JBL says Sean Waltman would be holding a world title somewhere if he were coming up in wrestling today, and calls him one of the smartest people he has ever been around.
JBL was asked about Waltman on the latest episode of Something to Wrestle, which he co-hosts with Conrad Thompson, following news of Waltman’s involvement in WWE’s ID program, where he mentors young talent by breaking down his own old matches and the mistakes in them.
“I think the world of Sean Waltman. Sean’s one of the smartest guys I’ve ever been around,” JBL said. “Sean is brilliant, especially as far as wrestling.”
JBL pointed to Waltman’s instinct for match construction, recalling a moment in the ring where Waltman caught a detail JBL had not thought about.
“I remember one time I was in a match, in the middle of it, I called a reversal or something. He goes, ‘I wouldn’t reverse you,’ just out of the blue,” JBL said. “And his point was, I’m too small to reverse you. Stuff like that doesn’t get by him.”
That instinct is the thing Waltman built a career on. He debuted in the then-WWF in 1993 as the 1-2-3 Kid, a name that came from an unadvertised upset win over Razor Ramon, and the entire run worked because the size difference was treated as a real obstacle rather than ignored. The note JBL is describing is the same logic applied in the middle of a match.
JBL also made a case for Waltman’s tag team with Kane, which he rates among the best ever.
“He and Kane were an incredible team. I think one of the greatest of all time, and I really mean that,” JBL said.
The pairing ran through 1999 and 2000, with the two winning the WWF Tag Team Championship together, and it worked on the same principle as the rest of Waltman’s career. He gave away close to a foot and a couple of hundred pounds to his partner, and the team was built around that contrast rather than in spite of it.
JBL said the pairing did not last because both men had other commitments, with Waltman needed in DX and Kane in his own program with The Undertaker.
JBL said the respect for Waltman in the locker room showed up in how willing people were to do business with him, recalling a finish where his own team agreed to have Waltman go over cleanly in the middle.
“That’s how much we thought of those guys,” JBL said. “Back in the day, guys didn’t put over guys that strong like that unless they really liked them, and we really liked those guys.”
He closed by backing the idea that Waltman was ahead of his time.
“Sean is a terrific guy. I just think anybody could learn something from him,” JBL said. “If he was around today, he’d be champion somewhere.”
The point JBL is making about the era is the one that holds up best. Waltman never held a world title in WWF or WCW, and the reason usually given is size. He worked at a point when the top of the card was built around larger men, and the smaller wrestlers who got over were kept a level below the world championship almost by default. That is no longer how either major promotion operates, and it is the basis for JBL’s claim rather than a general compliment.
Waltman has stayed in the business since his in-ring career wound down, through his podcast and through coaching work, and has spoken often about wanting to pass on what he learned rather than simply retell it. The mentoring role JBL is reacting to fits that pattern, with Waltman using his own matches as teaching material, including the parts he considers mistakes.
Waltman was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019 as a member of D-Generation X.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1FfdCcSNvZpxYJpFG0eJfA?si=5765de726a154ac7
