10 Wrestlers Who Drew The Wrong Kind Of Heel Heat

John Laurinaitis has been under WWE employ since 2001, and has spent the bulk of that time working behind the scenes. Often held up as a corporate boogeyman whenever something went awry with talent relations, he was first mentioned on-air as part of the Matt Hardy/Edge/Lita storyline in 2005, though he didn’t become a regular personality until 2011, when CM Punk dropped his name during his ‘pipe bomb’ promo.

He became Vince McMahon’s corporate stooge, and was later installed as Raw General Manager following a strike by the roster. John’s rivalry with Punk continued, but it didn’t take long for fans to grow tired of him. From his grating voice (that earned him the nickname ‘John Laryngitis’) to his poor delivery and regular botched lines, Laurinaitis gave the audience plenty of reasons to reject him, and reject him they did.

Things peaked when he was booked in a main event program with John Cena for Over The Limit 2012. Fortunately, WWE were sharp enough to ditch his act a couple of months later, and when McMahon hit Laurinaitis with a trademark “you’re fired,” the viewership breathed a huge sigh of relief.