"Shouldn't have happened" - Jim Ross says Vince McMahon chose controversial figure over him for backstage role

In 1997, Vince McMahon gave Jim Ross one of the most important roles in professional wrestling - the head of talent relations. He served in that position until 2005, when he was asked to step down in favor of the younger, and eventually more controversial, John Laurinaitis. JR recalled how McMahon chose Johnny Ace over him.

Jim Ross has never been one to mince his words about John Laurinaitis. Johnny Ace replaced him in his role as the head of talent relations in WWE, and according to JR, he made no secret of it. On the latest episode of Grillin' JR, he went into detail about how Johnny Ace pushed Vince McMahon for the role.

He explained how Vince McMahon eventually sided with Laurinitis over him, although he admittedly had a reduced workload while still getting paid for it:

“I know he kept pushing Vince, and he was younger and he looked good in his suit. He had pretty teeth and look at me, I can’t even smile. Vince sided with John and decided it was time. He was very nice and he couldn’t thank me enough for my contributions. I think he made me the EVP of business strategies. I had some title I don’t know it’s meaningless didn’t matter. My money didn’t change, my hours didn’t change. I worked less hours, actually. The payroll still had to be paid. The funny story about that is that I was still doing payroll."

He added:

"I got in a conversation about something and I said ‘Well, I gotta finish payroll.’ He said ‘What do you mean you got to finish payroll? That’s not your job anymore.’ I said ‘I understand that Mr. McMahon, but your new guy doesn’t understand that.’ It was an arduous this, you know, mind-numbing responsibility every week. There’s no off time. You can’t not pay a guy. You cannot fail or screw their money or make their checks late whatever it may be. So, it was a messy deal. Shouldn’t have happened." (H/T 411Mania)

Jim Ross was more than happy when John Laurinaitis lost his job post-Vince McMahon scandal

In the summer of 2022, John Laurinaitis was named in the allegations against Vince McMahon, after which he was immediately released from his role. When asked about it, Jim Ross made no effort to hide his ill will towards Johnny Ace, who he had hired:

“I had a hard time as time went on trusting Laurinaitis. That’s sad to say. I hired him. I gave him a job when he needed it," Jim Ross said. "I don’t think he treated me quite right. He just wanted to show Vince that he was a better manager than JR and all these things. So now his ass is without a job and he deserves the Goddamn misery that he’s living, that I perceive that he’s living, and I didn’t like how he treated me.”

Most WWE fans seemed happy about John Laurinaitis' WWE release, and the overall backstage morale seems to have gotten a big boost since then.