John Laurinaitis has pulled off a twist worthy of his time as on-screen GM of WWE Monday Night Raw. That is, it was very obviously coming well before it happened. WWE’s former head of talent relations has been dropped as a co-defendant in Janel Grant’s sex trafficking lawsuit accusing Vince McMahon of gross sexual acts. Representatives for Grant and Laurinaitis announced a settlement-cooperation deal earlier this week; a statement said Laurinaitis will provide “evidence” against McMahon.
“His agreement to a confidential settlement is a pivotal next step toward holding McMahon and WWE accountable and bringing justice to Ms. Grant after years of sexual abuse and trafficking,” representatives for Grant and Laurinaitis said in the joint statement. “Mr. Laurinaitis looks forward to moving on with his life.”
Laurinaitis wrestled as Johnny Ace in the 1980s and ’90s, teaming with Shane Douglas in WCW as The Dynamic Dudes. His biggest successes came in All-Japan Pro Wrestling, where he won several tag team titles with various partners. A 1997 match, in which he and Steve Williams faced Mitsuharu Misawa and Jun Akiyama, won Match of the Year in the Wrestling Observer newsletter. He returned to WCW as a booker in 2000 and began working for WWE when the company bought WCW. He began as a road agent and held various roles in WWE, mostly in talent relations. Laurinaitis had a major on-screen role in WWE in the early 2000s, feuding with John Cena and CM Punk. He was later the authority figure on Raw. Laurinaitis’s brothers also wrestled as Road Warrior Animal (Joe) and The Terminator (Marcus).
Grant, a former WWE employee who received hush money from McMahon, went public in early 2024. She said McMahon had stopped paying her the agreed-upon money and alleged several sickening scenarios: McMahon pressured her into having sex for continued employment, and forced her to have sex with other WWE employees. The suit contains a text message, allegedly from McMahon, saying part of Brock Lesnar’s contact extension included a promise to let Lesnar have sex with Grant. (She says she texted Lesnar explicit photos, as McMahon directed, but the two never met.) The lawsuit also says McMahon shit on her head.
WWE and Laurinaitis were also named in the lawsuit, and Laurinaitis was accused of sexually assaulting her. Setting up this inevitable turn last year, Laurinaitis’s lawyer said that “like the Plaintiff, Mr. Laurinaitis is a victim in this case, not a predator. The truth will come out.”
In 2012 Laurinaitis was demoted from head of talent relations and returned to his job as a road agent. The Wall Street Journal reported his demotion came around the time WWE paid $1.5 million to an employee who said Laurinaitis had demoted her after their sexual relationship ended. He returned as VP of talent relations in 2021, but left the following year after the Journal story.
