Report: John Laurinaitis Never Scheduled To Be At WWE SmackDown

John Laurinaitis was absent from Friday's SmackDown taping in Minneapolis, Minnesota but according to Dave Meltzer, the WWE Head of Talent Relations was never scheduled to be at the event. Laurinaitis is reportedly planned to be backstage at tonight's taping of Raw, though. 

"John Laurinaitis was never scheduled to be in Minneapolis tonight. So him not being there is not necessarily any kind of a story. I mean he wasn't there, but there were some internet rumours that he was there. He was not there and not scheduled to be there. I believe he's scheduled to be there on Monday, but I don't know that 100 percent. But if he's not there on Monday I would say then maybe there is a story. As far as he goes, it's going to be tough for him just because of the position that he's in for one. Vince is the boss and it's harder to get rid of him obviously. But for John, it's a bad look," Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio.

Misconduct allegations against Laurinaitis and Vince McMahon are currently being investigated by a Special Committee of the WWE Board. The investigation came after a report that revealed McMahon made a $3 million hush payment to a former WWE employee over an alleged sexual relationship. One alleged element of that relationship was McMahon "gave her like a toy" to Laurinaitis. 

The expectation is Laurinaitis will be replaced as WWE Head of Talent Relations at some point in the future. 

While Johnny Ace may not have been at SmackDown, Vince McMahon opened the show and he was said to be more hands-on than usual backstage at the event.

H/T to WrestlingNews.co