John Laurinaitis Officially Fired by WWE
John Laurinaitis has officially been fired from the WWE, per a new report from PWInsider's Mike Johnson that dropped on Monday. Laurinaitis was implicated in the initial Wall Street Journal report that unveiled Vince McMahon allegedly paying $3 million to a former employee in order to keep an affair quiet. Laurinaitis, who at the time was still Head of Talent Relations, was quickly placed on administrative leave and Paul "Triple H" Levesque was named the new Head of Talent Relations in July. McMahon then announced his retirement from all positions within WWE in late July as more accusations and inquiries from the SEC and federal prosecutors began popping up.
"We are told that the termination happened within the last week or so and it was, for obvious reasons, being kept very quiet beyond a very small circle. We are working to confirm when the departure took place but every source, to a person, made it clear Laurinaitis was let go," Johnson wrote. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful later confirmed the report.
Laurinaitis first joined WWE in March 2001 after WWE's acquisition of WCW and worked primarily in the Talent Relations department until 2012. He was rehired as Head of Talent Relations in March 2021.
Upon McMahon's departure, Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan were named the new Co-CEOs of the company, while Levesque stepped in as the new Head of Creative. He gave his first comments on taking the position during SummerSlam weekend.
"This is the longest-running stuff on TV," Levesque said "I do not dream for one second that I could fill those shoes by myself, period. It's going to take everybody here to fill those shoes and continue this on, but we will.
"The intent is to continue the legacy of what has been going on, what made me fall in love with this business that he created, and to take it to new levels. To take it beyond where it is now. The only way we're going to do that is with a team. That's with Steph[anie McMahon], that's with Nick Khan, that's with myself, that's with Kevin Dunn, that's with everybody that is here, that is with all this talent. We have the greatest, hardest-working talent in the world. I have no doubt in mind, with this team, we can do it," he added.