JBL is a WWE Hall of Famer and his one and only WWE Championship reign was one of the most historic reigns in the history of SmackDown. The JBL character was a lot of things, and there’s no denying that he was controversial and polarizing due to some of the things he said about different ethnic groups in order to get heat.
His feud with Eddie Guerrero was what really put JBL on the map and during a recent interview with ESPN the former WWE Champion noted that it was Eddie Guerrero who helped mold his character.
“We did the storyline where we gave Eddie’s mother a heart attack in El Paso, which almost got me killed. I literally had a police escort out of El Paso and all the way to Odessa. The police told me not to come back, that they thought I would get killed. It was that great. We set an attendance record at Staples Center [in Los Angeles] a few weeks later, and because of Eddie Guerrero, he molded my character. Eddie wanted my character to work. If it had been anybody but Eddie Guerrero, you would have never heard of JBL. But because of Eddie, I had that incredible run, and it was just the right time. I had the perfect foil in this incredible Latino star, who was one of my best friends.”
Although JBL had one of the more memorable title runs of his era, he didn’t expect to become WWE Champion. The SmackDown Live commentator says that he was just in the right place at the right time and when WWE’s top stars went down with injuries he seized the opportunity.
“It just happened that I was in the right place at the right time. It was late in my career, and I thought my career was over. I tore my biceps and had two hernia surgeries. I didn’t know if I would do much of anything again, and all of a sudden you have people get hurt. Kurt Angle got hurt, Brock Lesnar had left the company, and [WWE] needed somebody against Eddie Guerrero right away. That’s when the JBL character was created.”
You can hear JBL’s color commentary every week on SmackDown Live which airs Tuesday nights on the USA Network.
