51-year-old seen as a 'hero' for physically assaulting former WWE Champion JBL backstage - Reports

Former WWE Champion JBL has earned a reputation for being a backstage bully. One of the most infamous incidents he was involved in was getting punched by Joey Styles. However, the fight between the two might have been exaggerated.

Bradshaw was allegedly not very pleasant to Joey Styles during a tour to Iraq in 2008. He continued to pick on the veteran announcer throughout. Finally, fed up with his behaviour, the much smaller Styles couldn't take it anymore and punched John 'Bradshaw' Layfield, giving him a black eye. Some reports also suggested that JBL was knocked out.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter stated that some rumors about the backstage fight were exaggerated. While Styles did punch JBL, the former WWE Champion was not knocked out. He said that Styles' punch did stun JBL, and the ECW icon was seen as a hero for standing up to the recently returned WWE star.

''Styles, who was much smaller, just got fed up and punched him in the face and stunned him with the punch. It got exaggerated to Styles knocking him out with the punch but Styles from all accounts did stun him with the punch,'' said Meltzer.

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Ric Flair blasted JBL for being a bully

Legendary star Ric Flair recently said on his podcast that Bradshaw was responsible for people having meltdowns backstage.

The Nature Boy also talked about how he doesn't deserve to be a Hall of Famer as he has acted as a bully a lot many times.

"We all know the story of Bradshaw. It's f**king brutal, but he is rewarded with a Hall of Fame. It's their company. They can do what they want to do. But what about the three or four guys that I've seen meltdown personally, meltdown and cry! They were so humiliated."

The Hall of Famer recently returned to the company as the manager of Baron Corbin. He has been featured regularly on RAW over the past few weeks and is being appreciated for his role.