Jim Ross: Why JBL Was A Good WWE Champion
"He had enough abilities on promos in general that he could talk his heat back onto himself."
Feb 15, 2021
Jim Ross has hailed the work done by John 'Bradshaw' Layfield in getting over as a viable heel WWE champion.
JBL claimed the WWE Championship from Eddie Guerrero in 2004, just a few short months after adapting his character to the heel persona that would define his main-event run in the company.
While the former APA member was not necessarily seen as a potential WWE champion in his early days, former WWE commentator Ross admitted Layfield had done the hard work to get himself over as a heel champion.
Ross credited JBL's mic-work and his obnoxious personality in the ring as helping to create a character that fans couldn't want to see lose the WWE championship.
Speaking on the latest edition of his Grilling JR podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer said: "I thought JBL made a very good champion because he was the kind of guy that could win by hook or crook, and he had enough abilities on promos in general that he could talk his heat back onto himself. I thought that was important.
"He was the kind of heel that was so obnoxious and overbearing that you would literally enjoy seeing him get his ass whipped. So, he had all the boxes checked there. I thought he checked all the boxes of what you want a heel to be. I thought he did a good job.
"If you had told me when we hired JBL back in the day that he would someday be the champion, I probably would’ve had a debate with you because I didn’t see it at that time. But as he got better – and he worked hard to get better – I thought he became a very viable heel.”
