Backstage Reaction To Johnny Ace Being Back In Talent Relations Role For WWE

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

WWE has put John Laurinitas back at the head of talent relations, and some wrestlers that Fightful Select heard from in the hours following the news being revealed cast a light on some of the concerns.

Johnny Ace is back at the helm of talent relations in WWE. This left several wrestlers concerned — at least those that reached out to Fightful. One wrestler indicated Ace’s insistence on embracing the “diva” style performers over in-ring acumen during his time there, and were worried that line of thinking would be reflected in his hiring method again. Ace has been out of the Talent Relations role for nine years, and has replaced Mark Carrano, though Carrano is still involved in the company. Several current WWE wrestlers told us that Mark Carrano was easy to work with on the surface, but was hard to trust, particularly after the April 2020 releases. Those cuts in general eroded a lot of trust within the company, after several wrestlers were let go who were made long-term promises, and Carrano was said to be a part of that.

This article first appeared on our premium service, Fightful Select. Subscribe to get exclusive news every day, and a half-dozen weekly podcasts. It also appeared in our Fightful Wrestling Weekly newsletter, free on Fightful.

To directly support us and our continuing breaking news, interviews, and the like, subscribe to FightfulSelect.com. You’ll get exclusive news sent to you directly before anyone else, and dozens of podcasts monthly including Alex Pawlowski’s Sour Graps, Sean Ross Sapp’s Q&A, Retro Reviews and more