WWE Legend Recalls John Laurinaitis Wanting To Fire Them

John Laurinaitis wanted to fire a would-be World Champion.

After a failed try-out with WCW, Dave Bautista found himself at the WWF’s door in 2000. Upon signing, he was immediately moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling where he became part of one of the greatest developmental classes in history alongside Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Randy Orton, and Shelton Benjamin.

In 2002 the star arrived on the main roster as Deacon Batista — the enforcer for Reverend D-Von, before his name was shortened to Batista. The star went on to win several World Championships, before leaving wrestling and becoming one of the biggest movie stars in the world.

However, his early days in WWE weren’t plain sailing.

During a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, Batista reflected on his long road to success and revealed John Laurinaitis had wanted to fire him while he was in developmental.

It was a long, long road. A lot of people didn’t believe in me. Even when I was in developmental camp down in OVW, there were people with the WWE, John L, who wanted to fire me [laughs], but I just kept digging in and digging in and digging in until I finally got my real first opportunity with Evolution, and I had access to Triple H and Ric Flair, two of the greatest professional wrestlers ever, and I wasn’t gonna blow my shot. So I had blinders on. I put everything else on the back-burner and focused on my wrestling career,”

John Laurinaitis Named In Janel Grant Lawsuit

While Dave Bautista’s career continues to thrive, John Laurinaitis’s is all but over after being named in a lawsuit filed by Janel Grant alleging sex trafficking and sexual abuse. The former WWE Head of Talent Relations was named as a defendant alongside Vince McMahon and WWE.

Although he initially claimed to be a victim of McMahon like Grant, he later followed his former boss in filing a “motion to compel arbitration of Plaintiff Janel Grant’s Complaint.”

H/t to Fightful