Backstage News On WWE Terminating John Laurinaitis

There's a backstage update on John Laurinaitis' exit from WWE that has given fans insight into what his past few weeks in the company looked like.

Fightful Select confirmed that Laurinaitis was in fact fired last week, as was first reported earlier today. They reported that he was still looped into company e-mails until Triple H was named Executive Vice President of Talent Relations. He was apparently included in a series of company-wide e-mails containing sensitive information related to creative and personnel matters, but was briefly removed from mailing lists during the July 22 edition of "SmackDown". He was added back to them the following week where he remained.

Laurinaitis' name was also added to an internal termination list, which supposedly also included McMahon's name. Several talents in WWE are reportedly happy that they no longer have to deal with him. One top star even called Laurinaitis the biggest snake in the business.

Unlike McMahon, Laurinaitis was placed on administrative leave during the board investigations into the reports of hush money payments made to former female employees to silence allegations of sexual abuse, harassment, and other misconduct. News first broke back in June that Laurinaitis and McMahon were both being investigated by WWE's Board of Directors for payments that totaled over $15 million. McMahon retired soon after to the shock of fans and WWE personnel alike. His daughter Stephanie and company President Nick Khan were named co-CEOs. Stephanie's husband, Triple H was named as Laurinaitis' replacement and assumed Vince McMahon's duties as Head of Creative.

Laurinaitis was first hired by WWE as a road agent back in 2001 after he was brought over from WCW following the company's purchase of its one-time rival. He was later named the Director of Talent Relations before climbing the company ladder to be promoted to Executive Vice President in 2009. He became an on-screen authority figure as the General Manager of "Raw" in 2011. He would become a road agent once more in 2012 before he was named the Head of Talent Relations again last year.