It looks like after further investigation, the WWE has decided to quietly let go of the former head of talent relations.
John 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 came up.
Stephanie McMahon, following her father’s retirement 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.
We’re told 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,” Mike Johnson of PWInsider wrote. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful later confirmed the report.
The initial WSJ article noted:
“The board’s investigation, which began in April, has unearthed other, older nondisclosure agreements involving claims by former female WWE employees of misconduct by Mr. McMahon and one of his top executives, John Laurinaitis, the head of talent relations at WWE, the people said. The Journal couldn’t determine how many previous agreements were being scrutinized.
The board’s outside counsel was still collecting information about the other NDAs this week but has determined that the payments totaled in the millions of dollars, the people said.”
The article states that the Board of Directors learned of the allegations when they received an email from a friend of the former employee in March. The email claimed the employee was hired with a $100,000 salary that doubled once she began a relationship with McMahon. The WSJ report noted, “The email to the board also alleged that Mr. McMahon “gave her like a toy” to Mr. Laurinaitis.”
Fightful Select also reported that despite Laurinaitis being in the loop of company emails, that stopped briefly after Triple H was appointed the EVP of Talent relations, but he has re-emerged on internal mailing lists.
That changed starting with the July 22 episode of WWE Smackdown, where he was no longer included. However, he quickly returned to said lists the following week, where he has remained. We’re told that the emails do include “sensitive information pertaining to creative, and personnel.”
Fightful Select also reported that one top WWE name referred to Laurinaitis as “the biggest snake in the business” as everything had unfolded. Laurinaitis name was on an internal WWE termination list, in which Vince McMahon was also included.
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