John Laurinaitis Comments on Backstage Reaction to CM Punk’s Pipebomb Promo in 2011

Disgraced former WWE executive and Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis recently took part in a virtual signing with Signed by Superstars, where he was asked about the backstage environment and reaction following the famous CM Punk pipebomb promo that took place on WWE Raw in 2011.

Laurinaitis stated that Vince McMahon and the producers weren’t nervous about the segment, but there were conversations about it around that time. He said (via WrestlingInc.com), “There [were] discussions about what happened and how [we] could not have stuff like that happen going forward.”

Laurinaitis was referenced by CM Punk during the infamous promo, where Punk called him a “glad-handing, nonsensical, douchebag yes-man.” After the segment, he began regularly appearing on WWE programming.

John Laurinaitis was fired by WWE in the summer of 2022, in the wake of Vince McMahon’s initial retirement as Chairman of WWE following a Wall Street Journal report about McMahon being investigated for “hush money” payments made to four women. Former WWE employee Janel Grant later named Laurinaitis as a defendant in her lawsuit against WWE and Vince McMahon, alleging sexual trafficking, assault, and misconduct.

Laurinaitis was later dropped from Grant’s lawsuit after he agreed to cooperate and provide evidence against McMahon. As previously noted, the judge in the lawsuit approved a motion to move it to private arbitration at the request of all parties.

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