While most of you probably best know John Laurinaitis as the goofy looking, mumbly Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw, he used to be a goofy looking, mumbly badass motherf*cker who beat up and got beat up by some of the best and biggest names in the history of the sport. He also had an absolutely beautiful mullet — like waves of flaxen gold it was.
So, in honor of Big Johnny’s 51st birthday, let’s take a look back at some matches and clips from his glory days when he was only business in the front…
Did you know John Laurinaitis has a Wrestling Observer Match of the Year award to his name? Damn straight he does — in ’96 Johnny Ace teamed up with “Dr. Death” Steve Williams to take on Jun Akiyama and the legendary Mitsuhara Misawa, and the results were stellar. Like a lot of Japanese matches, it starts out a bit slow, but by the end it’s an absolutely gripping onslaught of guys being thrown onto their heads.
For my money this mid-90s Johnny Ace/Dr. Death tag match is even better than the one above. Why? Because they swapped out Jun Akiyama for f*cking Kenta Kobashi. Hold on to your asses folks.
Hit page 2 to watch Johnny rip off his tiny pink shorts!
Everyone likes to make fun of the Dynamic Dudes now, and admittedly, trying to make a cool babyface team out of John Laurinaitis and Shane Douglas was a profoundly misguided move, but the Dynamic Dudes could bring it in the ring and they battled against some of the best tag teams of the 80s. For instance, here’s the Dudes going up against The Midnight Express from a 1989 episode of WCW Saturday night. As a bonus you also get some vintage 80s Jim Ross commentary and a classic shitheel promo from Jim Cornette on this clip.
Big Johnny mostly made his name as a tag-team wrestler, but he had his share of singles matches too. Here he is Ace Crushing Kawada.
Oh, and what the hell, here’s his infamous WXO promo, which is, in hindsight, actually one of his more dynamic on-mic performances. Also, that ‘stache.
Happy birthday Johnny. You were no Superstar or electrifying entertainer, but you were a damn good pro-wrestler. People Power.
