JBL has reflected on the circumstances that transformed him from a longtime tag team competitor into one of WWE’s top heels in 2004, while Ron Simmons believes his former APA partner’s success was anything but luck.
During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, John “Bradshaw” Layfield discussed the creation of the JBL character and the opportunity that led to his main event program with then-WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero.
Layfield acknowledged that WWE specifically needed an opponent for Guerrero and said he knew the new character had been created with that program in mind. In his view, several circumstances aligned at precisely the right time. “I knew I’d have the opportunity. I knew because they made the character for Eddie Guerrero, so I knew I had the opportunity. They called me specifically for the match at the Staples Center in six weeks, eight weeks, whenever it was, and I just got lucky. Yeah, Brock [Lesnar] had left the company to become UFC champion.”
The end of the APA also created the opening for Layfield to completely reinvent himself. He credited Simmons with helping set the stage for that transition before Vince McMahon personally offered him the opportunity. “Ron [Simmons] had set me up perfectly with the way that with the APA quit, and all of a sudden you needed somebody for Eddie Guerrero. Vince called me and asked me if I wanted to take a shot at it, and so I knew I had the chance. Now whether it’s going to be successful or not was up to what was going to happen in that match.”
Simmons, who was also part of the interview, disagreed with Layfield’s characterization of the opportunity as simply getting lucky.
The WWE Hall of Famer pointed to the years of work Layfield had already accumulated before receiving his main event opportunity, including wrestling internationally and enduring the difficult conditions that often come with establishing a career in the industry. “No, [JBL] didn’t get lucky. Like I said before, which is cool. I understand where he’s coming from. Well, he had put his work in. Germany, Japan, traveling all around, doing the things that people don’t get to see, living in and out of a car, sleazy ass hotels and motels and that kind of thing. He had gone through multiple partners, and in and out with a single thing. It was an absolute perfect moment for that. Any other phase, I believe, would have altered that run that he had. The timing was perfect. He was prepared for it.”
For Simmons, the timing may have been fortunate, but Layfield had already done the work necessary to capitalize when the opportunity arrived.
The transformation proved to be one of the most dramatic reinventions of WWE’s Ruthless Aggression Era. After years as Bradshaw and as one-half of the APA alongside Simmons, Layfield adopted the wealthy, outspoken JBL persona and immediately moved into a high-profile rivalry with Guerrero.
JBL ultimately defeated Guerrero for the WWE Championship in 2004, beginning a lengthy title reign that firmly established his new character at the main event level.
While Layfield credits circumstances and good fortune with helping create the opening, Simmons sees it differently. In his view, JBL’s years of experience meant that when WWE finally gave him the opportunity, he was fully prepared to make it work.
