John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) made his name in the mid-to-late 1990s when several WWE factions emerged both on-screen and off-screen. In a recent podcast episode, the 58-year-old clarified a long-standing rumor about issues in the locker room during that time.
Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Sean Waltman, Shawn Michaels, and Triple H were part of a backstage group known as The Kliq. The Undertaker's Bone Street Krew (BSK) and Bret Hart's Hart Foundation also hung out separately behind the scenes.
On Something to Wrestle, JBL dismissed speculation that the groups had real-life problems with each other:
"For instance, the Harts and the Canadians, they had more in common than, say, The BSK, so The BSK would hang out together, the Canadian group would hang out together, but there wasn't a lot of contentiousness between. I think over time people have rewritten that into history of, 'Oh, there was all this problem in the locker room.' I was in the locker room. There wasn't problems in the locker room." [27:56 – 28:14]
JBL wrestled for WWE from 1995 to 2009 before retiring from in-ring competition. The 2020 Hall of Fame inductee also worked for several years as a commentator.
JBL on the reality of WWE locker-room friendships
While most WWE stars hung out with the same friendship groups, wrestlers also spoke to members of other factions backstage and during overseas tours.
Contrary to popular belief, JBL reiterated that behind-the-scenes relationships were not as exciting as some fans think:
"Guys just hung out together, but when we went overseas or went in groups, you would see all the groups intermingling. It wasn't like, 'This is our treehouse. You're not allowed in it.' It wasn't like that. It was just a group of guys that had more commonality with each other and would ride together." [28:15 – 28:30]
In the same episode, JBL recalled how former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon wanted a six-foot-nine star to replace Hulk Hogan.
Please credit Something to Wrestle and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
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