was ranked #77 in Pro Wrestling Illustrateds (PWI) top 500 wrestlers for 1997. On February 28, 1998, Laurinaitis would reach the highest point of his singles career as he challenged Mitsuharu Misawa for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. It would be Laurinaitis' only shot at those three prestigious belts. Following his retirement in 2000, he was placed #203 in PWI's top 500 all time rankings. World Championship Wrestling (2000–2001) Laurinaitis retired from the ring in June 2000 after the split between All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah. He soon returned to World Championship Wrestling, where he replaced Vince Russo as head booker. Laurinaitis was responsible for booking the highly acclaimed one-night single elimination tournament held for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship that was won by the debuting Lance Storm. World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment / WWE (2001-2022) Backstage roles and Senior Vice President of Talent Operations (2001–2012) Laurinaitis was hired in as a road agent after WWF's acquisition of certain assets of WCW in March 2001 and in June on the same year, Laurinaitis was promoted to director of talent relations. In June 2004, Laurinaitis replaced Jim Ross as vice president of talent relations, then being promoted to senior vice president in February 2007 and finally to executive vice president in March 2009. However, when Stephanie McMahon took over talent relations and handed over the reins to Paul "Triple H" Levesque, Laurinaitis moved down from his executive duties to being senior vice president of talent operations. Laurinaitis's tenure in this role has received criticism from those who have worked for him, including Jim Cornette who, in his interviews with Kayfabe Commentaries, described how Laurinaitis failed to work in the same capacity with Ohio Valley Wrestling (WWE's developmental territory) as Ross did, often failing to warn the promotion when wrestlers OVW were using at the time were going to be called up to the main roster or when wrestlers from the main roster were set to appear for OVW but never did. Eventually WWE would end their relationship with OVW. On-air authority figure (2011–2012) On the June 27, 2011 episode of Raw, Laurinaitis was described by CM Punk during his infamous 'pipe bomb' promo as a "glad-handing, nonsensical, douchebag yes-man" who would "tell Vince McMahon everything he wants to hear". Laurinaitis subsequently made an appearance alongside McMahon as a corporate stooge during the main event of the Money