John Laurinaitis is hoping his next public appearance could lead to a role in helping future pro wrestlers. He probably could have chosen a much better way to explain it, though.
Former WWE executive John Laurinaitis is scheduled to appear at Big Time Wrestling’s March 14th event. This will be his first public appearance since he was named in (and dismissed from) former WWE employee Janel Grant’s sex trafficking lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE.
Despite being named in the initial filing, Laurinaitis was dropped as a defendant. Laurinaitis later agreed to provide evidence in Grant’s case. Ahead of the appearance, Laurinaitis spoke with the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast. He said one reason for the appearance is that his brother, Road Warrior Animal, will be inducted into the Ohio Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame.
John Laurinaitis explains why he’s appearing for Big Time Wrestling
He said it’s nice that his appearance will coincide with honoring his brother. However, he also hopes to get involved with Big Time Wrestling promotion to help develop young talent.
“I think the way Big Time Wrestling — and I’ve had discussions with Bobby (Fulton) and Dillon (Hines), and you know, what they’re looking to do is make it a place to be, so to speak. In other words, there’s ideas of maybe having international talent come in, having more high-profile names come in. I’m really looking forward to their future, and hoping that somehow I can be part of that. Whether it’s behind the scenes or help them with promoting and stuff like that,” Laurinaitis explained (H/T Fightful).
“Because I think the more places for talent to work, the better opportunity it is for the business. I don’t know if everybody realizes this, but I ran the developmental system for WWE for 20 years,” he continued. “So, my one love is to help and develop and groom young talent. And that’s what I think is the strategy for Big Time Wrestling now is to find younger talent and develop them into the stars of tomorrow.”
John Laurinaitis’ comment came across as being in poor taste
Grant’s initial lawsuit described Vince McMahon directing her to have sexual relations with Laurinaitis, who would meet her in hotel rooms. Grant worked in WWE legal, but McMahon later transferred her to Talent Relations, where she reported directly to Laurinaitis. Grant also alleged that both Laurinaitis and McMahon forced themselves onto her in 2021.
Laurinaitis did run WWE developmental for several years, but that period was also met with some criticism, including sexist behavior. In her autobiography, AJ Lee said Laurinaitis told her she wasn’t pretty enough to succeed in WWE. She said Laurinaitis told her that they knew she could wrestle, but she probably wouldn’t be successful on the WWE main roster because “no one wants to have sex with you.”
Fans who read Laurinaitis’ comments were equally surprised, calling the former WWE executive for poor phrasing. Most of the comments responding to the initial post criticized Laurinaitis for thinking “grooming talent” was a smart choice at all.
“That was certainly a choice of words there on the part of John Laurinaitis,” one fan wrote on Twitter/X.
“Worst wording and one of the worst people,” another replied.
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