John Hodger Laurinaitis (born July 31, 1962), also known by his former ring name Johnny Ace, is an American retired professional wrestler and business executive.
He has wrestled for such promotions as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and WWE. He is the brother of Joe (Road Warrior Animal; one half of the former wrestling tag team The Road Warriors) and Marcus, and is also the uncle of former National Football League player James Laurinaitis. In WWE, Laurinaitis worked in the talent relations office for eight years, and as occasional professional wrestler from 2011 until 2012. After his on screen firing, he stepped down from his corporate backstage role to being a producer. He was promoted again to Head of Talent Relations in 2021 until his release in 2022. Prior to joining WWE, Laurinaitis worked as an executive for WCW.
John Hodger Laurinaitis was born on July 31, 1962 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is of Lithuanian ancestry.
National Wrestling Alliance/World Championship Wrestling (1986–1990)
Laurinaitis started wrestling in 1986 as Johnny Ace. At first, while wrestling in NWA's Florida Championship Wrestling, Ace frequently teamed with his brother The Terminator. He was also a flag-bearer for The Sheepherders and followed them to another NWA territory, Jim Crockett Promotions. Later, after JCP had been bought out by Turner Broadcasting Systems and become World Championship Wrestling, he formed a tag team with Shane Douglas called "The Dynamic Dudes". They were managed by Jim Cornette until Cornette turned on them for Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane's version of The Midnight Express. In his last televised WCW match, Ace lost to Mean Mark Callous, later known as The Undertaker, at Capital Combat on May 19, 1990.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (1988–2000)
As All Japan Pro Wrestling was cutting its ties with the NWA in 1990, Laurinaitis chose to stay in it, thus becoming a permanent foreign fixture on the roster. In AJPW, he found a lot of success, teaming with Kenta Kobashi, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Bart Gunn.
Laurinaitis enjoyed significant championship success and acclaim during his tenure, becoming a two-time All Asia Tag Team Champion, a four-time World Tag Team Champion, and the winner of the New Year's Heavyweight Battle Royal on January 2, 1991, at Korakuen Hall. Two of his matches received 5 Stars from Dave Meltzer, he won the "Match of the Year" award from the Wrestling Observer, and was ranked #77 in Pro Wrestling Illustrated's (PWI) top 500 wrestlers for 1997. On February 28, 1998, Laurinaitis would reach the highest point of his singles career as he challenged Mitsuharu Misawa for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. It would be Laurinaitis' only shot at those three prestigious belts. Following his retirement in 2000, he was placed #203 in PWI's top 500 all time rankings.
World Championship Wrestling (2000–2001)
Laurinaitis retired from the ring in June 2000 after the split between All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah. He soon returned to World Championship Wrestling, where he replaced Vince Russo as head booker. Laurinaitis was responsible for booking the highly acclaimed one-night single elimination tournament held for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship that was won by the debuting Lance Storm.
World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment / WWE (2001–2022)
Backstage roles and Senior Vice President of Talent Operations (2001–2012)
Laurinaitis was hired in as a road agent after WWF's acquisition of certain assets of WCW in March 2001 and in June on the same year, Laurinaitis was promoted to director of talent relations. In June 2004, Laurinaitis replaced Jim Ross as vice president of talent relations, then being promoted to senior vice president in February 2007 and finally to executive vice president in March 2009. However, when Stephanie McMahon took over talent relations and handed over the reins to her husband, Paul Levesque ("Triple H"), Laurinaitis moved down from his executive duties to being senior vice president of talent operations. Laurinaitis's tenure in this role has received criticism from those who have worked for him, including Jim Cornette who, in his interviews with Kayfabe Commentaries, described how Laurinaitis failed to work in the same capacity with Ohio Valley Wrestling (WWE's developmental territory) as Ross did, often failing to warn the promotion when wrestlers OVW were using at the time were going to be called up to the main roster or when wrestlers from the main roster were set to appear for OVW but never did. Eventually WWE would end their relationship with OVW.
On-air authority figure (2011–2012)
On the June 27, 2011 episode of Raw, Laurinaitis was described by CM Punk during his infamous 'pipe bomb' promo as a "glad-handing, nonsensical, douchebag yes-man" who would "tell Vince McMahon everything he wants to hear". Laurinaitis subsequently made an appearance alongside McMahon as a corporate stooge during the main event of the Money in the Bank pay-per-view the following month. At the climax of the WWE Championship match, under McMahon's orders, Laurinaitis tried to duplicate the Montreal Screwjob, but defending WWE Champion John Cena then proceeded to knock Laurinaitis out, not wanting to win the match that way. This interference allowed CM Punk to win the match and the championship. The next night on Raw, Laurinaitis appeared alongside McMahon as McMahon announced an 8-man tournament to decide a new WWE Champion following Punk's departure from the company. On the August 1 episode of Raw, Laurinaitis interrupted Triple H, telling him to strip Cena of his WWE Championship, which led Cena to interrupt him and threaten to hit him again before Laurinaitis fled the ring. The following week on Raw, Laurinaitis helped Triple H officiate the contract signing between CM Punk and John Cena for their match at SummerSlam. After signing the contract, Cena flipped the table over and moved to go face to face with Punk, but was stopped by Laurinaitis. As Laurinaitis talked to Cena, Punk kicked Laurinaitis in the back of the head, causing Cena to accidentally hit Triple H instead of Punk.
Following SummerSlam, Laurinaitis began to make regular appearances on WWE programming as part of an angle in which Triple H attempted to find out who had sent a text message to the returning Kevin Nash telling him to attack CM Punk after his victory at SummerSlam, causing him to lose the WWE Championship to Alberto Del Rio who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract immediately afterwards. On the August 15 episode of Raw, Laurinaitis asked Nash for a private meeting in his office, and on the September 5 episode of Raw, after Triple H fired Nash, Laurinaitis was seen entering Nash's limo with him, leaving the arena. During this period Laurinaitis was also regularly shown sending text messages backstage and at ringside. After Nash claimed that he had sent the text message to himself, it was implied that Laurinaitis was working to try and undermine Triple H in his new role as chief operating officer, presumably because he wanted the job for himself. At Night of Champions, Laurinaitis interfered in the main event in an attempt to have Triple H removed from power but was stopped by The Miz and R-Truth, who attacked both Triple H and CM Punk, believing there to be a conspiracy. Nash also interfered in the match after Laurinaitis sent a text at ringside.
On the October 10 edition of Raw SuperShow, following a kayfabe strike by members of the WWE roster as a result of Triple H's management, Vince McMahon introduced Laurinaitis as the new Interim General Manager of Raw. That same night, Laurinaitis fired Jim Ross and reinstated The Miz and R-Truth, who had been suspended following repeated attacks. After a few weeks of impartiality during which he pledged that he would listen to the WWE fans using his slogan of "People Power", Laurinaitis began showing bias against WWE Champion CM Punk, who had repeatedly criticized Laurinaitis and questioned his integrity over the past few months. On the December 26 edition of Raw SuperShow, Laurinaitis placed Punk in a gauntlet match against three opponents; whoever pinned Punk would earn a shot at the WWE Championship the following week on Raw SuperShow. Punk agreed to the match under the condition that if he beat all three, then he would receive a match against Laurinaitis himself afterwards. During the match, Laurinaitis distracted Punk, allowing Dolph Ziggler to pin Punk and earn a title shot. The following week on Raw SuperShow, Laurinaitis distracted Punk once again, causing him to be counted-out in his title match against Ziggler, thus retaining the championship. Laurinaitis then scheduled a WWE Championship match between Punk and Ziggler at the Royal Rumble, in which he named himself guest referee. Laurinaitis continued to cause Punk to lose to Ziggler throughout January which ultimately led to Punk attacking Laurinaitis in retaliation, claiming that he was abusing his power. Laurinaitis began to declare himself as the soon to be permanent General Manager. In response to this, the Board of Directors ordered that his position as Interim General Manager would be taken under review by Chief Operating Officer Triple H. At the Royal Rumble, Laurinaitis brought in another official and Punk defeated Ziggler. On January 30 edition of Raw SuperShow, Laurinaitis was set to have a performance review by Triple H. During the review, Triple H degraded Laurinaitis and his actions, but before the final decision he was interrupted by The Undertaker. The Board of Directors then decided on February 7, 2012, to retain Laurinaitis as Interim General Manager.