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As is to be expected in a business like professional wrestling, you get some ‘interesting’ characters so to speak from time to time. Whether it be due to their overwhelming charisma or just their irritating personality, everyone has their own story, and more often than not we can learn to appreciate that. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for John Laurinaitis.
Putting aside his mind-numbingly dull appearances on Total Bellas, Big Johnny has managed to rub people the wrong way for years now. From backstage interactions to actual on screen performances, we fail to see how people can continue to defend a man who has done everything in his power to be universally hated by the WWE Universe.
Of course, there’s no doubt that he has made some contributions to the product over the years, but whether or not they’ve been positive is something we’ll leave entirely up to you. In our minds, the landscape of professional wrestling as a whole wouldn’t be all too different if the former Raw GM were to ride off into the sunset with the Bellas’ mother.
So with all of that being said, here are five reasons why some wrestling fans dislike John Laurinaitis.
#1 People Power
If you weren’t watching professional wrestling back in late 2011 and early 2012, then goodness gracious please consider yourself the luckiest person on the planet. The whole People Power gimmick that involved the man himself becoming Raw General Manager is, arguably, the worst authority-based storyline of the last decade.
His performances on the mic were awful, he main evented Over The Limit on a card that included CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan, and there was just no charisma whatsoever. Some may say that was the whole point, but there’s a difference between “he’s doing such good work as a heel” heat and “please just go away” heat.
Also read: 5 WWE stars who could move to Impact Wrestling
#2 Brock Lesnar rumours
First off, the Brock and Laurinaitis segments in 2012 weren’t actually that bad. Now with that out of the way, let’s focus on the important issue at hand – the rumours surrounding Brock at WrestleMania 19. The story goes that John was the man who talked Lesnar into attempting a shooting star press, despite many people feeling like he didn’t need to do so.
Kurt Angle has actually come out in the past and claimed it was him that made the suggestion, but the idea of it being Johnny Ace has been so firmly engrained into the minds of wrestling fans that now people just believe it to be a fact.
#3 AJ Lee allegations
AJ Lee is one of the sweetest and most genuine superstars of the last ten years, and the idea that anyone could purposely try and put her down is disgusting to us. Unfortunately for Mr Laurinaitis, there are numerous rumours swirling around the internet that he did, in fact, say a number of disparaging things to AJ as something of a “messenger boy” between her and management.
The comments revolved around AJ’s attractiveness in comparison to several other ‘divas’ on the roster, and although he hasn’t been confirmed as the man involved it’s the same kind of situation as the Lesnar ordeal. In this instance because of how many people believe it and how far it’s spread around, we’re inclined to think it may be true.
#4 ‘Yes’ man
Big Johnny made his first on-screen appearance in a long time alongside Vince McMahon at Money in the Bank 2011, during which time he was portrayed as something of a ‘yes’ man. As it turns out, that was most definitely a case of life imitating art when it comes to Laurinaitis’ role behind the scenes.
Anything that Vinnie Mac says John will tend to agree with it nine times out of ten, which is probably why he still has a job after all these years. With yes men being a big no-no in the eyes of fans ever since CM Punk’s pipebomb promo in 2011, we can’t imagine that too many people look fondly upon Laurinaitis’ body of work.
#5 Personality
Now look, we don’t know this man on a personal level so everything we’re about to say could be a lie – but we’ve got a pretty good idea of what his personality is like. From Total Bellas all the way through to stories in the dirtsheets, Laurinaitis comes off as a guy who only looks out for himself as opposed to everyone else.
There’s a certain aura of arrogance that follows him round like a bad smell, and even snippets of conversations between him and superstars like AJ Styles make him come across as a bit of a jerk.
We honestly hope that all of the things we’ve listed either aren’t true or have been exaggerated because this is a man who probably has a lot of pull when it comes to big time decisions for WWE.
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