John Bradshaw Layfield also known as JBL grew up in a wrestling era where wrestlers were constantly ribbed got in fights with each other and then either made up or settled their differences outside the ring as the mid-2000s approached this became less acceptable in the era of political correctness and anti-bullying campaigns
JBL seemed to have a tough time adapting to the changing environment as he continued this type of behavior from the boys will be boys wrestling environment he started in however one night an unlikely person decided that he would fight back join us as we do a deep dive into the
Night Joey Stiles knocked out JBL Ade there have been many reported incidents of bullying from JBL via shoot interviews some of the names that have allegedly been on the receiving end of jbl’s ribs or outright bullying Antics include Billy Silverman Renee Dupree Charles Robinson Mark Henry The Miz Justin Roberts and Mara Ronaldo
According to Val Venus and others who were in the company at the time JBL tried to rib Steve Blackman and it backfired when black men fought back one of the more well-known incidents of jbl’s behavior took place at ECW one night stand in 2005. JBL was said to have been drinking most
Of the day and heavily throughout the show he did an anti-ecw promo to build to the brawl at the end of the show JBL threw several real punches and a chair shot to the head to Blue meaning during the live pay-per-view he also opened up a fresh cut over his eye
When Nene went to the back JBL was yelling at him for talking about him on the internet jbl’s claim was that he was upset over Mina saying that JBL was the reason for being fired years prior meanie was booked in a match with JBL on the July 7 2005 episode of SmackDown
During the match Stevie Richards got revenge for his friend by hitting JBL over the head with a stiff chair shot JBL came up with the idea of going to Iraq and Afghanistan to entertain the troops during the war Vince McMahon agreed and starting in 2003 Tribute to the Troops became an
Annual event for the WWE ironically during the trip back from the 2008 event it would be Joey Stiles who stood up to the large Texans bullying Behavior there have been many versions of the story told where Joey Stiles knocked out JBL coming back from Tribute to the Troops
In an interview with nfg radio late WWE starshad Gaspar said he was there when Joey Stiles punched JBL he said the WWE crew were on a plane trip to Afghanistan for Tribute to the Troops JBL decided he wasn’t going to drink on the plane ride home he and Kenny Dykstra decided they were
Going to tease JBL for not drinking JBL was getting mad as they landed in Germany for their changeover during this time JBL started drinking heavily and took it as a challenge that he couldn’t out drink everybody according to the story JBL became drunk and angry and they got back on the plane
JBL looked at Styles and started saying something Stiles got up Bradshaw grabbed him and rammed him back in the chair and dumped a beer on him Styles got mad Gaspar and John Cena told Joey to Let It Go as Bradshaw had been drinking some more time passed in JBL got back to
Styles and as he was walking past him Styles unbuckled his seat belt and double-legged JBL from behind Bradshaw hit the ground in Styles challenged Bradshaw to a fight Bradshaw threw a wide hook but Styles ducked and hit him Bradshaw fell to the side seat on the plane Styles began teeing off on Bradshaw
Until he was pulled off him on an episode of something to wrestle with Bruce Pritchard said he was not on the plane and all he heard was JBL had been messing with Styles and styles fired back Conrad Thompson said he heard that JBL was bullying Styles and crossed the line
When he allegedly said something about Styles’s wife and maybe Styles Wasn’t Man Enough or something like that and it may have been more colorful than that and then Styles knocked out JBL the idea of someone of style stature not just in the company but his actual
Physical size standing up to JBL made a lot of people proud of styles and some people called him stocky Balboa Pritchard told Conrad that he spoke with both Layfield and styles and never ever did either one of those mention those specifics that Conrad mentioned about knocking him out about his wife or any
Of that and that’s why Pritchard believes the story has grown and it’s taken on a life of its own a slightly different version of the story was reported by Dave Meltzer in the wrestling Observer newsletter Meltzer wrote that Vince McMahon was very unhappy about that news getting out
He had hoped that those on the tour wouldn’t say anything to anyone else in the company and everybody would keep it a secret Styles wasn’t wanting to talk about it and JBL wasn’t talking about it the basic gist was that it started on the flight over
JBL was very subdued and some of the guys were ribbing him about getting old not being fun so he started drinking after being teased JBL decided to keep drinking and made Joey Styles his Target JBL was really bad to him and tempers flared they got tangled up and both fell to the
Ground and several people pulled JBL away as they were pulling JBL away and with his back turned Styles threw a punch JBL didn’t see coming JBL didn’t go down and was Furious but was cut and bleeding real bad from the punch and pulled away former WWE and ECW star Nova Mike Bucci
Has his version of the incident Bucci said he was in the office in Stamford so he wasn’t there but Bradshaw had been ribbing Joey the whole trip Triple H was at a show in Triple H got a phone call from Vince McMahon McMahon told Triple H what happened as
Soon as the plane landed Triple H turned around and told everybody at the house show he said JBL was messing with Joey the whole trip finally enough was enough they started going back and forth shoving each other everybody was holding both of them back and Bradshaw got free somehow and he
Started lunging towards Styles and styles got his arm out and knocked him down Nova said Bradshaw’s wrestling career was never the same after that Renee Dupree on Cafe De Renee said he wasn’t there but from what he heard after the incident JBL would just sit in the corner and not talk to anybody
Because he got so embarrassed on an episode of to be the man Ric Flair said he’s never been the victim of jbl’s bullying but he was very critical of him he said wrestling is a fraternity it should be a Brotherhood and there’s no time for anybody to cause anybody
Personal embarrassment or hardship in our business there is no place for it we all know the story of Bradshaw it’s brutal but he’s rewarded by the hall of fame it’s their company they do what they want to do but what about the three or four guys I’ve seen
Meltdown and cry because they were so humiliated JBL addressed the bullying stories in an interview on Rick bassman’s talking tough podcast where he said we were younger we broke balls and I was a loud guy from the south and a lot of people I think took that wrong
I’m not trying to rewrite my history I wasn’t a saint we drink a lot back then we ran the roads and we always loved to crack on each other it was just part of what we did I think a lot of people took that wrong
And some of it could have gone too far I’m not trying to excuse anything I’ve done The Godfather defended JBL during an interview on the two-man Power Trip of wrestling podcast Godfather said what he is is an old school wrestler that was taught by old school wrestlers and he had that mentality
The modern day kids and people growing up were changing and they didn’t understand that but he by no means was no bully he just lived by locker room rules that were old school rules those rules are gone now Gerald Briscoe also defended his friend JBL he said John is just a wonderful person
We are both positive people once you get to know John and know his kind heart Justin Roberts told ring rust radio that JBL changed after the incident with styles he said JBL basically disappeared shortly after that and when he returned to WWE he was a much different person
That stuff wasn’t going on and the locker room had changed completely so when he came back it was a different world with different guys and a different mentality years later Maro Ronaldo took an absence from WWE after allegedly being bullied by JBL Ronaldo in WWE eventually mutually agreed to part ways
The JBL Ronaldo Story coming out coincided with the release of ring announcer Justin Roberts book that detailed several incidents with JBL with various people over the years when Roberts was with the company Layfield issued a statement after the incident with Ronaldo was reported on wrestling websites admittedly I took
Part in locker room pranks that existed within the industry years ago WWE addressed my behavior and I responded accordingly yet my past is being brought up because of recent unfounded rumors I apologize if anything I said playing the bad guy on a TV show was misconstrued JBL makes sporadic appearances but is no
Longer working full-time for WWE apparently things got smoothed over between Styles and JBL as shed Gaspar stated several years ago that they became friends after their fight meanie and JBL also became friends years later these days JBL seems to have adapted to the new politically correct environment we now live in
He has dedicated a lot of money in countless hours to many charitable foundations to help the less fortunate Joey Stiles continued to work for WWE after the incident with JBL and was promoted to the title of Vice President of digital media content for wwe.com and the WWE app
His contract expired in 2010 but he continued to work for the company as a non-contracted employee Styles left WWE in 2016 and returned to work in advertising sales in New York City as for the backstage bullying in WWE that has changed dramatically instead of drinking and taking pills
While taking on a rough schedule today’s wrestlers are spending more time at home with their family because the schedule has been cut down many wrestlers have learned from the previous generations and we are no longer hearing about people being bullied backstage
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