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World Wrestling Entertainment staff were officially informed this morning that John Laurinaitis, 58, is now officially General Manager, Talent and will be heading up Talent Relations going forward. Mark Carano would now report to Laurinaitis, who would then report to WWE's Executive Vice President of Operations, Brad Blum.
PWInsider.com is told this would have no effect or change on WWE's Talent Development department, which is headed by Canyon Cemen, who reports to Paul Levesque.
Laurinaitis, aka Johnny Ace during his time as an in-ring performer, had most recently been working as a Producer for WWE.
During his time performing for All Japan Pro Wrestling, Laurinaitis became well respected for his ability to put together great finishes, leading to Eric Bischoff recruiting him for that role in WCW. When WWE purchased the remnants of World Championship Wrestling in 2001, Laurinaitis moved to the company. By June 2001, he was moved into the role of Director of Talent Relations, although at the time some of the job was still handled by Jim Ross.
By March 2009, Laurinaitis became the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations. His duties shifted when Paul Levesque moved into that side of the company with Laurinaitis reporting to Levesque as the Senior Vice President of Talent Operations. In 2012, he was moved out of that role and returning to producing.
Laurinaitis regularly appears on WWE reality series Total Bellas and in the past has had a run as a heel on screen executive as well.
Laurinaitis taking over the position was initially reported overnight by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer.
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