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#2 John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL):
In the first-ever draft, JBL (then known as Bradshaw) was drafted to Raw and remained in the Hardcore Title hunt during his time there.
JBL returned to Smackdown in 2003 and reunited with Farooq to reform the APA. After the group split up in March 2004, JBL went on to have a surprisingly successful career as a singles Superstar. He won the WWE Title from Eddie Guerrero in June 2004 and held it until April 2005.
JBL became the longest reigning World Champion exclusive to Smackdown, a record which was only broken this year by AJ Styles. In 2006, JBL retired from in-ring action to become a colour commentator on Smackdown, before leaving for Raw in 2007.
After leaving the WWE in 2009, JBL made his return in 2012 as a commentator and remained on-screen for five years before once again leaving in 2017. However, JBL still remains under some kind of contract with WWE which allows him to pursue other projects outside WWE yet still make occasional appearances for the company. JBL was a prominent part of the Blue Brand in 2004 and 2005 and it would be a fitting edition to their 1000th show.
