5 Epic WWE moments that happened when Vince McMahon coincidentally missed the show

#3 JBL’s legendary title reign begins

In February 2019, WWE producer Bruce Prichard recalled various stories on his ‘Something To Wrestle With’ podcast about The Undertaker’s run with the company between 2004-2006.

When the conversation turned to ‘Taker’s Concrete Crypt match against The Dudley Boyz at Great American Bash 2004, Prichard revealed that there was a lot of chaos behind the scenes that day because Vince McMahon was absent from the pay-per-view.

One of the biggest moments from the show came in the penultimate match when John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) defeated Eddie Guerrero in a Texas Bullrope match to begin his legendary reign as WWE Champion.

The unpopular outcome might not have felt epic at the time, but JBL went on to have one of the most memorable WWE Championship reigns in history before finally losing the title to John Cena at WrestleMania 21.

The former APA member’s record as the longest-reigning WWE Champion in SmackDown history (280 days) stood for over 13 years before AJ Styles surpassed it in 2018.