10 Architects Behind WWE's Demise
7. John Laurinaitis
John Cena is the last true megastar WWE made - and even he shrank the audience.
Now, with Roman Reigns in grim exile - not that he adequately replaced him as kid-friendly Ace - various talent circles near the top, the vast majority of whom were recruited from an independent scene WWE once looked down upon with pure disdain, before sheepishly acknowledging that it was the best means of replenishing the talent pool. Between the rise of John Cena in 2004, and the complete rethink of the recruitment model almost a decade later, no new stars were created. Some were promoted, with a weird, initial reluctance - CM Punk, Daniel Bryan - but none were made.
That is because John Laurinaitis oversaw the company's developmental programme, and he was f*cking hopeless. He was a comedy movie idiot best played in his own biopic by Steve Martin with one, bored eye cast towards a new swimming pool.
He somehow conspired to turn WWE developmental from OVW's glory days to DSW's WCW Power Plant reboot. He managed this by annoying Jim Cornette, which everybody has accomplished, but Cornette made his life as head of developmental exponentially easier by developing talent.
Laurinaitis expressed his appreciation by barely communicating with him, leading to all manner of continuity issues in the OVW TV show.
He also hired the wrong one-legged wrestler.