Cook: Give Big Johnny A Chance!

Steve Cook sees your reactions to John Laurinaitis’ recent promotion back to Talent Relations in WWE, and he urges you to think again–and give Big Johnny a chance!

Regardless of whatever your feelings on WWE’s current in-ring product are, everybody has to acknowledge one thing: It’s been a long time since WWE created a new male star. People harp on the ages of certain talent that gets featured on television, but it’s not really the age that matters. It’s how long they’ve been on television, and how many years they’ve been with the company.

Take a look at the championship scene. On Raw, Bobby Lashley is currently WWE Champion. Forty-four years old, first signed by WWE back in 2004. Drew McIntyre has been WWE Champion for most of the past calendar year. Drew’s only thirty-five, but his first WWE stint started way back in 2007. Then there’s The Miz, who’s forty and has been with WWE in some capacity since 2004.

Roman Reigns is the Universal Champion, of course. Another youngster at thirty-five, signed by WWE back in 2010. Even Daniel Bryan, a thirty-nine year old who a lot of people still don’t think of as purely a WWE guy, has been with the company off & on since 2009.

Of course there’s Edge & Randy Orton, who we remember from the late 90s & early 2000s respectively. And you’ve got The Fiend Bray Wyatt, who’s thirty-three but has been with WWE since 2009 and had several different personas, all of which have pretty well been ridden into the ground.

I know everybody on the Internet thinks that Triple H, Mark Carrano & the rest of Talent Relations has done a pretty great job over the past several years. They’ve brought in almost anybody with a name on any level of wrestling to work in the Performance Center and build NXT into a viable brand. The Women’s Evolution has been built off the backs of people brought in during H’s time in charge. The in-ring product has rarely been better on average.

There’s just something missing. That certain it factor. Most of the guys brought in over the past ten years just don’t have it. Sure, they can have classic matches, they do that every week. Do people care? We do, but we care about everybody that gets into the ring. The most popular person that’s debuted on WWE television in the past five years is Bad Bunny, and unless I’m missing something, he didn’t learn to be a star at the Performance Center.

Think about this: Who was in charge of Talent Relations & bringing in talent when everybody I mentioned a couple of paragraphs ago was brought in?

That’s right. BIG JOHNNY!

John Laurinaitis was removed from his position of Head of Talent Relations back in 2012, after filling the position for eight years. To say his time in the position was met with ridicule & disgust from most of the critics would be an understatement. I’m not just talking about people like me with a computer, I’m talking about people that have been inside the business longer than I’ve been alive.

Who were Johnny’s biggest critics?

Let’s start with Jim Cornette. My buddy JC was none too happy with how Laurinaitis worked with (or didn’t work with) his OVW developmental promotion. Cornette’s complained for years about how WWE called his wrestlers up with little rhyme or reason, then killed their desire to work in pro wrestling with their ham-fisted decision making skills and poor usage of their talents. Back when Laurinaitis was running things, Corny’s insights were seen as Gospel by a lot of the Internet. That percentage has gone down over the past several years, and now Cornette is seen as “wrong” in most of his opinions.

How do we know he wasn’t wrong about Big Johnny?

Then there’s CM Punk. Back when he was an Internet Wrestling God, Punk said all of these mean things about Laurinaitis and people popped for them and assumed they were true because CM Punk was saying them. Now, Punk is seen by most people as a pretty mean guy.

How do we know he wasn’t just being mean to Big Johnny?

Then there’s Jim Ross, but I’ll lay off of JR because that’s just somebody talking about the person that replaced them. Most people aren’t exactly unbiased in those situations.

The bottom line: Back when John Laurinaitis was Head of Talent Relations, WWE was bringing in guys that eventually became stars. It took some developing, but they got there. Now, WWE is bringing in guys that are good solid hands for NXT. Then those guys get to the main roster, and…yeah.

We’ve changed our opinions on so much over the last several years. Maybe it’s time to revisit this?

Johnny’s one weakness in hiring has mostly been corrected over the past several years, to the point where I don’t even think we need to worry about it. Do we really need to worry about John Laurinaitis’s track record when it comes to hiring women? WWE already has so many women under contract we probably don’t need to worry about him hiring more. Also, WWE’s already been pushing the likes of Lacey Evans without Johnny encouraging it. Vince’s opinions aren’t going to be swayed by whoever sits in the Talent Relations chair. He can be given more intriguing options, though.

Maybe it’s time to give Big Johnny another chance?

Maybe People Power is exactly what WWE needs?

Can’t hurt!