JBL discusses possible WWE in-ring return

John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) has no plans to return to WWE as an in-ring competitor, but he is open to working as a manager.

The 54-year-old competed in his final match in 2009 after a 17-year-long wrestling career. Since then, he has worked for WWE as a commentator and pay-per-view kickoff show analyst.

Speaking on Talking Tough, the former WWE Champion admitted he can no longer compete physically with today's superstars. However, he is willing to manage an up-and-coming star if the right opportunity comes along.

“I doubt it [in-ring return], I don’t wanna get out there. If I thought I could help one of the young guys, yes, I’d do it. If I could physically, I would do it. I don’t think physically I could do it. I would be happy to get out there and manage somebody or do something to help a young talent. I love working with the young guys. I really enjoy trying to give them my philosophy of how to be… I know a lot more about how to be a bad guy than I do a good guy,” JBL said.

JBL performed as a heel during his 280-day reign as WWE Champion between June 2004 and April 2005. He was inducted into the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame earlier this year.

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JBL has an interesting take on WWE's managers

The majority of WWE managers are shorter than the superstars they represent. Paul Heyman, for example, is considerably shorter than Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. The same could also be said for Lana and Zelina Vega when they managed Rusev and Andrade, respectively.

At six-foot-six, JBL believes he would only succeed as a manager if he worked alongside a tall superstar.

“The only problem with being a manager is I’m six [foot], six [inches]. It’s tough because I’m so much taller than a lot of the wrestlers, not that they’re even shorter than they were, but it’s hard for tall managers because you want a short manager that makes their guy look really big,” JBL added.

JBL said WWE usually hires short interviewers to make the superstars look bigger. He added that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon used to take off his shoes when he interviewed Andre the Giant to make himself look shorter.

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Please credit Talking Tough and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.