What’s the story?
Former WWE superstars Ken Anderson and Shawn Daivari recently appeared on the ‘Pancakes and Powerslams’ podcast and weighed in on the developing story of JBL’s alleged backstage bullying.
The Background
John Bradshaw Layfield has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons recently as more information continues to be revealed regarding his apparent bullying of fellow WWE broadcaster, Mauro Ranallo.
Ranallo has been off WWE television for over a month and is reportedly unlikely to return in an on-screen capacity before his contract with the company expires. Although nothing has been confirmed, speculation continues to intensify that this is due to behind the scenes issues with JBL.
Many personalities within WWE are keeping quiet on the subject, while many outsiders of the company have been giving their thoughts on the story.
The heart of the matter
Anderson and Daivari are of the opinion that a section of the current WWE roster are being too sensitive and maybe need to stand up for themselves. The former Mr Kennedy had this to say on the subject.
“I read something where he told Justin Roberts to go kill himself, everyday. He would say stuff like that, but the minute somebody would fire back at him, or just no-sell it, [they’ll] be fine. He wouldn’t keep hammering… I’m not saying that his way is right, but people are really, really sensitive nowadays for that reason.”
He would also go on to give examples of when former WWE stars Edge and John Morrison stood up to JBL.
“Paul Heyman told me this story about how JBL was needling Edge on a bus, overseas. Edge was pretty new to the company, and [JBL kept needling him]. JBL had a beer in his hand, Edge just stood up, and swatted the beer out of his hand, and said ‘Let’s go right now. I’m sick of it.’ From that point on, JBL said ‘Oh calm down, sweetheart.’ Everything was smoothed over, and he didn’t mess with him again.”
“[John Morrison] stood up to him one night. JBL didn’t like the way him and Miz had sold at the end of their match. They hadn’t celebrated enough. [JBL was getting on him], and Johnny basically just snapped on him, and told him to mind his own business. They almost went at it.”
As for Daivari, he was able to speak of personal experiences with the former WWE Champion and described how he dealt with the situation.
“John came [backstage] and just picked me as his target. A bunch of people weren’t watching [his main event match from backstage], and he goes, ‘Shawn Daivari doesn’t need to watch the main event! Shawn Daivari knows everything about everything in wrestling! Shawn doesn’t have to watch the main event! He’s good, he’s got it!’ And I said, ‘No.
You’ve been doing the same match 17 nights in a row. I can call every single move you did, I can tell you exactly what happened, I can tell you what heat you did to the crowd to get them involved, I’ve seen it! No, I don’t need to watch it tonight!’”
Also read: WWE trying to come to a settlement with Mauro Ranallo
What’s next?
It doesn’t appear as though this story is going away anytime soon and WWE will surely not be able to ignore it for much longer. Although news broke this week of WWE allegedly paying Mauro Ranallo to keep quiet on the subject, this seems to have only fuelled the fire and you’d think that either some action against JBL or a statement on the matter from WWE will have to happen soon.
Author’s take
I understand what Anderson and Daivari are saying regarding JBL’s alleged bullying and the sensitivity of some current performers, but with WWE’s backstage stories becoming more and more public in today’s viral world, such as thing can not be tolerated.
If JBL’s behaviour is bad enough to the point where his colleagues are unable to work with him, then action needs to be taken. I think it’s in WWE’s best interest to act on this issue soon if they want to prevent it from overshadowing their current product.
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