Does anyone miss JBL?

[RKO18]

Just watching Armageddon 08 where it is revealed that Shawn is JBL's new employee and it got me wondering where JBL would fit in right now. In my eyes JBL went out as a very underappreciated performer. He may not have had the best look in the WWE, but he could cut a promo with anyone and had one of the best heel characters ever in my opinion. The guy laid down for anyone and constantly worked hurt. People say he looked fat, but if you look at him recently vs. 04-05 you would see that he worked hard at losing weight. Plus he had a lot of people left to work with (Edge, HHH, and Jeff Hardy for example. But ultimately they dropped the ball hard on the Michaels angle. HBK/Taker was great but it should have been JBL/HBK this year instead of at No Way Out. That is how you end a career. He was embarrassed at the 25th anniversary and he will never be back because of it. The WWE let a great performer walk out who had one more good year left.

Thoughts?

 

[matty256]

I agree with you %100 that JBl was very very underappreciated. The man was a great heel especially when he had his 10 month title reign. I was very entertained by the Micheals JBL angle and thought it was one of the best at the time. I do have to have to disagree with you about Wrestlemania though. If we hadnt seen The Taker HBK match the whole card would have been shitty. And who would have been better to face Taker at the 25th Wrestlemania in thier homestate then HBK? I do feel they went overboard by making him lose to Rey Mysterio in 30 seconds. This was the first time the IC title was defended at Mania since when? at Wrestlemania 18 when RVD beat Regal for it? ( please correct me if i'm wrong) . But they could have at least made this a 10 minute match instead of having JBL job to an almost 200 lb less Mysterio. Imo it was a spit in the face to a man who helped carry this company from 04 to 05 and i wont be suprised at all if JBL never comes back. But as far as what he'd be doing now, if not drafted to ECW or Smakkdown! I think he could have feuds with MVP and Kofi over the US title

 

[LynchCats]

As a heel, yeah I miss ol' Jiggly Boobs Layfield. Hell, as a commentator, he was better than most of the guys they have now. I know that it was his intention to put Rey over at Wrestlemania 25 this year, and I wish they had done a better job of handling the match instead of making him lose a squash match in 30 seconds. The WWE creative didn't give JBL the proper respect of a last match. They turned him into Vickie Guerrero. Classless.

 

[shafe_41]

I miss JBL behind the desk and doing commentary. I do not miss JBL in the ring though. He was like... the most dominant jobber ever. He'd get pointless matches against Charlie Haas and destroy him. But to every other superstar that was always on a higher level than JBL, he jobbed to them alllllllllllltheeeeeeeeeetiiiiiiiiiiime. His IC title reign was a joke. It was just so he could hold all the titles before his career was over. He did earn the triple crown though because like him or not... he was great in the ring before he took his time off and got behind the desk. He was just never the same after that.

We will see tomorrow how much we really miss JBL because if the Miz comes out tomorrow night looking like a star... we'll be saying "JBL who?" IF the Miz does not, then JBL's gift of gab will be missed a little. I totally agree with above when said that JBL was underappriciated. But from what I hear in the back, he was almost as big of a bully out of the ring as he was in the ring. He was just one of those guys that really thought his respect should mean the world to the other guys. In a way, it should. JBL is a veteran of the business and he's been around. He knows what he's talking about. But JBL is also not the greatest of all time, even though he kinda carried himself like he was. And again... that wasn't just his character.

JBL did need to move on. The last year and a half, he was just a shadow of himself. He never had the athletic ability he once had. The Miz makes me miss JBL less and less, and you know that probably pisses JBL off because he did not like the Miz...at all. Did not like was probably an understatement. He had it out for the Miz. So I can't wait til tomorrow to see the Miz rise up, and really take over JBL's spot on the roster for a long long time to come.

 

[golden miz]

I miss his promos not his matches so I would love him back but only as manager. He was great in his promos but wasn't great in the ring and got his push way to late in his career. I would love to see mr jiggles back but please not in the ring for gods sake. His match vs mysterio durring wrestlemania was clasic, for that matter most things he did was classic. I would love to see him as kendricks manager this way we get great promo work from jbl and great ring work from kendrick since one can do what the other cant and visa verse.

 

[Muttley]

I loved JBL on Smackdown...both as an in-ring competitor and as a commentator...but when he came "out of retirement" to face Jericho, things seemed to go downhill. He wasn't really that interesting anymore for some reason, especially on Raw.

JBL did so much on Smackdown for a certain amount of years, and when he first went to Raw, I thought that he was going to be pushed just like he was on SD!

But to answer your question, I've missed the real JBL for awhile...even when he was around on Raw, which is why I was hoping that JBL was going to be the person who bought Raw

 

[Scott Free]

Who ??
Wait, the cowboy millionaire guy, right, now I remember...no, I don't miss him at all. Typical cookie cutter heel who'se finisher was a clothesline, Stan Hensen would have been proud.

 

[Alanson]

Are you all serious? JBL? The guy was shit. He could cut a promo? There's not 1 promo to date that i can say JBL was in that i would call entertaining. His promos with Michaels was good because Shawn made him look good. The one who posted this thread commented about his and HBK's feud.. exactly. It was his only good feud in my opinion. Thank Shawn for that one.

Not to mention the guy was a bully backstage.. which in my eyes.. takes away even more from him then his pathetic ring work. So was Hardcore Holly, might as well made him the champ instead.. at least he wasnt fat. JBL was absolute shit.

Lastly.. how can you say it should have been HBK vs JBL at WM25? HBK vs Taker stole the show.. if not for that match.. this would have been by far the worst Wrestlemania in history.

 

[klunderbunker]

I think JBL could have been a decent guy to have in the midcard. He was a weird case as his resume was that of a main eventer but his ability simply wasn't high enough to be in the main event level. He could have had some solid mid card feuds i think though and could ahve put some people over. HIs gimmick was solid enough that he drew a lot of cheap heat, so sure, he could have been good for a solid midcard heel which you can't have enough of, but I wouldn't say I miss him. There's a spot he could fill, but it's not like I'm begging for him to come back.

 

[RH23]

Yeah I miss JBL. This guy could get heat from just about everyone. But I miss him more as Bradshaw, as a member of the A.P.A. haha lol.

 

[scabooshmoo1]

Yeah I miss JBL. This guy could get heat from just about everyone. But I miss him more as Bradshaw, as a member of the A.P.A. haha lol.

totally agree i do miss jbl on the mic he was one of the best he never screwd up on the mic and was so confident and got so much heat.. but his work with ron simmons in A.P.A and acalytes was his best stuff

 

[Motor City Mayhem]

I think more then anyone, WWE misses JBL.

Everyone complains that on Raw there arent enough Heels and that everythings getting stale well if JBL was still on Raw then tat wouldnt be a problem. He would be your 2nd best Heel. Everyone hates, and he can make anyone hate him. I think that by eliminating JBL that you create this huge whole...The reason he left I think was because WWE had no more plans for him when he was there but now could really use him. Its the classic thing of "You dont know how much your gonna miss something till its gone" type thing.

 

[tLight]

JBL was great when he was on Smackdown, and feuding with Eddie Guerrero, and back during his APA days. But his last 3 WWE years sucked, he hasnt been good in a long time. When he had his Cabinet he was a great heel with a decent stable of wrestlers under him.
It sucks that he went out losing to Rey Mysterio(I dont not/have not/will not ever like Rey Mysterio) in a squash match at WM25(how a 160 pound midget squash a 6'6 300 pound guy is beyond me) They could of done something much better than that to send him off.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

If you don't miss JBL then you...must like Jim Ross. Better in every single way.

As for wrestling ability he was fine. A stiff brawler works well for most.

I don't miss him though. Like I don't miss anybody. But I'd welcome his return. I wanted to see him vs. Triple H.

 

[Razor]

Just watching Armageddon 08 where it is revealed that Shawn is JBL's new employee and it got me wondering where JBL would fit in right now. In my eyes JBL went out as a very underappreciated performer. He may not have had the best look in the WWE, but he could cut a promo with anyone and had one of the best heel characters ever in my opinion. The guy laid down for anyone and constantly worked hurt. People say he looked fat, but if you look at him recently vs. 04-05 you would see that he worked hard at losing weight. Plus he had a lot of people left to work with (Edge, HHH, and Jeff Hardy for example. But ultimately they dropped the ball hard on the Michaels angle. HBK/Taker was great but it should have been JBL/HBK this year instead of at No Way Out. That is how you end a career. He was embarrassed at the 25th anniversary and he will never be back because of it. The WWE let a great performer walk out who had one more good year left.

Thoughts?

Well. I mean, he was a great performer. His mic work was great. People really hated him. Plus, people actually cared about his matches. They WANTED him to lose, no matter who he was against. Could have been a random jobber, people would still want JBL to lose.

The thing is, he didn't wrestle the Hart style of wrestling. After all, most don't see you as a good wrestler unless you know a million choke holds and reversals. If people would get the wax out of their heads, and realize that we're not here to see two men really, actually prove who can pin the other for 3 seconds, a lot more workers would get the credit they deserve. JBL wrestled more of a brawler style, like Cena. A lot of the IWC don't like that. They want everyone to either be Benoit masterpieces, Benjamin spot monkeys, or a hybrid of the two. Only thing is, it would have looked completely silly for JBL to be jumping around or for JBL to hook on a Crossface and expect the crowd to actually think he can pull it off.

JBL was underappreciated by the IWC. But really, this is the age where super high jumps and the promise of potential is enough to get you over. No matter that no one gives a shit...and it's your job to make them do just that.

 

[Devlin]

Not really, his character had gotten stale, he was nothing more than a modern day Ted DiBiase, except not as cruel.

 

[gd]

I totally agree with you, I do miss JBL. I think that he was completely underrated the last couple of years in the WWE. He was a solid heel who was great on the mic and could work a decent match to put faces over. I actually enjoyed his matches against Punk when he was champ.

However, I don't think it should've been him against HBK at Wrestlemania. Sure it was a good angle, but it probably couldn't last that long. It did end somewhat abruptly, but if it happened at Wrestlemania we would have never seen HBK/Undertaker.

Of course, that also meant we saw the absolute joke that was JBL/Mysterio, but when a guy like JBL says he's leaving, the WWE isn't going to bother making him look good on the way out.

 

[HBK-aholic]

Not really. At one point JBL was interesting. His character got boring quite fast, and I'm not sure what the WWE would do with him right now because he simply isn't that great. He had a few good matches with Shawn before he left, but even they weren't great. JBL left at the right time for him - he'll be remembered as a good wrestler. I don't think he's overrated or underrated, he's one of the few wrestlers rated correctly.

 

[SophieDavies]

I really do miss JBL commentating SmackDown. He has had some gold moments, like the time he told Cole to shut up. He was hilarious and so outgoing, it seemed that the crowd really loved him aswell. I remember seeing signs in the crowd like "JBL Commentating God". From a wrestling point of view, I don't miss him. He got really stale after a while and it was just the same thing over and over again. Then he quit and then came back? He should of left and stayed either gone or as a commentator. I'd prefer JR & JBL to JR & and that lost cause Todd.

 

[Miko]

I am afraid this could well be a carbon copy of a post I made in a thread with a very similar title a while back, but fuck it, it's all for the all important post count after all.

Yeah I miss JBL, I miss the kind of heel he was, as I said in the other thread, the way he left was the perfect example of how good he was at making people hate him, he didnt turn face, he didnt kiss up to the fans, he got humiliated, he got his arse kicked and everybody loved it. He then went out to a huge chorus of boo's. It's what the man was great at doing.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

JBL was a better heel than Edge and Orton in that nobody ever cheered for him. He got heat like nobody else and could back it up. He was a good counterpart to Michael Cole on Smackdown and would be a great one to Jim Ross. It's a shame his matches with Undertaker messed up his back because I could have seen him as world champion again.

 

[Shocky]

The short answer, no, not int he slightest. JBL was terrible. His promos were boring, his body sloppy, his matches, even worse. Nothing about the guy was remotely entertaining. He was a piss poor reinvention of teh Million Dollar Man, nothing more, nothing less. He fancies himself to be Stan Hansen, I fancy him as the Brooklyn Brawler, with a bigger build. The guy stunk, and I havent' missed the man in the slightest, in fact, he never should have came back.

 

[GSM]

HIs gimmick was solid enough that he drew a lot of cheap heat.

I wanted to point that out as well, I´m going to miss JBL because he had the ability to turn cheap heat into hardly earned and "deserved" heat.

The way his words formed "weapons" was awesome and maybe only second to Chris Jericho.

He could do a improvised worked-shoot for nealy 20 minutes and I wouldn´t get bored any second.

In terms of promos he certanly had it.

His ring-skills weren´t as bad as so many state they were solid and he was a good brawler.

I´d love to see him back in the WWE and have a really good feud with Jericho or even Punk.