Jim Ross says he recently spoke to John Laurinaitis when AEW was in town.
Laurinaitis spent many years with WWE, dating back to the company's acquisition of WCW in 2001. He worked backstage and rose to power as the Head of Talent Relations. Laurinaitis also had a memorable run as an on-screen authority figure from 2011-2012. PWInsider reported that WWE let Laurinaitis go in August 2022, and Fightful subsequently confirmed the news. Ahead of his departure, Laurinaitis was being investigated by the WWE Board following the Wall Street Journal's report about the allegations of sexual misconduct against Vince McMahon. At the time, Fightful reported that "many expected Laurinaitis to be the 'fall guy' in it from a professional standpoint." Before he was released, Laurinaitis was put on administrative leave as Head of Talent Relations.
Speaking on his Grilling JR podcast, Ross revealed that he spoke to Laurinaitis at the hotel ahead of AEW Dynamite in Phoenix on February 22. He noted that he was going to dinner with AEW Vice President of Live Events/Touring Rafael Morffi at the hotel, and Laurinaitis was at the bar with Dean Malenko.
“I gotta tell you a story about my last trip to Phoenix. Rafael Morffi and I were going to dinner in the hotel, and there was a bar area leading into the restaurant area, in the back of the house. I saw John Laurinaitis there. I think he was there with Dean Malenko, so I just walked on by and went to the back of the restaurant, my table," Ross said.
Thompson and Ross confirmed that the meeting occurred the night before the AEW Dynamite taping on Wednesday. Ross recalled how he might have forgotten that Malenko may have told him Laurinaitis was going to pick him up at the airport. He then detailed their interaction and noted that it was a nice conversation. The legend made it clear that he wanted to let go of their issues because he has more important things to worry about.
“Yeah, it surprised me. I had heard, I think maybe Dean told me, that he was going to get picked up at the airport by Laurinaitis when he arrived in Phoenix, but I had forgotten about it. Not like it’s a big deal to me, one way or the other. So I walk on down to the restaurant, waiting on Rafael to get down there so we could be seated. I look up, and here comes Rafael and Johnny Laurinaitis… I’m thinking oh geez, I wasn’t ready for this… it wasn’t a confrontation at all. We had a nice conversation, and I told him, I said I’m too old, and I’m trying to overcome these issues with my skin cancer and all the subsequent treatment. I got more important things to do and worry about than having a grudge and living a grudge. So we kind of cleared the air, and I had a nice conversation. I thought it took a lot of balls for him to come approach me, to be honest with you. He had read everything I’d written about him, him being a chickenshit. I told him, I said I apologize for some of the things I said. I get emotional and there you go. So anyway, we had a nice little 10-15 minute chat," Ross said.
He continued by noting that Laurinaitis lives in Phoenix, and he was glad they had the chance to talk because life is better without the stress of carrying around grudges. Ross gave Laurinaitis credit for stepping up and being honest and sincere during their conversation, which he described as surprisingly good.
"John lives in Phoenix, so I’m kind of glad that we got that out of the way because it’s just better to live your life without that additional stress and angst. It’s just a negative thing, and I didn’t want to mire myself into negativity because that doesn’t make any sense. I’m too old. I’m more concerned about my health and my job and travel and all the things that go along with it, my wound doctor. That’s what that was. It was a surprise. It was a surprising meeting. He was very sincere, he was very upfront, very honest. So I thought I’d share that with our folks here on the podcast. It was good. It was surprisingly good. I’m glad he stepped up, and we had a nice, clean conversation and cleared the air, so to speak. I don’t know that we’ll be on each other’s Christmas card list, but nonetheless, I kind of admire what he said to me, and him making the first move. I forgotten he was even coming, and I didn’t see him standing at the bar with Dean and everybody else that was there," Ross said.
Ross went on to describe how Laurinaitis may have been looking for work, but he didn't know. The WWE Hall of Famer emphasized that he is moving past his issues with Laurinaitis. Ross then referenced Laurinaitis' exit from WWE and the circumstances surrounding it before he noted that they didn't dive deep into the situation when they spoke.
"He didn’t tell me this, Laurinaitis, but he may be looking for work. Hell, I don’t know. I didn’t ask him. His wife’s been sick, and she’s surviving well, it seems like. I like her a lot, really nice lady. We’ll move forward. It was a nice thing. None of us can live in denial. We can’t live in angst and anger, and being pissed off, and hurt feelings and all that shit. Be an adult and get past that. That’s kind of what we did. I like to think we’re past it. I have no issues with him at this point in time. I’m glad he did what he did. I admire what we did. It was a nice conversation. He was prepared for it, I can tell you that. He knew what we wanted to say. Just caught in the crossfire there, seems to me like he made some bad decisions apparently. I don’t know. We didn’t delve into his situation very deeply. But I was glad that we at least got a chance to chat," he said.
When asked whether he thought Laurinaitis was there because he was visiting friends or looking to work with AEW, Ross stated that he wasn't sure. He shared his belief that Laurinaitis' original intent was to visit some of the people he previously worked with, and the former WWE executive didn't say anything about working for AEW to him.
“I don’t know. I’m guessing that his original intent was to visit his friends, especially some of those guys he worked with in WCW and WWE, like Dean Malenko and others. So I kind of think that was his primary motivation, coming down to the hotel and having a pop, seeing his friends. He didn’t mention to me about working for AEW, but it shouldn’t be a shocker if it wanted a job. One of the hardest jobs in wrestling is the talent relations job, especially now. It’s doubly challenging. Talents are always looking for more information, they’re looking for honesty, they’re looking to be upfront with them. So he may be interested in a talent relations role, I don’t know. The guy is a wrestling person, and he’s at an event like you just described, there could be some fire where the smoke is, but I don’t know that. He didn’t tell me that he was here looking for work and ‘anything you can do to help me’ and blah blah blah. I get that all the time. I hope he lands on his feet and does whatever he wants to do. But I’m not mad at him anymore, and I feel better about not being mad at him anymore. I don’t want to be mad at anybody. We’re in the late innings here. I’m just not interested in all the drama and all that stuff. Interesting meet-up, to say the least," Ross said.
Alberto Del Rio previously stated that he spoke to John Laurinaitis, but the conversations never went anywhere. More information is available here.
Fightful previously reported about the reactions to Laurinaitis leaving and Bruce Prichard taking his role. More information is available here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
