John Bradshaw Layfield, also known as JBL, grew up in a wrestling era where wrestlers were constantly ribbed, got in fights with each other, and then either made up, or settled their differences outside the ring. As the mid-2000s approached, this became less acceptable in the era of political correctness and anti-bullying campaigns. JBL seemed to have a tough time adapting to the changing environment as he continued this type of behavior from the “boys will be boys” wrestling environment he started in. However, one night, an unlikely person decided that he would fight back. Join us as we do a deep dive into the night Joey Styles knocked out JBL.
There have been many reported incidents of bullying from JBL via shoot interviews. Some of the names that have allegedly been on the receiving end of JBL’s ribs or outright bullying antics include Billy Silverman, Rene Dupree, Charles Robinson, Mark Henry, The Miz, Justin Roberts, and Mauro Ranallo. According to Val Venis and others who were in the company at the time, JBL tried to rib Steve Blackman and it backfired when Blackman fought back.
One of the more well-known incidents of JBL’s behavior took place at ECW: One Night Stand in 2005. JBL was said to have been drinking most of the day and heavily throughout the show, He did an anti-ECW promo to build to the brawl at the end of the show. JBL threw several real punches and a chair shot to the head to Blue Meanie during the live pay-per-view. He also opened up a fresh cut over his eye. When Meanie went to the back, JBL was yelling at him for talking about him on the internet. JBL’s claim was that he was upset over Meanie saying that JBL was the reason for being fired years prior. Meanie was booked in a match with JBL on the July 7, 2005 episode of SmackDown. During the match, Stevie Richards got revenge for his friend by hitting JBL over the head with a stiff chair shot.
JBL came up with the idea of going to Iraq and Afghanistan to entertain the troops during the war. Vince McMahon agreed, and starting in 2003, Tribute to the Troops became an annual event for the WWE. Ironically, during the trip back from the 2008 event, it would be Joey Styles who stood up to the large Texan’s bullying behavior.
There have been many versions of the story told where Joey Styles knocked out JBL coming back from Tribute to the Troops.
In an interview with NFG Radio, late WWE star Shad Gaspard said he was there when Joey Styles punched JBL. He said the WWE crew were on a plane trip to Afghanistan for Tribute to the Troops. JBL decided he wasn’t going to drink on the plane ride home. He and Kenny Dykstra decided they were going to tease JBL for not drinking. JBL was getting mad as they landed in Germany for their changeover.
During this time, JBL started drinking heavily and took it as a challenge that he couldn’t outdrink everybody. According to the story, JBL became drunk and angry and they got back on the plane. JBL looked at Styles and started saying something. Styles got up, Bradshaw grabbed him, and rammed him back in the chair and dumped a beer on him. Styles got mad. Gaspard and John Cena told Joey to let it go as Bradshaw had been drinking. Some more time passed and JBL got back to Styles and as he was walking past him, Styles unbuckled his seatbelt and double legged JBL from behind. Bradshaw hit the ground and Styles challenged Bradshaw to a fight. Bradshaw threw a wide hook, but Styles ducked and hit him. Bradshaw fell to the side seat on the plane. Styles began teeing off on Bradshaw until he was pulled off him.
On an episode of Something to Wrestle With, Bruce Prichard said he was not on the plane and all he heard was JBL had been messing with Styles and Styles fired back. Conrad Thompson said he heard that JBL was bullying Styles and crossed the line when he allegedly said something about Styles’s wife and maybe Styles wasn’t man enough, or something like that, and it may have been more colorful than that, and then Styles knocked out JBL. The idea of someone of Style’s stature, not just in the company, but his actual physical size standing up to JBL, made a lot of people proud of Styles and some people called him “Stocky Balboa”. Prichard told Conrad that he spoke with both Layfield and Styles and never ever did either one of those mention those specifics that Conrad mentioned about knocking him out, about his wife or any of that, and that’s why Prichard believes the story has grown and it’s taken on a life of its own.
A slightly different version of the story was reported by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Meltzer wrote that Vince McMahon was very unhappy about that news getting out. He had hoped that those on the tour wouldn’t say anything to anyone else in the company and everybody would keep it a secret. Styles wasn’t wanting to talk about it and JBL wasn’t talking about it. The basic gist was that it started on the flight over. JBL was very subdued and some of the guys were ribbing him about getting old not being fun, so he started drinking after being teased. JBL decided to keep drinking and made Joey Styles his target. JBL was really bad to him and tempers flared. They got tangled up and both fell to the ground and several people pulled JBL away. As they were pulling JBL away and with his back turned, Styles threw a punch JBL didn’t see coming. JBL didn’t go down and was furious, but was cut and bleeding real bad from the punch and pulled away.
Former WWE and ECW star Nova (Mike Bucci) has his version of the incident. Bucci said he was in the office in Stamford, so he wasn’t there, but Bradshaw had been ribbing Joey the whole trip. Triple H was at a show and Triple H got a phone call from Vince McMahon. McMahon told Triple H what happened as soon as the plane landed. Triple H turned around and told everybody at the house show. He said JBL was messing with Joey the whole trip. Finally, enough was enough. They started going back and forth shoving each other. Everybody was holding both of them back and Bradshaw got free somehow and he started lunging towards Styles and Styles got his arm out and knocked him down. Nova said Bradshaw’s wrestling career was never the same after that.”
Rene Dupree on Cafe de Rene said he wasn’t there, but from what he heard, after the incident, JBL would just sit in the corner and not talk to anybody because he got so embarrassed.
On an episode of To Be The Man, Ric Flair said he’s never been the victim of JBL’s bullying but he was very critical of him. He said, “Wrestling is a fraternity. It should be a brotherhood and there’s no time for anybody to cause anybody personal embarrassment or hardship in our business. There is no place for it. We all know the story of Bradshaw. It’s brutal, but he’s rewarded by the Hall of Fame. It’s their company. They do what they want to do, but what about the three or four guys I’ve seen meltdown and cry because they were so humiliated?”
JBL addressed the bullying stories in an interview on Rick Bassman’s Talking Tough podcast where he said, “We were younger, we broke balls, and I was a loud guy from the south, and a lot of people I think took that wrong. I’m not trying to rewrite my history. I wasn’t a saint. We drank a lot back then. We ran the roads and we always loved to crack on each other. It was just part of what we did. I think a lot of people took that wrong, and some of it could have gone too far. I’m not trying to excuse anything I’ve done.”
The Godfather defended JBL during an interview on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast. Godfather said, “What he is, is an old-school wrestler that was taught by old-school wrestlers, and he had that mentality. The modern-day kids and people growing up were changing, and they didn’t understand that, but he, by no means, was no bully. He just lived by locker room rules that were old-school rules. Those rules are gone now.”
Gerald Brisco also defended his friend JBL. He said, “John is just a wonderful person. We are both positive people, once you get to know John and know his kind heart.”
Justin Roberts told Ring Rust Radio that JBL changed after the incident with Styles. He said, JBL “basically disappeared shortly after that” and when he returned to WWE, “he was a much different person. That stuff wasn’t going on and the locker room had changed completely. So, when he came back it was a different world with different guys and a different mentality.”
Years later, Mauro Ranallo took an absence from WWE after allegedly being bullied by JBL. Ranallo and WWE eventually “mutually agreed to part ways.” The JBL-Ranallo story coming out coincided with the release of ring announcer Justin Roberts’ book that detailed several incidents with JBL with various people over the years when Roberts was with the company. Layfield issued a statement after the incident with Ranallo was reported on wrestling websites: “Admittedly, I took part in locker room pranks that existed within the industry years ago. WWE addressed my behavior and I responded accordingly, yet my past is being brought up because of recent unfounded rumors. I apologize if anything I said playing ‘the bad guy’ on a TV show was misconstrued”
JBL makes sporadic appearances but is no longer working full-time for WWE. Apparently, things got smoothed over between Styles and JBL as Shad Gaspard stated several years ago that they became friends after their fight. Meanie and JBL also became friends years later.
These days, JBL seems to have adapted to the new politically correct environment we now live in. He has dedicated a lot of money and countless hours to many charitable foundations to help the less fortunate.
Joey Styles continued to work for WWE after the incident with JBL and was promoted to the title of Vice President of Digital Media Content for WWE.com and the WWE app. His contract expired in 2010 but he continued to work for the company as a non-contracted employee. Styles left WWE in 2016 and returned to work in advertising sales in New York City.
As for the backstage bullying in WWE, that has changed dramatically. Instead of drinking and taking pills while taking on a rough schedule, today’s wrestlers are spending more time at home with their family because the schedule has been cut down. Many wrestlers have learned from the previous generations and we are no longer hearing about people being bullied backstage.
