Jim Ross shared an interesting story recently about catching up with former WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis.
Ross was the Head of Talent Relations before he stepped down from the role and was replaced by Laurniatis, who held the role for years until 2012, when Triple H took over. From 2011 to 2012, he also served as General Manager while working as an on-air character. In 2012, Laurinaitus lost his position as one of the WWE’s producers.
In March 2021, Laurinaitis returned as head of talent relations, but let go in August 2022 when WWE launched an investigation in relation to the Vince McMahon-Wall Street Journal sexual misconduct story regarding a former WWE employee who had a sexual relationship with him. It was alleged that Laurinaitis also had a relationship with the employee.
Ross knocked Laurinaitis in his book for the way that Laurinaitis treated him after taking over the role and using him.
Ross saw Laurinaitis with Dean Malenko at the AEW hotel during his trip to Phoenix, AZ for AEW Dynamite. He believes Dean told him that Laurinaitis was picking him up at the airport and that’s why Laurinaitis was there.
The Conversation
“And I look up and here comes Raphael Morffi and Jonny Laurinaitis. And I’m thinking, ‘Oh, geez, I wasn’t ready for this conference. It wasn’t a confrontation at all. We had a nice conversation. I told him, I said, ‘you know, I’m too old and I’m trying to overcome these issues of my skin cancer and all the subsequent treatment. I got more important things to worry about than having a grudge, and living a grudge. So we kind of cleared the air and had a nice conversation. And I thought it took a lot of balls for him to come approach me, to be honest with you. Because he had read everything I’d written about, you know, him being a chicken sh*t. And I told him, I said I apologize for some of the things I said. I get emotional and there you go. So anyway, we had a nice little 10-15 minute chat.”
Ross noted that he’s glad they got to talk and get it out of the way to let go of all the negative things. He said it was a surprise meeting and Laurinaitis was very sincere.
“And so I thought I’d share that with our folks here on the podcast. I haven’t talked about it at all. So this is breaking news. So anyway, it was good. It was surprisingly good. And I’m glad he stepped up and we had a nice clean talk conversation and cleared the air, so to speak. You know, I don’t know that we’ll be on each other’s Christmas card list. But nonetheless, I kind of admired what he said to me and him making the first move, because like I said, I forgot he was even coming. And I didn’t see him standing at the bar with Dean, and all everybody else that was there.”
Ross speculated that Laurinaitis may be looking for work, but admired Laurinaitis for talking to him even though he seemed prepared for it.
“And he just got caught in a crossfire there seems to me like, made some bad decisions, apparently. I don’t know. We didn’t delve into his situation very deeply. But I was glad that we got at least got a chance to chat. Conrad, I’m 71 years old. I don’t know, I’m hoping I’m gonna be around a long time as I’m knocking on wood. But you never know. Right? We got no guarantees here. Tomorrow’s are not guaranteed. Tomorrow’s are not guaranteed. So it was an interesting conversation. Glad it happened and I wish him well.”
Transcription courtesy of WrestlingNews.co
