John Laurinaitis’s real name is John Hodger Laurinaitis.
John Hodger Laurinaitis born July 31, 1962 is an American retired professional wrestler. He is the brother of Joe (Road Warrior Animal; one half of the former wrestling tag team The Road Warriors) and Marcus.
Laurinaitis previously worked as the WWE Head of Talent Relations.
John Laurinaitis started wrestling in 1986 as Johnny Ace.
He wrestled for such promotions as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and WWE.
Laurinaitis retired from the ring in June 2000 after the split between All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah.
Laurinaitis was hired as a road agent after WWF acquired certain assets of WCW in March 2001 and in June of the same year, Laurinaitis was promoted to director of talent relations.
In WWE, Laurinaitis worked in the talent relations office for eight years, and as an occasional professional wrestler from 2011 until 2012.
After his on-screen firing, he stepped down from his corporate backstage role to being a producer.
Prior to joining World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Laurinaitis worked as an executive for WCW.
In March 2021, Laurinaitis was re-hired by WWE as Head of Talent Relations. However, he was removed from his post and replaced by Bruce Prichard on June 21.