show and David Otunga walk out on him since he's no longer the boss and thus no longer useful to them, leaving him to John Cena, who, at the request of the fans, gives him three Attitude Adjustments and makes him tap out to the STF. Oh, and his favorite dog to kick Theodore Long watches this from ringside clapping and cheering.
The Bus Came Back: Returned on the March 29, 2013 SmackDown where he tried to convince The Rock to let him be in the Rock's corner for his match against Cena at WrestleMania. Rock promised that he wouldn't give Laurinaitis the Rock Bottom. They shook hands, followed by Rock hitting a Spinebuster and a People's Elbow.
Irony: He ended his Motive Rant to Mick Foley about how much he hated CM Punk and was planning on screwing Punk at the Royal Rumble...by blasting Foley in the head with the microphone, which is one of the distinctive things Punk has been known for doing.
Also, his firing of The Big Show - a Moral Event Horizon act that seemed almost certain to come back and bite him in this ass in the "swift karma" world of Professional Wrestling storylines - actually ended up working in his favor, because he was able to convince Show (by offering him a new contract) to turn on John Cena, which ended up saving his job.
Karma Houdini: Was in danger of losing his status as Interim General Manager before the 2012 Royal Rumble after publicly admitting that he intended to screw CM Punk out of the championship title, but he managed to convince the Board of Directors to give him another chance. Then he manages to take over both Raw and Smackdown and made Jerkass decisions as well as blackmailing Teddy Long. Then he decided to make Brock Lesnar, a brute who enjoys beating people up, the top face of the company, even giving in to Lesnar's outrageous demands. And after losing his top face, he lashes out on a already-injured John Cena. And despite all that, the Board of Directors still didn't take any action against him. Should be noted that, John Cena had been approached by the Board of Directors about Laurinaitis' attack on him and told them not to do anything to him until after their match at Over the Limit. Which they didn't. They just declared very specific rules for the match that cut off any possible attempts by Laurinaitis to fix the match and declared that if Cena beat him, Laurinaitis will be fired. Cena approved. Only for Laurinatis to win the match as a result of a Face Heel Turn by The Big Show and maintain his job as GM (albeit after a lengthy beatdown by Cena).
On the Raw before No Way Out 2012, Vince McMahon returns to do a evaluation on Laurinaitis. At the end of the night, Vince was about to fire him before the Big Show showed up. Vince then said that if Big Show loses at No Way Out, Laurinaitis will be fired. And with help with some friends, Show lost and Laurinatis was fired then and there Although, on the next Raw after No Way Out, he tries to get the last laugh on Cena by putting him in a three on one handicap match with himself, The Big Show, and David Otunga. This backfires when in the end both walk out on him, since he's no longer the boss and there's nothing to gain from helping him, leaving him to Cena's wrath who, in the spirit of "People Power" answers the crowd's request and gives him three well deserved Attitude Adjustments before making him tap out to the STF.
Kick the Dog: In his first night as Interim General Manager, he fired Jim Ross. After becoming GM of both Raw and Smackdown, he began bossing Teddy around in every Cool and Unusual manner possible.
Kicks the dog again on the 10/5/2011 episode of Raw by giving John Cena a Sadistic Choice of either giving his good friend Zack Ryder a US Title match or getting a World Title Match himself. When John decides to give Zack the match, Laurinaitis puts Ryder (already worn out from a match against Cena) up against Mark Henry to earn it.
And that was after he forced the two to fight to be the number one contender for their respective titles.
Later, in January, he hit Mick Foley in the head with a mic after he and Punk pushed him too far.
The next week he forces Zack Ryder into a falls count anywhere match with Kane.
On the 4/30/2012 episode of Raw, he, along with Lord Tensai and Sakamoto, gangs up on a already-injured John Cena and then starts aiming for Cena's already injured arm.
After making The Big Show beg and plead to not fire him, he turns around and fires him anyway. The smirk on his face as he fired Show, Show crying sadly...who could support Laurinaitis after that?
The Dog Bites Back: Otunga, Laurinaitis' thoroughly loyal Dragon/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 completely fake, leading a disgusted Otunga to walk out and leave him to face the match alone just as he made him.
Moral Event Horizon: Threatening to put Theodore Long's girlfriend in a match with Kane as part of a Sadistic Choice, which he fully intended to go through with! If not that, then he definitely crossed it by forcing Theodore Long to work for him or he'd cut off the college fund of Long's grandchildren.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: He was initially mocked by Triple H and John Cena as an ineffectual yes man to Vince McMahon that would never get a say in how the business works. Shortly afterwards he gradually used manipulation and background politics to claim the role of GM for both RAW and Smackdown.
Used subtly in the ring. His match with John Cena was a predictable beatdown with Cena humiliating and torturing Laurinaitis in every manner possible. However for a brief moment, he actually gets the upper hand legitimately, laying damage to Cena's arm and handing a few nasty chair shots. He might have been able to keep this up if he hadn't toyed with Cena long enough for him to get a Heroic Second Wind.
Once per Episode: He will introduce himself with his name and full title.
Power Stable: The Team Players in OVW, which included Mark Magnus (Muhammad Hassan), Inspector Max Impactnote WCW's Horshu/WWE's Luther Reigns, Brent Albright, Rob Conway, Nick Dinsmore, Matt Morgan and Chris Masters.
Put on a Bus: After Big Show lost at No Way Out which had his job on the line as a stipulation*
Cena's job was also on the line if he was the one to lose the match.
Running Gag: He was usually seen texting on his cell phone backstage.
Sadistic Choice: Forces John Cena to choose between giving his close friend Zack Ryder a well deserved chance to earn a US Title Shot or getting a World Title Shot himself at TLC.
(in Japan): The Movement, with Mike Barton (formerly WWE's Bart Gunn)
Tempting Fate: On the Smackdown before No Way Out 2012, John Laurinaitis lampshades his Karma Houdini and was confident that he would keep his job after No Way Out. Guess what happens.
Tyrant Takes the Helm: Not at first, but has creeped up very slowly during his run as GM over both Raw and Smackdown.
People's Republic of Tyranny: "People Power" - which includes things like shoving your authority down everyone's throat, confiscating signs saying things you don't like, a Propaganda Machine insisting you're as popular as you're actually hated, constantly engaging in both injury and insult, and overall reveling in humiliating employees and competitors for the slightest provocations or merely for being threats to your power - often either enslaving them in everything but name, turning them into your cronies, or simply making their lives as miserable as you can.
Villainous Breakdown: On the January 16, 2012 edition of Raw, he gets two "The Reason You Suck" Speeches in a row, the first from CM Punk and then from Mick Foley, CM Punk psychologically dismantling him. Laurinaitis snaps and goes on a massive Motive Rant, finally admitting that he openly hates CM Punk and fully intends to screw him out of the title.
And again on the 4/30/12 airing of Raw, after losing his top face for the company, Brock Lesnar, and being made fun of by John Cena, he lashes out on Cena with the help of Lord Tensai and Sakamoto.
On the May 14, 2012 episode of Raw, after his plan to rig his match with John Cena in his favor was preemptively shot down by the Board of Directors who also declared that losing will result in him being fired, and receiving a "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Cena, he snaps and slaps Cena in the face before storming off in a rage.
, holding the belts once with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, twice with Kenta Kobashi and once with Mike Barton (formerly WWE's Bart Gunn), and a 2x All Japan Pro Wrestling All Asia Tag Team Champion
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