I know that JBL is a pretty polarizing guy among the wrestling fandom. I’m not going to cape for the guy here today. To say there’s some rather unsavory rumors about the “Wrestling God” floating around throughout history might be an understatement. I get it. But, I also think his transformation in 2004 and subsequent run with the WWE Championship that year is something that should be studied in scientific labs. In a vacuum, that stretch was amazing…just the run of a lifetime. And, 20 years later, I’m still trying to process just how it happened.
I mean, we’re talking about a guy who had previously done his best work in a tag team as a bar room brawling mercenary for hire. We blinked one day and suddenly he was coming out in a limousine and spewing Fox News bullshit at us. SmackDown was down bad, needed talent to re-establish the top end of its roster, and they gave JBL a shot. Full credit to the guy – he took the baton and ran with it. I could honestly spend hours dissecting that run, and maybe we’ll sit down in front of the mics and do that one day, but for now, I don’t want today’s post to run at 5,000 words. JBL is back in my mind because last week, he shared an awesome story about the night Eddie Guerrero’s mother had a heart attack…like…a legit heart attack…in the ring when they were running an angle in El Paso.
The police gave me an escort out of town and told me to drive to Odessa, Texas and fly out from there. They told me they thought I would be killed if I stayed in El Paso. I had to leave so fast to prevent a riot I was driving in my wrestling gear. Chavo Sr and Eddie’s idea to do… https://t.co/dXPllBhGLN
— John Layfield (@JCLayfield) May 2, 2024
Layfield would add in a follow-up tweet: “Notice how, when I put my hand on Mrs Guerrero, I guided (and held her) all the way to the ground. It was so she could take a bump safely. She made it look fantastic. When she went down and the place was in shock-Eddie said “Ese, you better get the $#*@ outta here!”” He says he had to have extra security everywhere he went after that. Can you imagine? This is real life. This is one of those moments when the wrestling world transcends the real world.
JBL had some fun programs during that run – his stuff with Undertaker produced several funny moments. The barbed wire cage match against Big Show is still one of my favorite cage match finishes in wrestling history. But, man…to look back at how red hot that stuff with Eddie was…there’s no doubt that that initial program between the two was the spark that ignited that historic run. Thinking about the anointing of John Cena being on the other end of that WWE Championship run, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to call it one of the most important title runs in the company’s history. All these years later, and it’s still just as wild to think about how JBL was able to catch lightning in a bottle for the bulk of 2004.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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