Former WWE personality to make first appearance post-release
John Laurinaitis, aka Johnny Ace, was WWE's Head of Talent Relations prior to his release in August last year. Before that, he also acted as a producer and had an on-screen role between 2011-12. He is a retired professional wrestler as well.
During his stint as an on-air authority figure, his most notable bout came against John Cena at Over the Limit 2012, where the former picked up a huge victory after an interruption from The Big Show. Cena wound up getting Laurinaitis fired (in storyline) at No Way Out later that year. Vince McMahon fired him on-screen.
Laurinaitis will be making his first post-WWE appearance at Wrestlecon in Los Angeles, CA over Wrestlemania 39 weekend. He is being brought in by Bobby Fulton's Big Time Collectibles. Fulton is also bringing in WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam.
John Laurinaitis is mostly known to be a very annoying heel character on television. He made a significant run for the Stamford-based company, becoming the Interim RAW General Manager in October 2011 and later indulging in feuds with CM Punk, among other wrestlers. His most popular catchphrase at the time was "People Power."
You can read more about how wrestlers viewed him backstage here.
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When John Laurinaitis main-evented over the WWE Champion's title defense
The year 2012 was a strange one in that CM Punk was the reigning WWE Champion, and despite having the longest run as World Champion in the modern era at the time, the Straight Edge Superstar rarely main-evented pay-per-views.
At the aforementioned Over the Limit event, Laurinaitis and John Cena closed the show over CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan for the world title.
Laurinaitis held power in the company both on and off-screen and was close to Vince McMahon.
The former general manager of RAW is also the father-in-law of Daniel Bryan, as he married the Bella Twins' mother, Kathy Colace, on March 23, 2016.