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Vince McMahon made several changes to WWE's main-event scene around the time of Brock Lesnar's departure in 2004. John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL), one of the men who stepped up in The Beast Incarnate's absence, recently recalled how he never intended to be a world champion.
In February 2004, Eddie Guerrero won the WWE Championship from Lesnar at No Way Out. Four months later, he dropped the title to JBL in a Texas Bullrope match at The Great American Bash.
On Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw, JBL said he thought he was "done" as an in-ring competitor due to bicep and hernia injuries. At the time, the Hall of Famer expected to increase his responsibilities as an ambassador until he suddenly received a world title opportunity:
"I was going to Iraq once or twice a year. I was kinda liaison. It was a very patriotic time in our country after 9/11, so I really thought my role was gonna be kind of a liaison between WWE and the troops and armed forces, which I was fine with, and then all of a sudden this came up out of the blue." [1:21:19 – 1:21:36]
JBL held the WWE Championship for 280 days before losing to John Cena at WrestleMania 21. His title reign was the longest in SmackDown history until AJ Styles' 371-day tenure as champion between 2017 and 2018.
Why JBL enjoyed his WWE title reign so much
Many wrestlers win world titles midway through their careers. JBL, by contrast, knew he only had a limited amount of time left in the ring when he became a main-event player.
Almost two decades on from his Great American Bash victory, JBL highlighted how Eddie Guerrero played a big part in his title triumph:
"It's kinda lucky that later in your career I have something like this, so I really enjoyed the run probably more than if I'd have had it early. I was very excited, of course. As I've said many times, and I won't go into all of that, at first it didn't work, and Eddie Guerrero was the one that saved the entire JBL character because of him and his brother Chavo and what they did for me." [1:21:37 – 1:21:59]
In the same podcast episode, JBL revealed which real-life fight could have taken place between a WCW and WWE star in 1998.
Do you have any memories of JBL's world title reign? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
