John "Bradshaw" Layfield: Overrated or Underrated?

[It's...Baylariat!]

JBL, or Bradshaw is someone who reeks of controversy. At first, Bradshaw was the tough Texan ripoff of his idol Stan Hansen when he first made his debut in the WWF as Justin Hawk Bradshaw. A big guy with a washed up gimmick. Sooner or later, he became partners with Farrooq and became a member of the Ministry of Darkness with the Undertaker. They had moderate success and was mostly used for squash work if needed. Then came JBL, the self made millionaire who was above his Texan roots and traded his horse for a limo and made residence in NYC. Now, to me this gimmick worked. He was a full fledged heel. No questions asked. He did his job well, but a lot of people didn't believe he was worthy of a title reign and some even believe he wouldn't have even been considered for the reign if Triple H worked Smackdown. But overall, he was successful at his job, but he wasn't a huge draw. His opponents were.

So the question beckons...is Bradshaw overrated or underrated?

 

[klunderbunker]

I'm going to say underrated actually.

As JBL he never got a fair shake. He came into the world title picture from out of nowhere and was more or less instantly hated by the fans. Not in the "you're an evil heel" way but in the "get the hell off the screen you fucking waste of oxygen" way. More or less, no matter what he was going to do, he wasn't going to be judged fairly. Looking back, he was actually a solid heel character. the problem is that he was almost always going to be viewed as this no talent hack that didn't deserve to be world champion. The problem with Bradshaw was that in essence his main run in the company happened in reverse. He went from being world champion to being a commentator to being a midcard champion. What should have happened was midcard champion, commentator, THEN world champion. The whole thing would have worked better that way. He would have become known as a legit heel and not the jobbing main event guy. he was better than we gave him credit (or a lack thereof) for.

 

[stingerlegends]

It's very odd to me, but I remember PPV parties where the whole house went NUTS when Bradshaw came on the screen. A bruiser that drank better than he wrestled.....hmmmm.....I always thought he was a pile of junk, and didn't understand his popularity, then the JBL gimmick. DRASTIC change. I already hated the guy, now I had a good reason to. The GIMMICK deserved to be World Champ, but I'm not so sure that John Layfield (in ring) deserved it. For him to hold onto the title for so long was just nonsense to me. I have to say overrated, because his work in the APA was funny at times, and his Wall Street savvy JBL was perfectly played, but that is all Layfield ever did to get my attention, outside the ring, not in it.

 

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

I would say rated correctly. He is never going to make anyones top 10 list of best wrestlers ever. He wasn't the most flashy or the best on the mic, but he was good. He could make do with both, and coupled with the right gimmick and writing, he turned something that most wrestlers would fail with and did it well. Turning from his APA persona to JBL is one hell of a transformation that he probably doesn't get enough credit for.

Then again, he wasnt the finest wrestler in the world, and you'll never be raving about one classic JBL match in 10 years time, although there are some you definitely should check out. (04 vs Eddie GAB, 05 vs Cena Judgment Day) I think he is rated just fine. He gets credit for being a world champion and some years of service, but he doesn't get put on a pedestal, nor should he be.

 

[johnnyblaze3:16]

over rated his best years were in the acolytes and then he turned into jbl and was no where as good at drawing heat as jericho and v gurerro.

 

[Jonno]

Underrated. JBL is possibly (along with a few others) the best heel of the 21st century. His ring work was never all that great, but thats what made him such a good heel. The fact that he clearly didn't deserve to be where he was made him everyones least favourite wrestler and combined with the fact he rarely ever (if ever) won fairly made things even worse for him. But the more people booed the better he got and the better he looked.

That being said I always quite enjoyed his matches. He was an awesome brawler and had some great matches (I think so anyway) against Eddie, Undertaker, Big Show and Mysterio. He played the rich asshole bully perfectly, but unfortunately I don't think he'll ever really get the credit he deserves.

 

[modest-genius]

I can't believe some of these responses. JBL couldn't draw? Not that good on the microphone? Didn't have classic matches?

JBL was one of the VERY best on the microphone. I'd put him in my top 3, maybe in 1st for some promos. He just had it, he knew how insult someone.

He wasn't the best wrestler. But that was the point of his character. His Cabinet kept his world title. In a time when everyone wanted to be cool heels, he had the guts to be the true weasel coward heel at the time. That's what Jericho wants to be, but he can't, because we know he's badass.

And the heat he drew. He carried Smackdowns title picture every single day he had that title. He benefited that there were so many good Number 1 contenders like The Undertaker, Booker T, Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, Big Show and of course John Cena. People tuned it to see him lose and he cry about it. People bought PPV's to watch him finally lose the title.

That's a true heel, not a guy who allows the crowd to cheer for him instead of a face in a PPV match..

 

[chosimba]

Definetly have to agree that JBL was one of the best heels wwe has had in a while. He got the crowd worked up so that they would cheer hos opponent, no matter who they were. An example of this was his fued with Cena before he left. Even though Cena has always had a mixed reaction with the crowd, when JBL was there, Cena got fewer boos than normal.

Though, the main reason i think JBL was a great heel was due to his finisher. The 'bingo wing from hell' was such a poor finisher compared to others that it infuriated you when it would KO someone.

Was a shame that he couldn't have had a decent exit at Wrestlmania though

 

[Nature Boy]

Hmmmm.

Not sure where I stand on this one.

JBL is far from being my favorite, but he isn't my least favorite.

I would say he's slightly overrated, but probably placed about right.

As World Champion, I liked the fact that he got a nice long old fashioned reign.

His feuds with Eddie Guerrero and The Undertaker were great, though that was more down to them than him.

I liked the APA, and I think he was a good choice as world champion, but if he wasn't a world champ I don't think it would have bothered me and I don't think I would have missed that much.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Underrated. In a thread a few months back, I said that he was the best heel of the past decade and I still stand by that. I do wish he was in the main event in a different way but for the time he was in, he did great. Ditching Ron Simmons was a good start to his turn and his feud with Guerrero solidified it. He had great matches with Eddie as well as Undertaker, Kurt Angle, and even Big Show. I don't remember a PPV in which he didn't cheat to win when he had the title. On the mic, he was great and his country accent didn't seem to hamper him like it possibly might to Styles. JBL's style may be slow and methodical but that is whay a heel's style usually is and he did it well.

 

[KKarvox]

I don't think underrated quite describes it, unappreciated is probably the best way to describe it. He was always a great talker, and his style of wrestling wasn't amazing, but he could work the ring well enough to be one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. His commentary work was freakin' great, honestly probably my favorite heel announcer ever, he was just so easy to hate, that i just loved his character. His political humor was funny too, because he made you not just hate him, but politicians and wall street execs as well. So well o think he is fairly rated in terms of wrestling ability, he definitely is under appreciated, and i really want him back as a manager or GM, or even as an announcer again.

 

[CKDaimen]

I think he was one of the most underrated champion of our generation. I think big men get a bad rap from the IWC and it's very, very hard for them to satisfy fans. JBL was just another big man who everyone said was boring and a bad worker. I enjoyed his matches, though, especially his long Smackdown title reign. I hated the first few months of that reign but he won me over, and by the time he won his title match at the 2005 Royal RUmble, I was a huge fan of the reign. I think his WM match with Cena had great buildup, even if it didn't deliver at the event. He was great not only on the mic, but with self promotion in general. He made you believe he was really something special. That's a skill that very few people have. Even if you are great on the mic, that might mean you can entertain the crowd, but doesn't neccesarily mean you can promote yourself to another level. I think JBL is arguably the best self promoter of all time.

In the ring, I always thought JBL wrestled a very physical style. His moves were fundamental, yet different, and he did things in his own style. Like his kick to the head, his short-arm clothelines, his shoulder tackle, and last but not least, one of my favorite finishers ever, the Clothesline from hell. Most of his moves, like the ones listed above, were very hard hitting. I think the IWC lacks appreciation for physical, hard hitting wrestling, and JBL had that. I was very entertained by JBL, and his promos were gold.

I'd also like to point out that his tag team with the APA is also VERY, VERY underrated and damn near forgotten. Everyone always talks about the Hardys, E & C, and the Dudleys, but the APA were always in the thick of things too, and managed to win the tag titles multiple times. The APA are one of the most underrated tag teams of all time.

I think JBL's career is right in the same league as Booker T. But like most big men, JBL has to work more for props, and I never really thought he got it, at least not while he was active. How he will be treated and remembered in retirement remains to be seen.

 

[Mr. TM]

Underrated.

This is obvious to me every single day that I miss him on my screen. Without him, there has been that lack of a great main event heel.

He pissed people off, and even the internet boars who seem to be very smarky hated him. Obviously he was doing his job. He could cut promos that matched very well in society. And that is what made him good, he touched on social issues, not on "fear" which hardly works now a days. I can honestly say that JBL is one of the best modern heels.

 

[JGalaxtic]

Clearly - and I'm not sure if I'm wrong about this but perhaps the most underrated former world champion in history, unless you count those early transitional champions. And alot of you are either blind or utterly insane saying that JBL's mic skills and ring tech was terrible. Billed to look powerful as all hell, paid to protect people if needed, along with his buddy Ron Simmons, they were the APA. I'm just gonna make a guess that you forgot about all those awesome tag matches they had with basically every team in the 90s. And finally he comes up with gimmick thats probably as close as it gets to the real JBL. I do imagine him being a rich prick - who knows all the right people to say whatever he wants, still physically powerful but the money has made him alittle soft - worried. Like someone is out to get him - and he did that perfectly when he created the on-screen character. I have a funny feeling that the WWE planned the whole time that JBL's title run was going to be the only one. And I'm glad that his only run was solid, fun, and something I won't forget so easily. His title defenses were intense, everyone was on their toes to see JBL loose, but he didn't - at least not for 9 months. Classic.

 

[X]

Wow, I can't believe all the people claiming this man is underrated. Seriously? Greatest heel of the last decade?

JBL, atleast on this forum, is one of the most overrated wrestlers in a long, long time. The man used to be a decent power wrestler when he was teaming with Ron Simmons, but once he became "JBL" he was so far past his prime that watching him work was just fucking painful. The only time the man could ever have a good match was if there was no wrestling, and just brawling, like his matches with Cena. Apart from their I Quit match, I can't think of a single JBL match that wasn't absolute total fucking drivel.

And his mic work? Decent. Not exemplary. Nothing he was doing was new or particularly creative, he was doing the same exact shtick that guys like DiBiase were doing 20 years ago. Hardly groundbreaking stuff. He was a decent heel, but his abysmal work whenever he got into a wrestling ring is what leads me to call the man massively overrated. Absolute garbage in the ring.

I really dug him as a commentator though, he was very good in that role.

 

[Mr. Steve]

Very Underrated. As pretty much everyone said when they said that JBL was underrated, he played his job as a heel to perfection. His job was to hate him, and as far as I remember, a fair a mount of people would bash him in the boards (jiggly boobs layfield comes to mind) He would instantly get a face to draw because of his work to make you hate his guts, and people did. And also, his transition from this texan badass that can drink in the APA days to the self-made millionaire was nothing short of better than good. The second he would take a mic and talk, it was an instant heat for him. If anything, he showed people how a modern heel draws, not by fear, but by news. His work with HBK was downright amazing, as he did his part of being the guy that bailed out Michaels in exchange for getting a world title. He basically snagged a face bodyguard and made it work, even after when Michaels broke away from him at No Way Out.

In short, JBL is severely underrated, but it's not like he should be placed on the golden throne of heels. He should just be given the credit where it's due in his work as JBL, the modern-millionaire heel.

 

[chanfan304]

I think JBL's career is right in the same league as Booker T.

What?!?!?! Are you f'n kidding me? JBL in the same league as Booker? Not on his best day, my friend! Booker T would be the underrated one in this situation compared to JBL. Booker was by leaps and bounds much better all across the board. As for the APA comment, I don't think it was underrated; it was huge back in the day. Maybe it's not remembered as much, but it did end up going the way of mainly comedy skits at the end. (But what awesome skits they were... although I never thought that their APA, Always Pounding Ass shirt was very smart marketing... now for Billy and Chuck maybe. ) Anywho, JBL was overrated for sure. He was horrible and I avoided him like the plague on tv. PPVs were watched on DVD so I could skip his matches. Ugh. xfearbefore has made the perfect point so I won't even try to go any farther w/this one. I just had to comment on the Booker thing. Had to. Tried to hold it but I couldn't...

 

[byrnside]

Hmm.. I could've gone either way on this. But after thinking about it, I've voted overrated. But just barely. I loved the APA. I always thought they were one of the most creative tag teams in the Attitude era, or any era for that matter. I've always had somewhat of a catch-22 with JBL. I love his respect for this business, but at the same time, he could take it too far to the point of being the locker room bully. I never thought he deserved a world title, in fact, I never really bought him as the Texas version of Ted Dibiase Sr. It was creative I guess, and he was decent on the mic, but I just didn't buy in. I thought he made a great mid card wrestler, and an even better tag team wrestler. I always thought he got his WWE title because of his years of service and loyalty, but also felt there were more who deserved it more. It's too bad he couldn't stick around as a commentator though, I did always like him behind the booth.

 

[b3zy]

I actually Miss JBL... He is very underrated. He was the Ultimate Heel and he made sure you hated him... From his cocky mic work which is very well to his Physical aggressiveness in the ring made him always decent to watch..

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'd probably have to say that he's properly rated where he is. After the APA pretty much stopped being a viable team in the WWE around mid-2001, Bradshaw just kind of floated around with the company for years. For nearly three years, he was just never really involved in anything viable. If he and Vince McMahon hadn't had so much in common on a personal basis, he probably would've been let go before anything could've come about with the self-made Texas millionaire gimmick.

I thought the gimmick was great. Most backstage reports describe JBL being an asshole and this character just seemed perfect for him. It just didn't seem like any sort of a stretch to pull it off. He cut some great promos and was involved in some good feuds and matches. Ultimately, however, JBL won't make all that many top 10 lists because of the duration of his character as an in-ring competitor. He was commentating on Smackdown only after about two years with this character and, while he was a pretty good heel commentator, For me, he just wasn't in the ring long enough for me to ultimately say that he's one of the all time greats.

 

[gd]

JBL gets a lot of hate on here, but I definetly think he's underrated. He may not have had the 6 pac physique or that athletic ability of some, but he was a true heel. His job was to make faces look as good as possible and he did that perfectly.

He was great on the mic with his dastardly accent and is definetly one of the best heel mic workers in the WWE recently, right up there with Jericho. His feuds with Jericho, Cena, and HBK were are tremendous because JBL was able to be the mean bully that everyone loathed, and put the faces over.

JBL is one of my favorites and the WWE is seriously lacking without him. It's a shame how he went out, losing in 30 seconds to Rey Mysterio is just silly.

 

[NOD_FAN]

JBL was one of the best heels in the last 6-7 years and may have been the best heel they had.... With him against eddie g was classic.... Wish he could have stayed healthy to ride out his JBL gimmick are started it a few years later.. He is def underrated.. One of the best wrestlers on the mic ever...

 

[jmt225]

He's overrated. In fact, JBL just fucking sucks, period. There was nothing about the guy that made a good World Champion. He was fucking horrible. People say he can cut good promos… bullshit. He cut the same promo every single night. People say he got good heel heat… again, bullshit. He didn't get, "Booo!!! I hope you lose!" type of heel heat. No, he got the, "Get the fuck off my screen, you worthless cunt." type of heat. The guy just fucking blew; simple as that. I know I can’t be the only person here who changed the channel whenever the douche was on the show. Honestly, I would watch Hornswoggle over this guy; that's how much he blows.

 

[hawaiianbulldog]

I have to go with underrated.

He was different and he made a great heel. in his JBL days he was great and as a wrestler he had some good feuds like with john cena that was a great feud and JBL has good in ring talent to add to size he is very underrated

 

[CKDaimen]

What?!?!?! Are you f'n kidding me? JBL in the same league as Booker? Not on his best day, my friend! Booker T would be the underrated one in this situation compared to JBL. Booker was by leaps and bounds much better all across the board. As for the APA comment, I don't think it was underrated; it was huge back in the day. Maybe it's not remembered as much, but it did end up going the way of mainly comedy skits at the end. (But what awesome skits they were... although I never thought that their APA, Always Pounding Ass shirt was very smart marketing... now for Billy and Chuck maybe. ) Anywho, JBL was overrated for sure. He was horrible and I avoided him like the plague on tv. PPVs were watched on DVD so I could skip his matches. Ugh. xfearbefore has made the perfect point so I won't even try to go any farther w/this one. I just had to comment on the Booker thing. Had to. Tried to hold it but I couldn't...

How is that ridiculous? We're talking about their resumes. How can you tell me JBL's resume isn't close to Booker T's? I didn't say he was even or better than Booker as far as his resume, I said he was in the same LEAGUE. The fact that I would say he is in the same LEAGUE as someone to prove my point would imply that I think Booker has a better career. But your reaction to me comparing JBL to Booker T is another example of how he is underrated. I give Booker credit for his World title runs in WCW, but let's face it, the title changed hands every week and WCW sucked badly when he won them. If you combine all of Booker T's world title reigns in both WCW and WWE, to JBL's time as champion, it isn't much longer. Furthermore, JBL, like Booker T, had success in the tag team ranks first, which is what inspired me to make that comparison. And finally, I would argue that JBL appeared in MORE main events and World Title PPV matches than Booker T. You put that all together, and JBL's resume is VERY CLOSE to Booker T's, some could even argue better. But because of how good the Harlem Heat was, and because he has done well in three different promotions, and because he has put on more classic matches, I put Booker above JBL, but I think if you look at my reasoning you will see that an unbiased wrestling fan can see that JBL's RESUME is in the same LEAGUE as Booker T's.