A former WWE Superstar has hinted that more allegations centred on John Laurinaitis could be be on the way, describing the stories to date as the “tip of the iceberg.”
It has been a turbulent few weeks at the top of WWE following the retirement of Vince McMahon, and subsequent reshuffle at the very top of the company.
Stephanie McMahon has been installed as Chairwoman and co-CEO alongside Nick Khan, while Triple H is now Head of Creative. However, before Vince McMahon’s departure, it had also been confirmed that Triple H had become Head of Talent Relations.
The role had previously been held by John Laurinaitis. ‘Johnny Ace’ was placed on “administrative leave” in June after allegations of sexual misconduct emerged surrounding himself and Vince McMahon.
The departure of ‘Johnny Ace’ came after it was alleged that Vince McMahon paid $3 million to a former employee with whom he had an affair.
Further reports noted that Laurinatis is being investigated by WWE’s Board of Directors in regard to a “$1.5 million nondisclosure agreement reached in 2012 with an employee.” Laurinaitis stepped down from his role as Head of Talent Relations at around the same time that the deal with the employee was reached. It is alleged that Laurinaitis demoted the woman after she ended their affair.
Speaking on the Cafe de Rene podcast, Rene Dupree and Paul London discussed the situation, with Dupree suggesting that more damaging allegations could be on the way.
With regard to his dealings with Laurinaitis, London explained that while he never did anything against him personally, he wasn’t overly impressed with the former tag team star.
“He always kind of struck me as that dad who used to be an athlete but is now his kid’s coach, but he talks a lot of sh*t and he acts like a ‘been there, done that’ kind of guy. And to his credit, he was during a lot of the peak times, with like the Dynamic Dudes and what not, even though I always thought Shane Douglas was the better worker of the two. I never delved into his stuff in Japan.
I can’t say he ever pissed me off directly, face to face. He’s not the kind of guy to deal with you face-to-face. So I guess that kind of says something about him. But there are certain people you can tell talk a bigger game than what ends up being the truth, so you start questioning the validity and the integrity of some of these people. And when they’re in charge of talent, that’s not always a good thing.”
Dupree admitted that he was aware of more stories that could potentially come out, but wasn’t willing to disclose the details.
“The stories that I know, that I’m not going to say publicly because I could get in trouble, this is just the f*cking tiny little tip of the iceberg, [compared to] the sh*t that I know of,” Dupree said. “So imagine the other sh*t that’s out there.”
After John Laurinaitis was replaced it was reported that he is “effectively done” with the company, while news of his exit was greeted with “outright celebration” from some top talent.
H/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.