John Laurinaitis Caused THIS Legend To Quit WWE

As per Konnan, this wrestling legend quit WWE after a run-in with Johnny Ace.

by Andrew Pollard
Dean Malenko
WWE.com

These days a producer in AEW, Dean Malenko seemingly quit WWE after John Laurinaitis encouraged him to think about exiting the company.

Speaking on the Pro Wrestling 4 Life podcast, Konnan detailed how Johnny Ace was what ultimately led to Malenko quitting Vince McMaon's sports entertainment organisation. At the time of his WWE exit, it was reported that the former Cruiserweight Champion was let go as WWE looked to bring in younger agents and producers.

As K-Dogg - who has recently been working with AEW himself - explained to Sean Waltman:

Advertisement
"I was at the table [in AEW]. Arn Anderson was there. Dean Malenko was there. Mark Henry was there. They were just burying WWE. At the end, Malenko told me that John Laurinaitis told him, 'Hey man, I heard you wanted to quit. Why don't you think about it?' Malenko said, 'Yes, I've been thinking about it for 19 years. I quit.'"

Dean Malenko arrived in the then-WWF on the 31 January 2000 episode of Raw, debuting alongside Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn and Chris Benoit as part of the Radicalz. The Iceman would retire from in-ring action in December 2001, then remain with WWE as a producer until April 2019.

Barely a month after being handed his WWE release, Malenko was signed to AEW as a senior producer for Tony Khan's burgeoning promotion.

Advertisement
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.