Kevin Sullivan Interviews JBL
Source: KevinSullivanBooks.com

As I prepare for another upcoming book project, I’ve been cleaning out some of my old notebooks of interviews I conducted for past books. Here’s some excerpts of a converstaion I had with John Bradshaw Layfield regarding his run with the WWE Championship.

Was there ever a point in your career where you thought becoming WWE Champion would never happen for you?
Several times. Many times around ‘97 or so, you had a guy who was head of creative at the time who just didn’t like me. Didn’t like the persona… didn’t really see much value in me. He stuck me and Ron Simmons together because his quote was “what else do they have to do?” So if that had stayed the same, then there’s no way I would have ever had that run and at that point, I thought I was just going to be relegated to what I was relegated to and not move up at all. So there was a real point there around ‘97 or ‘98 where I wondered … and again when I got hurt, I was getting ready for my big push and I was going to do a storyline with Steve Austin, then Steve quit the company. After that, I was getting ready for a push again and I blew out my biceps. So I just thought “you know what I’m too old, I’m probably past my time.” So when the run came, it was very surprising and appreciated. I think I appreciated it more so than if it would have happened earlier in my career.

Did you ever thinking about quitting at any point prior to your championship run?
I never went quite that far, but it certainly went through my mind and I kept thinking I could do it. I think I was more stubborn than anything else. When I tore my biceps, I wondered if I would ever get back in the ring just because I was 38 or 39 and my good years were behind me physically and I didn’t know if it would be worth it coming back. And good fortune smiled on me because of the bad fortune of others … Big Show was hurt, Undertaker was hurt, Brock had just left the company, Kurt Angle was hurt and they needed a guy immediately to step up against Eddie Guerrero and fortunately I was in the right place at the right time.

Where did the JBL character come from?
A lot of it was my idea. And Vince had an idea about it. Basically, I was a Vince McMahon who wrestled … the rich guy who threw his money around. My idea for it was the JR Ewing type character, who was a Wall Street JR Ewing instead of an oil JR Ewing. I think Vince saw it as a way for a rich guy who had an identical persona to him to be able to get in the ring and do the things that he couldn’t do because of both time and being on the road, his commitment to WWE and the fact that he was older at the time and couldn’t have done the schedule.

Do you think Vince lived vicariously through the JBL character?
I cannot speak for Vince, but my understanding is yeah. I think he really enjoyed the character. We used to laugh about the character all the time. We both really loved the character. And for Vince, this was what he could’ve done if he had the time to get in the ring instead of running the company. Again, I can’t speak for Vince. But I think a lot of it was Vince living vicariously through JBL.

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How special was it to win the WWE Championship from Eddie Guerrero?
If it had been anybody but Eddie Guerrero, I don’t think it would’ve worked. Eddie had been so popular. We were in the southwest U.S. a lot during that entire run. So we had a huge Hispanic crowd everywhere we went. Eddie was like the pope in the Vatican… he could do no wrong. And if it hadn’t been for Eddie, I’m not sure it would’ve worked.

And when we did the thing with Eddie’s mother in El Paso, it ended up working and working beyond our expectations, and beyond everybody in the company’s expectations. In fact, I think everybody thought it would fail.

Describe the feeling of being announced WWE Champion for the first time.
It was unbelievable. I broke in in the old circuit days, wrestled in the carnivals in Europe and finally becoming world champion, it was something that I didn’t think I would ever get. It was something that I always wanted to get and I thought I had the ability to get, but I thought it had passed me by.

What was even bigger for me was the match in the STAPLES Center where Eddie and I were the only real draw that night and we set an attendance record. That showed people that this angle–maybe not me–but this angle would draw. We ended up having a very good match and that’s what springboarded me. If that had failed that night, I would’ve been done.

Why was the JBL character so successful?
I was a heel. And I don’t think there were many then or many since. I enjoyed being a bad guy. A lot of people had a hard time being a bad guy; my success was in the character. I prefer leaving the arena and having people throwing things at my car and telling me how I didn’t deserve to be champion. I really wanted to be a bad guy and I really think that I could get under people’s skin. I understood that character very well. I saw that character a million times growing up – the rich old guy who threw money at everybody’s nose and you couldn’t do anything about it because they owned the town.

Do you have any regrets that it happened so late in your career?
I regret that I didn’t have any more gas in my tank. But if it happened earlier in my career, I’m not sure I would’ve had the mental acumen as far as wrestling went to handle it. I learned a lot during that championship reign, and I thought I knew a lot. I don’t regret that it didn’t happen earlier, I regret that my body gave out on me. Because a lot of guys are able to be competitive in the ring until they’re 45 or older. My time came a lot earlier than that because of injuries. So yeah, I regret that I didn’t have any gas in the tank because I think I could’ve done a lot of stuff over the next few years based on that championship run.

What type of stresses came with the reign?
Time commitments and the schedule. To me, it was also physical because my body wasn’t holding up. And towards the end of the run, I was getting hurt a lot. But as far as this championship run, I had been a wrestler my whole adult life and I had wanted to be champion, so the schedule to me didn’t bother me at all. I really enjoyed it.

After waiting so long to get the title, what was it like to eventually lose it?
It wasn’t difficult. There were a lot of people who didn’t think John Cena was the guy. I was one who thought he was and I knew he would do well. At the same time, I thought there was a little gas left in the JBL tank…

The match that day, Cena should’ve closed WrestleMania; there is no doubt about it. I said it at the time, but they disagreed. I think it was a terrible mistake and in hindsight it was a big mistake. No offense to the guys on the card and the guys who finished, but Cena was going to be the guy who was going to carry the company and he deserved to close the show that night.

Where does that WrestleMania match rank for you?
Not very high. It was a short match. There wasn’t a ton of emphasis on it, so I wouldn’t classify it as one of our better matches. I think the I quit match was much better and I think the parking lot brawl a year or two later was much better. But the WM match, I was very proud to be in WM as champion, but it was short and it was rushed and there is only so much you could do when you have those two things.

Who is the greatest champ of all time?
Undertaker (without hesitation). There is no doubt about it. The Undertaker could take guys that looked very bad and make them look very good. Guys raised their game to his level, he didn’t lower his game to theirs. He had to carry the company in good times and bad times. You know when times are good, everybody wants to be on top. When times are bad, nobody wants to be on top except for a few egos because they realize they are going to be blamed for it. He has had to carry the ball both when times were good and bad. Second, would be Triple H for the same reason. Triple H makes guys look very good that aren’t very good. And Triple H has had to carry the ball when times were good and times were bad. But overall, I would give it to The Undertaker. He’s been there a little bit longer.

Where do you think JBL’s reign ranks?
I would have no idea. Honestly, I never even thought about it. Now, that’s for guys to debate. In the grand scheme of things, I think JBL wasn’t around all that long. He had a good run. But in the grand scheme of things, guys like Flair and Hogan, Taker and Shawn Michaels and Triple H are guys that have done it for an awful long time and I didn’t have the body to do that. The year run would match up with anybody, but as far as the career, I’m way down on the list.