Then-Executive Vice President of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis had his first role as an on-air personality in WWE during the CM Punk-John Cena-Vince McMahon feud of 2011. The entire storyline blurred the lines between work and shoot, so having a real-life executive within the company appear as part of the proceedings gave everything an even greater air of authenticity. At some point, though, someone decided that the wooden, inarticulate Laurinaitis was exactly what WWE TV needed. He became a regular character on Raw, and soon took over as on-screen General Manager of the show. Laurinaitis -- who was a successful wrestler in Japan during the 80s and 90s -- was horrible at this new aspect of his job. His long promos were boring and full of gaffes, and he didn't make an interesting foil for any of the babyface wrestlers. His main rival, CM Punk, would constantly remind the audience of Laurinaitis's faults, leading them to wonder exactly why the man got so much TV time. At WrestleMania XXVIII, he won the right to take over as GM of Smackdown as well, ushering in what he called the era of "People Power." By June, though, cooler heads had prevailed -- following John Cena's defeat of The Big Show at No Way Out, Laurinaitis was forced off of WWE programming altogether.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
