This is an accepted version of this page John Hodger Laurinaitis (born July 31, 1962),[2] also known by his former ring name Johnny Ace, is an American retired professional wrestler and business executive.

Later, after JCP had been bought out by Turner Broadcasting Systems and become World Championship Wrestling, he formed a tag team with Shane Douglas called "The Dynamic Dudes".

As All Japan Pro Wrestling was cutting its ties with the NWA in 1990, Laurinaitis chose to stay in it, thus becoming a permanent foreign fixture on the roster.

In AJPW, he found a lot of success, teaming with Kenta Kobashi, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Bart Gunn.

On February 28, 1998, Laurinaitis would reach the highest point of his singles career as he challenged Mitsuharu Misawa for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.

Laurinaitis was responsible for booking the highly acclaimed one-night single elimination tournament held for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship that was won by the debuting Lance Storm.

[9] Laurinaitis's tenure in this role has received criticism from those who have worked for him, including Jim Cornette who, in his interviews with Kayfabe Commentaries, described how Laurinaitis failed to work in the same capacity with Ohio Valley Wrestling (WWE's developmental territory) as Ross did, often failing to warn the promotion when wrestlers OVW were using at the time were going to be called up to the main roster or when wrestlers from the main roster were set to appear for OVW but never did.

[10] On the June 27, 2011 episode of Raw, Laurinaitis was described by CM Punk during his infamous 'pipe bomb' promo as a "glad-handing, nonsensical, douchebag yes-man" who would "tell Vince McMahon everything he wants to hear".

[11] Laurinaitis subsequently made an appearance alongside McMahon as a corporate stooge during the main event of the Money in the Bank pay-per-view the following month.

The following week on Raw, Laurinaitis helped Triple H officiate the contract signing between CM Punk and John Cena for their match at SummerSlam.

Following SummerSlam, Laurinaitis began to make regular appearances on WWE programming as part of an angle in which Triple H attempted to find out who had sent a text message to the returning Kevin Nash telling him to attack CM Punk after his victory at SummerSlam, causing him to lose the WWE Championship to Alberto Del Rio who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract immediately afterwards.

After Nash claimed that he had sent the text message to himself, it was implied that Laurinaitis was working to try and undermine Triple H in his new role as chief operating officer, presumably because he wanted the job for himself.

[14] The following week on Raw SuperShow, Laurinaitis distracted Punk once again, causing him to be counted-out in his title match against Ziggler, thus retaining the championship.

In response to this, the Board of Directors ordered that his position as Interim General Manager would be taken under review by Chief Operating Officer Triple H. At the Royal Rumble, Laurinaitis brought in another official and Punk defeated Ziggler.

The following night on Raw SuperShow, Laurinaitis, now using a power chair and crutches for mobility purposes, rehired Big Show after helping him win the match against Cena.

Following his tenure as an on-screen performer in 2012, Laurinaitis was relieved of his backstage executive duties and returned to his original role as a road agent.

[21][22] On the March 29, 2013 episode of SmackDown, Laurinaitis offered The Rock his services as manager for his match at WrestleMania 29 against John Cena.

Preceding the return of the brand split, Laurinaitis was one of several former authority figures to unsuccessfully apply for the general manager positions of either Raw or SmackDown.

In April 2022, the WWE board began investigating nondisclosure agreements related to misconduct claims by women in the company against Laurinaitis and Vince McMahon.

On September 3, 2015, Laurinaitis became engaged to Kathy Colace, who is the mother of The Bella Twins and the mother-in-law of former WWE champion Bryan Danielson.