JBL

Jazzy

billy?

i liked him. as a heel of course. i remember someone saying how he was only champ because HHH didnt want to work thursdays. good analogy i must say, but this is a guy i always thought highly of. when the Acolytes started, simmons was the guy, but JBL carved himself out nicely (especially at the split). his gimmick is one of my faves, a long with his entrance/music, id say hes deffo in my top heel champions and its no wonder ppl went with cena as much as they did when he defeated such an opposite and such an asshole heel as JBL,

hes easy to mock, ill agree, but hes as memorable as the million dollar man as such as a great heel for his time. his wry smile was all that was needed

bradlente

I always thought he was an average worker and was stunned when he got his push.He's good on the mic but I can't think right now of one good match he had that i've seen on his run,possibly Eddie at Judgement day,tbh all I can remember of that is Eddie's sick juice job!

dlofnep

Clothesline from hell = Best finisher, ever.

Diabhal Beag

Average worker. True. But easily one of the best heels ever. Top 3 heels ever IMO. He got boos against Cena which during that time was the rise of the anti-Cena age. Not even Jericho could do that.


HE IS, A WRESTING GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Charisteas

Jazzy wrote: »

billy?

i liked him. as a heel of course. i remember someone saying how he was only champ because HHH didnt want to work thursdays. good analogy i must say, but this is a guy i always thought highly of. when the Acolytes started, simmons was the guy, but JBL carved himself out nicely (especially at the split). his gimmick is one of my faves, a long with his entrance/music, id say hes deffo in my top heel champions and its no wonder ppl went with cena as much as they did when he defeated such an opposite and such an asshole heel as JBL,

hes easy to mock, ill agree, but hes as memorable as the million dollar man as such as a great heel for his time. his wry smile was all that was needed

That was Paul Heyman at the ECW One Night Stand PPV in 2005.

I always liked him in the APA, but I thought his 9 month title run in 2004/5 was a huge success, and one of the most memorable title runs in the last decade.

He was just about the best heel on the roster in the mid 2000's. Alberto Del Rio has imitated a lot of JBL's traits, which can only be a positive thing.

MitchKoobski

Loved him as a heel, one of my favourite ever.

• Owning Shawn Micheals
• Chasing mexicans away from the border
• Eddie Guerrero feud
• I AM A WRESTLING GOD
• Hitting a perfect clothesline from hell

Think he was the one who pushed the idea of flying over to meet the troops at christmas and organise the Tribute to the Troops

bradlente

I'd be less enthusiastic than the rest of ye about him now.I've really never enjoyed his single matches,I was always bored watching him in-ring.He's probably had a few good matches I can't remember but the one word I think of when I think of him is boredom.His gimmick was class but I never thought he was good enough to main event and still don't.

Saying that,great mic skills and his run as colour commentator on Smackdown was pure quality,imo the best thing hes done and the best place for him,with the odd match every year or 2 a la Lawler.

MitchKoobski

JBL Beginning Promo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6XI63A35gA

Tribute that made me lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XixFAzhQUh0

Best commentary moment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuHoSeEX74w

bradlente

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HLW8HavboI

He has heart anyway,great sell here:D

ricero

He is a wrestling god and the greatest heel ever IMO

Professey Chin

dlofnep wrote: »

Clothesline from hell = Best finisher, ever.

Especially when he hit Billy Gunn with it.
He used to do a full corkscrew in mid air :pac:

parker kent

bradlente wrote: »

I'd be less enthusiastic than the rest of ye about him now.I've really never enjoyed his single matches,I was always bored watching him in-ring.He's probably had a few good matches I can't remember but the one word I think of when I think of him is boredom.His gimmick was class but I never thought he was good enough to main event and still don't.

Saying that,great mic skills and his run as colour commentator on Smackdown was pure quality,imo the best thing hes done and the best place for him,with the odd match every year or 2 a la Lawler.

I'd agree with that. He's a main event character with mid card in-ring skills. He is fantastic on the mic and everything he does is main event, other than his matches. But you need people like him around to help elevate people and feuds. If he were willing, Vince should try and have him on air in some capacity whether that be commentator, the anonymous GM, manager of a heel stable etc

DM_7

Nice Videos Mitch

I missed a few months around the time Bradshaw became JBL and never saw how the change happened before. It makes much more sense.

I always disliked JBL getting a push as I never understood why where JBL came from!

bradlente

His push showed both the lack of talent at WWE's disposal at the time and their reluctance to take a risk on younger talent,I mean he went from mid-card or lower even to title contender over night practically,which pissed me off no end.

Mr.Nice Guy

bradlente wrote: »

His push showed both the lack of talent at WWE's disposal at the time and their reluctance to take a risk on younger talent,I mean he went from mid-card or lower even to title contender over night practically,which pissed me off no end.

Agreed. This is what I hated about his title reign and why imo he got a lot of heat early on. I think it was because he was perceived as being an undeserving champion.

I will however give him credit for having superb mic skills and having seen him live in 2 shows in Dublin he is very entertaining, although his wrestling skills leave a lot to be desired.

The skit with him chasing the people off the border was one of his best moments. I remember him and Michael Cole joking about it one time.

Cactus Colm

bradlente wrote: »

His push showed both the lack of talent at WWE's disposal at the time and their reluctance to take a risk on younger talent,I mean he went from mid-card or lower even to title contender over night practically,which pissed me off no end.

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Agreed. This is what I hated about his title reign and why imo he got a lot of heat early on. I think it was because he was perceived as being an undeserving champion.

I would have thought that pushing JBL to the main event was a pretty big risk in and of itself. Any of his previous pushes as a singles competitor failed pretty badly. The APA was split in 2002, with Farooq on Smackdown and Bradshaw on Raw. And Bradshaw's push went nowhere quickly. (Farooq's run was even worse, and ended with him retiring, before coming back to briefly re-unite the APA).

And of course it was his run as champ which laid the groundwork for Cena's push into the main event, beating him at Wrestlemania 21 (where another new worker beat Triple H for the World Heavyweight title in Batista).

It was also the year of Randy Orton's first main event push (which was something of a failure) and the failed pushes of the likes of Mohammad Hassan and Mordecai.

JBL was a great heel, although it did take me a while to get behind him in the main event too, ultimately he deserved the push.

bradlente

Cactus Colm wrote: »

JBL was a great heel, although it did take me a while to get behind him in the main event too, ultimately he deserved the push.

I'm not saying he didn't,if that character was let stew for a couple of months even I would of ate it up.But it was the rush job of all rush jobs.Cena was green as peas and should've had a better worker to put him over for the strap at the biggest ppv of the year imo.

Charisteas

I've always enjoyed reading JBL's writings. As this week was the anniversary of Eddie Guerrero's death, he has added a few short stories about Eddie to his regularly updated blog, so this is as good a time as any to plug said blog, it's well worth a gander:

http://www.layfieldreport.com/john-layfield-blog.blog

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

I liked JBL. He was a fantastic heal, and in my opinion, second only to the rock on the mic. When he was in the point in 2005, he was fantastic, came out the irish rover, called irish men gay, irish women were ugly, and said how he prefered to be in england, followed by elbow drops on the irish flag!

GTR63

Man him and Booker on Commentary would be priceless.

MitchKoobski

I can fully imagine them both shouting SHUCKY DUCKY QUACK QUACK in unison.

Dickmcsavage

When it comes to JBL's main event run, not only do I remember the great promos but his gimmick matches / gimmick finishes were great too! The ending to the cage match with Big Show at No Way Out was fantastic! The parking lot brawl with Cena (at Summerslam I think?) was a good laugh too, probably because he attempted to murder Cena by setting the car he was in on fire! Now in fairness he probably had so many gimmick matches to cover up that he wasn't exactly the most technically sound performer but they were still a good laugh.