JBL has weighed in on some of professional wrestling’s all-time greats, naming Hulk Hogan as his choice over John Cena and Bruno Sammartino among world champions while putting Vince McMahon ahead of Roddy Piper as a heel.
During Something To Wrestle, co-host Conrad Thompson challenged JBL to a “Stay Silent” game. Thompson established a wrestler as the benchmark before listing other names, with JBL instructed to speak only when he believed someone surpassed the original choice.
Beginning with Piper as the benchmark for wrestling’s greatest heel, JBL remained silent as Thompson named Ted DiBiase, Ric Flair, Triple H and Hollywood Hogan. That changed when McMahon’s name was mentioned.
“Yes, Vince McMahon was a greater heel than Roddy Piper. Oh yeah, yeah. They’re both great. I mean, you read off all these names of really great people who are going to be either in the Hall of Fame or going to be in the Hall of Fame, and you got that one here that I think was better than Roddy. Yeah, absolutely. Vince versus Stone Cold was one of the hottest angles in the history of the business. There, you know, there may have been another angle or two that might have been hotter, but it’s in the top three for sure,” JBL said. “The thing we got out of the Montreal Screwjob was evil Vince McMahon, and yes, my God, man, that was what a gift,” he added.
Outside the confines of the game, however, JBL named Gorgeous George as his choice for the greatest heel of all time. “I think Vince and Roddy were the best. I think the greatest heel of all time was Gorgeous George,” he said. “But Gorgeous George to me is greatest heel. Freddie Blassie, great heel. Bob Orton, grandfather of Randy Orton, great heel. A lot of great heels.”
JBL also mentioned Yusuf Ismail among wrestling’s great heels.
The conversation then shifted to the greatest world champion. Thompson initially established Lou Thesz as the benchmark, but JBL immediately selected Bruno Sammartino instead, pointing toward his extraordinary drawing power at Madison Square Garden. “I don’t think anybody could do what Bruno did,” JBL said. “I think Bruno was the foundation of so much of wrestling.”
JBL stuck with Sammartino when presented with CM Punk, Randy Orton, Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, Sting, Triple H, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Roman Reigns and The Rock. He finally changed his selection when Cena’s name came up.
JBL argued that Cena’s ability to lead WWE through its transition away from the edgier programming of the previous era gave him an especially difficult role as the company’s top star. “Because of what he had to do. He had the hardest role in the history of world champions to go from a rated R era, almost and maybe past that, where you could flip off your boss, drink beer. You could drop the F-bomb on TV, which guys did. You could say GD. I mean, you can do anything you want, to a G-rated era, and still carry the company. I think Cena had the hardest role in the history of wrestling, and he did it. So yes, I think that puts him slightly ahead of the great Bruno Sammartino,” JBL said.
Cena remained JBL’s choice when Harley Race and Steve Austin were mentioned, but Hogan ultimately displaced him. “Without him, you don’t have WrestleMania. Well, you have WrestleMania. You don’t have the success you have, and you had him slam the giant. Who else could have done that? The guys that could have done it, but nobody like Hogan. On the cover of Sports Illustrated twice. I mean, big star from the Rocky movie. I mean, Hogan was….people look back in the ’80s, it was all people talk about wrestling. People talk about Hulk Hogan, one of the most famous guys in the world. So yes, Hogan,” he said.
While JBL stated that Hogan appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated twice, Hogan appeared on the magazine’s cover once, in April 1985.
When Thompson jokingly added JBL himself to the list, the former WWE Champion had no hesitation in making another change. “Oh, higher than all of them by far,” JBL said.
Thompson finished by mentioning Ric Flair and suggesting that Flair might disagree with JBL’s assessment. “Of course he would. All of them disagree with me because they think they’re the greatest champions because they all have big egos. I don’t have a big ego. I’m just looking at it from a historical perspective. From a historical perspective, I’ve got to be the greatest champion ever,” JBL said.
