JBL... 1 year later.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

One year ago about this time... we ripped the WWE to shreads. We were wondering why the hell they were giving JBL a push into the ranks of the main eventers. Why was he next in line for a title shot against Eddie Guerrero. He later went on to win it and sink us into depression for a while....

 

...and then a funny thing happened. He started to become entertaining. His promos were getting better and better as time went on. And while he still isn't the best fucking wrestler in the world... I can say he's acceptable these days. And when he came out in that suit at Christmas in Baghdad... that was just GOLD.

 

1 year later.... has your opinion about JBL changed?

[Slayer 0]

I thought it was ironic that just as he started to grow on a good portion of TSMers, it then became apparent that the E was going to make him drop the belt to Cena, whose popularity here has descended greatly over the same time period

[Downhome 0]

JBL is the best heel character in years, and his matches have been WAY better than I think any of us thought they would be.

 

I'd rather him still be the champ over Cena.

[AndrewTS 0]

I hated him at first, but grew to enjoy him. He started to work harder and have better promos, but to this day I can't buy him as a serious champion. He's too damn goofy.

 

That being said, I preferred him as champ over Cena now, and I'd take him as champ over Orton without any hesitation.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

One year ago I said I found him entertaining, but that he would be better as a manager or even a US Champion level wrestler because his in-ring ability was lacking. Since then he has improved a lot in the ring.

 

Right now, he's my favourite wrestler in the company.

[Guest MikeSC]

Agree 100% on that. SD is the best of the two brands right now, by a fairly large margin in my eyes, and JBL's stunning improvement is a huge reason behind that.

-=Mike

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I was hoping Booker would beat him at Survivor Series but when that didn't happen, I just accepted he would be champ until Mania and hopefully drop it there. Funny thing, as Mania was getting closer and I knew JBL would be winning all the time anyway, I just accepted the fact I enjoyed his heel work... this would be aroudn the Rumble. By Mania I didn't even want him to lose (not due to Cena, but in general) and the $100 JBL bill won me over some more. Now I'm thrilled that he still carries the WWE title around.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

I was hoping Booker would beat him at Survivor Series but when that didn't happen, I just accepted he would be champ until Mania and hopefully drop it there. Funny thing, as Mania was getting closer and I knew JBL would be winning all the time anyway, I just accepted the fact I enjoyed his heel work... this would be aroudn the Rumble. By Mania I didn't even want him to lose (not due to Cena, but in general) and the $100 JBL bill won me over some more. Now I'm thrilled that he still carries the WWE title around.

Yeah, people keep mentioning HHH's entrance at WM, but I thought JBL's motorcade and falling $100 bills with his picture on it was far more impressive.

[Matt Young 0]

I was hoping Booker would beat him at Survivor Series but when that didn't happen, I just accepted he would be champ until Mania and hopefully drop it there. Funny thing, as Mania was getting closer and I knew JBL would be winning all the time anyway, I just accepted the fact I enjoyed his heel work... this would be aroudn the Rumble. By Mania I didn't even want him to lose (not due to Cena, but in general) and the $100 JBL bill won me over some more. Now I'm thrilled that he still carries the WWE title around.

 

Speaking of those $100 bills... Does anyone have an extra? I wasn't able to grab one at the show.

That's pretty much exactly how I have felt. I was super pissed when he won the belt, as I never liked Bradshaw, even in the APA. I somewhat enjoyed him before SS, but after Booker lost, I started to actually buy JBL as a main eventer and, later, championship material.

 

On the other hand, I used to be a big Cena fan, ever since his Prototype days, but he's been so stale as of late that I wanted JBL to hold onto the title. I cheered for Cena at WM21 though, just because I thought it would be cool to see a guy I was a fan of win his first WWE Championship while I was there in the crowd.

[Guest Tjhe CyNick]

Yeah he's one of my favs as well.

 

Basically I hope they keep him in the upper echelon and eventually put the title back on him.

 

I think for most of this year its important that Cena is positioned as strong as possible, and I kinda think with all his outside projects, he really should be WWE Champ for the whole year.

 

However, I hope they come up with a way to keep JBL near the top. I think he would make an awesome US Champ at this point. He could say Cena's belt is a disgrace, and try to make the US title seem like the #1 title on the brand.

 

The other option would be to use the old WWE title as some sort of "Million $ Belt" that JBL could walk around with and defend.

[Guest FromBeyondTheGrave]

I loved JBL from the start. I cheered him on to beat Eddie at Judgement Day, and cheered even louder, when he finally did at The Great American Bash.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

If JBL defends his belt like the million dollar belt, many might treat that more as the WWE title than the actual WWE title!

[Downhome 0]

In my mind the belt JBL has is STILL the WWE title. John Cena just simply doesn't say "WWE Champion" to me yet, not yet.

[Highland 0]

And you all laughed at me when I said a year ago that JBL could draw and was better than he was given credit for.

[JN News 0]

1 year later.... has your opinion about JBL changed?

No.

 

 

 

It still should've been HHH on SmackDown! It still should've been HHH taking the WWE Championship away from Eddie at SummerSlam.

[Gary Floyd 0]

At first I hated him, but he's gone on to grow on me.

[SuperJerk 0]

At first I hated him, but he's gone on to grow on me.

Ditto.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Yes.

 

A year ago I thought he was an underrated in-ring performer with excellent mic skills.

 

Now I think he is becoming very overrated by people who sing his praises as if it were a pat on their back.

[bob_barron 0]

And you all laughed at me when I said a year ago that JBL could draw

But he didn't really draw though. Weren't SD! buyrates at a record low or something?

 

I don't get SD! so I didn't get to watch much of JBL. I found his PPV matches to be pretty bad and heatless so based on that I can't really say I considered him to be a good champion.

[Promoter 0]

Well, nothing's really changed. Everyone stated they liked his character, but thought he was not world championship worthy. It's no coincidence now that his reign has come to an end people are liking the guy. Hell, some on the net started to like the idea of him holding the title for a year. I still say the guy sucked as champion for the most part. Go ahead and tell me someone who can REALLY watch any of his title matches over and over like someone as Angle, Bret, HBK, Austin, etc. You can't because all he really has is the championship victory over Eddie and the cage match and it seems like Eddie was responsible for that. Then take into account how they protected him by not really having him in serious title matches on smackdown. Where JBL is now is where he belongs. Was it worth killing Eddie's heat for JBL as champion because that is exactly what happened?

 

I don't buy that crap with Eddie admitting he couldn't handle the top. He's just playing politics. It seems like he was upset with how he was being short-changed as champion with matches against Danny Basham instead of being put in there with people like UT and Brock. JBL is entertaining though. I still think JBL and HHH in the same group would be friggin hilarious. Didn't JBL defend his title in front of 1200 people What a great draw. I'm sure Shawn Michaels' reign as champion didn't get that horrible in 1996(at least he was putting on 5 star matches and still played a big role later on with DX). Hell, Diesel probably didn't either.

[syxx2001 0]

HEEEEEEEEEELL no. He will still be APA, devil worshipping Acolyte Bradshaw. Even if he was never that, I dont take him serious as a main eventer or champion because he was practically shoved down my throat. Its the same reason I dont like Brock Lesnar.

[Guest hhheld_down]

i didnt watch sd! when he first became champ but after hearing he was beginning to improve i started watching off and on. christmas clinched it for me and now despite he cant wrestle he is one of the reasons i watch sd!

[King Cucaracha 0]

I was a closet Bradshaw mark (then again, there's very few wrestlers I honestly can't watch wrestle) from the APA days.

 

That said, I never thought he'd be bought as a top line guy. But he's improved in the ring, showed that he's a great mic worker. Mostly importantly though, he's shown an effort to improve himself. So, even though I always kinda liked Bradshaw, he's much less of a 'guilty pleasure' to like now than he was.

[Si82 0]

My opinion on JBL hasn't changed over the past year. I still don't like him or his act and I don't get all the love for him. Each to their own I suppose.

[Guest Korgath]

The only reason why I like JBL was that his gimmick allowed the Bashams, Jordan and Amy Weber to form a decent heel stable. I can't imagine anyone else playing the "Millionaire" gimmick.

 

But that WM match was just horrible either way.

[Black Lushus 0]

awww come on Korgath, we couldn't have that match go that much longer, we wouldn't want the next WWE Champion to be exposed to the marks as a piss poor worker would we?

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

Good character. I think he's a good example of my theory that guys who are left to rot for a long time do up their game if they are given responsibility. His matches are still bad, I've never seen his character translate well in the ring, but they're the best of his career.

[humongous2002 0]

JBL is OK as a US champion and should never, ever, ever touch the main event level again. Cena just sucks b/c his babyface run is as lame as his "rhymes".

[Youth N Asia 0]

At first I was iffy on the character, then grew to like it. But was really against him winning the title. About half way through his reign I really started liking him. I never wanted to say it, but he's pretty entertaining. And he was the best part of "Christmas at Bagdad" this year.

[Team Angle Pusher 0]

And you all laughed at me when I said a year ago that JBL could draw and was better than he was given credit for.

And they were right, he couldn't draw