Ronda Rousey has launched a verbal tirade about former WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis in her upcoming memoir.
Rousey lets her feelings about Laurinaitis be known when discussing Laurinaitis’ appointment to oversee NXT in 2021. Triple H, who was in charge of the brand at the time, suffered a near-fatal cardiac event and took time away from the developmental brand. With Triple H absent and WWE facing strong competition from early episodes of AEW Dynamite, Vince McMahon appointed Laurinaitis to take over in Triple H’s absence.
Writing in her autobiography Our Fight, Rousey describes Laurinaitis as an “all-round dirtbag” and took an additional shot at his in-ring abilities before giving her thoughts on his new role:
“As NXT grew and it became apparent that there was the potential to expand and profit from it, suddenly it became attractive to Vince. In fall of 2019, WWE launched a weekly NXT show—slated to go head-to-head on-air with AEW. Now, NXT was on the up-and-up, but so too was AEW. Then Triple H almost died, suffering from heart failure and requiring surgery. He stepped away to deal with his health, and in his absence, Vince’s cronies saw an opportunity.
NXT was losing the ratings battle to AEW, they whispered to Vince. Changes needed to be made. Which is how John Laurinaitis, a former wrestler turned WWE executive and all-around dirtbag, ended up running NXT. Laurinaitis had made a name for himself as an average but by no means outstanding wrestler before he moved into playing an in-ring authority figure type and then a producer.”
Describing her experiences with Laurinaitis, the former Women’s Champion called out what Laurinaitis’ looked for in prospective wrestlers while running NXT, much to the detriment of the brand:
“He looked and acted like an entitled sixty-year-old former frat boy. Tall, blondish, and with a cleft chin, he always appeared to be scowling, even when he smiled. His raspy voice earned him the nickname Johnny Laryngitis, which was one of the nicer things people called him. Whereas Triple H looked for talent and potential in NXT prospects, it appeared John Laurinaitis looked for f*ckability.
He further purged the NXT roster, firing it seemed like everyone over twenty-five and turning recruiting attention away from the indie circuits in favor of blonde sorority-types from places like the Universities of Florida and Tennessee. Putting the blame for the decline on Laurinaitis—which Vince would basically try to do a few months later—would be easy but Laurinaitis was only a symptom of what was wrong within WWE.”
John Laurinaitis was explicitly named in the lawsuit filed against Vince McMahon by former WWE employee Janel Grant, which contains multiple disturbing allegations of sexual misconduct. Denying all allegations, John Lauriniatis claimed that he was also a victim of Vince McMahon.
Also in the upcoming release, Ronda Rousey held nothing back when discussing her thoughts on the “casting couch culture” of WWE.
Ronda Rousey Calls Out Multiple Executives In Promotional Interview
Our Fight will be available to purchase in early April. To promote the book, the former Women’s Champion appeared on Never Before Told to preview some of her experiences in WWE that are recounted. During the interview, Ronda Rousey named Bruce Pichard and John Laurinaitis and said that “they can go f*ck themselves.”
In a further excerpt from the book, Ronda Rousey also tears into Bruce Prichard.
Our Fight is available to pre-order on Amazon. Signed collector’s editions are available to pre-order here.