JBL... 1 year later.

[Jobber of the Week 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.

Well, I don't know about you, but there comes a point in time for me when someone who has been pushed in my face finally does something to deserve the attention. I know that when it came to Brock, when he started finally having matches that went on longer than 2 minutes and carried a couple slugs and picked up the Big Show with a busted knee (holy crap,) I started to accept him.

 

Bradshaw isn't at that point, though.

[Jobber of the Week 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?

That building was full of Cena marks. I was pretty sure that Cena could have had a match full of chinlocks and nobody would have minded.

 

The reason everyone died wasn't because of Cena's offense, it was Bradshaw holding the offense for so long and Cena winning with the five moves of doom at the end.

 

The crowd would have been much more hot if Cena hit the five moves, took a pounding, and then made the comeback.

[cabbageboy 0]

What exactly is this improvement that Bradshaw has made? He's still shit in the ring, the only reason anyone thinks otherwise is the occasional guy like Eddie who will go out there and damn near kill himself to make the guy look good. When not facing someone who won't kill himself or have a match booked with ludicrous amounts of interference, the guy fucking blows. Watch that shit vs. UT, or the Cena match. He's pretty good on the mic, always was even in the APA. But the guy was such a 2nd tier bum for so long that I can't ever take him seriously in a main event. Hell I consider him along the lines of Bob Holly or someone (Holly is actually a much stronger in ring performer).

[Jericholic82 0]

I also at first wasn't sure what to make of Bradshawn suddenyl becoming a ME heel out of the blue. But he did his best to improve, his mic skills being incredible, in ring work ok (but who cares, I mean do we always have to have workrate gods as champs? that would get incredibly boring). At least WWE has made some new Main Eventers other than HHH in the last year. As for the ratings decline, I don't blame JBL, the booking on SD has been really poor over the last year. And it's very rare to find a heel champion who "draws" Actually I don't think any one guy draws anymore. People go to a WWE show, cuz A. They are wrestling fans or B. They are WWE fans, or C. Both. Sure its cool to see some of your favs, but when you buy tix a month (or in wms case several months before) you never know everyone who will be on the card. I think the last wrestler to truly draw was probably Austin (and maybe Rock), but he hooked people to watch WWF and then those fams came to like the whole show.

 

Yea Trips probably should have stayed on SD, but then again you'd now be crying about how he was holding down the SD roster.

 

 

And Cena is the worst champion in a long time IMO, the time to give him the title was last year(hell even late 03 when he was really on fire with the crowd) , not now.

[haws bah gawd 0]

I never have, and never will buy him as a legit main eventer/World Champion. I liked him as APA Bradshaw, because he LOOKED tough. Now he looks like a 6th grade math teacher. As APA Bradshaw, I liked his runs with the European title, and his custom Texas Hardcore title (which looked like the women's title with a bull's head glued to the front of it). However, no matter how much I enjoyed his work in the APA (and believe me, I marked like a son of a bitch for the Clothesline from Hell), I never wanted him anywhere near the world title. Here we are nearly one year later, and my anger with seeing this piece of crap carry the world tile has finally subsided. I remember reading a report shortly before he won the title, that he was booked to immediately drop the tile to 'Taker on the next Smackdown tapings, so I was only slightly pissed when he won the title from Guerrero. However, when the supposed drop never happened, it was too much. I can definitely see him as the US champion, and it would fit his gimmick perfectly, but for the love of god, never EVER let the world title near this man ever again!

[Caliban 0]

I like his promos, but I'm not a big fan of his in-ring work. He really has forged an entertaining character for himself. His long title reign has giving him the credibility he needs to be just bubbling underneath the main event, but after the match with Cena at Judgment Day he should move to the upper midcard.

 

JBL needed the title reign to get his character over, but I don't think he needs the title now, he's over in his own right. He's not a drawing card though.

[Guest LooneyTune]

I thought giving him the title was one of the worst decisions, but by Survivor Series, he was actually more entertaining on the mic' than he was before. His matches haven't been great, but he has been trying to harder in the last year, so I give him credit for that. I'm kinda glad he still keeps the WWE Title with him, because it's the real belt for a real champion.

[cabbageboy 0]

I can assure you he won't have it for long...anyone who remembers the old Razor/Shawn angle knows that "He who carries a title after no longer being champ loses his bogus belt in a gimmick match."

 

Will someone explain to me why JBL won the tourney? I mean it's one of those things I knew they were going to do, but yet it made no sense. Why book the guy who just lost the title to win a tourney and get a title shot? It'd be like Austin winning the SS 98 tourney right after losing the title...it makes no sense. The entire purpose of a tourney is to push a different guy, but JBL winning it defies the very point. Add to it we now get a shitty PPV main event rematch with JBL/Cena and it makes my eyes roll.

[Guest LooneyTune]

Here's a better question:

 

Is the writing team for Smackdown so lazy they run the SAME angle for two straight PPV's? (#1 Contenders tournament for the World Title)

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Here's a better question:

 

Is the writing team for Smackdown so lazy they run the SAME angle for two straight PPV's? (#1 Contenders tournament for the World Title)

This wasn't a tournament.

 

It was a championship series.

 

Tournaments end with One on One matches (or, in tag team situations, 2 on 2.)

[Guest LooneyTune]

... Let's see...

 

8 man tournaments

4 1st round matches, 2 second round, 1 final

 

6 man "Championship series"

3 1st round matches, triple threat final (except we had a B.S. finish making it a 4-way)

 

Looks an awful lot like the same thing to me.

[Guest Ransome]

Bradshaw seems to be an asshole in real life, but I can look past that to say that he has delivered some good promos and has at least embraced his opportunity to create the most effective heel character of the last year. Nonetheless, Cena has to be the champion now, and JBL needs never touch the real WWE title ever again.

 

The initial problem was that he was thrust into the main event far too soon, only weeks removed from being the beer-drinking Texan, and entered the main event of Judgment Day without winning a single match. If they'd bothered to invest a few months shaping his character before (rather than after) his title win, more people might actually have liked him from the get-go of his championship reign.

[Youth N Asia 0]

The thing that bugged me most about his title win was that he seemly went from lower midcard to main event in no time. What happened to where the guy would just start beating everyone on their level, then the upper cards, then main events.

 

Same thing with Jarrett and Booker in WCW...went from nothing to champ in no time.

[Guest Rrrsh]

If you asked me 6 months ago, I would say that JBL has improved a lot and that as a US Champion, he would be perfect. I still think his charicter is far too midcard, and its mainly why I am glad Dibease never got the strap from Hogan.

 

But now, JBL is really fucking annoying. He is cutting HHH-esque promo's now where he just says the same fucking shit every week. He is now REALLY stale and I dont give a shit about him at all.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Here's a better question:

 

Is the writing team for Smackdown so lazy they run the SAME angle for two straight PPV's? (#1 Contenders tournament for the World Title)

Its called earning your title shot. I'll take it over HHH just getting a shot any time he wants on RAW, and it is much better than using a battle royal twice last summer like RAW did. The nice thing about tournaments is it allows you to book interesting main events for your televised shows for a month or so.

[iggymcfly 0]

Still though, the worst possible time to book a tournament is when you're giving your champion of the past 9 months a rematch. He's obviously got plenty of reason, storyline-wise to get a rematch, especially given the fact that he's still holding the title.

 

They'd be much better off waiting for the next month, when no one has claim to a title shot to build up someone that actually needs it. After losing in the Royal Rumble, the #1 contender's tournament finishing at No Way Out, and the tourney now, no one else really is a credible challenger on Smackdown. If it wasn't for the draft, Cena wouldn't even have any decent challengers.

[Guest Nater]

Yes. My value of him has dropped.

 

He has been booked like shit. All his wins were fluke or the result of generic crowd-tempering cheat manuvers.

 

He has no personality.

 

He has no ring talent, leaving his matches predictable.

 

He looks like shit.

 

Farooq for champ.

[Promoter 0]

I think this tourney thing might have been laid out for the U.S. title. Remember, there were talks they wanted things to be title vs. title at Mania. Somewhere I guess they felt having Cena job to Orlando Jordan would add heat to the match which it might have. OJ is just in limbo and they gave Cena his clean win a couple weeks ago. They just shifted the tourney to the wwe title. It could also have been the plan for Orton to face the winner of the tourney if he had switched shows post Mania as champion. Who knows, I always try to see why they do certain things and match it up with rumours sometimes.

[Guest JMA]

Like others, I enjoy his character and mic work, but I don't think he made a good champion. His persona and style would've been far more suited for the United States title. I also think that he would've been far more over if he had became JBL when he first returned from his injury to Smackdown. That would've been the perfect time to bring him in under a new gimmick (his lame patriotic, beer-drinking cowboy gimmick would've been forgotten).

 

Now, having said all that, JBL wasn't completely awful as WWE champion. I'd say that he was a mostly average champion. I think that he would draw far more now if they let him have a run with US title. I sincerly doubt that a second reign as WWE champion would draw better than his first.

 

Personally, I would enjoy seeing Cena smash JBL's "title" after their next match.

[Guest MikeSC]

I'd rather watch JBL in the ring than Cena.

 

By a healthy margin.

-=Mike

[Lord of The Curry 0]

There are people out there who wouldn't?

 

Zoinks.

[Promoter 0]

I'd rather watch JBL in the ring than Cena.

 

By a healthy margin.

-=Mike

Hmmm.....

 

Cena vs. Angle in 2003 or JBL/Angle on smackdown? Cena

Cena/UT in 2003 or JBL/UT SummerSlam 2004? Cena

Cena/Benoit or Benoit/Bradshaw? Cena

Cena/Eddie or Eddie/JBL? JBL

 

I don't know, I think Cena wins this margin. He can be carried.

Cena/JBL (Mania)=dud

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

I'd favour JBL slightly but I still maintain the greatness of his character never has any bearing on his in-ring performances, no distinctive mannerisms whatsoever.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

I'm just glad he's not champ anymore.

[Guest MikeSC]

I'd rather watch JBL in the ring than Cena.

 

By a healthy margin.

    -=Mike

Hmmm.....

 

Cena vs. Angle in 2003 or JBL/Angle on smackdown? Cena

Cena/UT in 2003 or JBL/UT SummerSlam 2004? Cena

Cena/Benoit or Benoit/Bradshaw? Cena

Cena/Eddie or Eddie/JBL? JBL

 

I don't know, I think Cena wins this margin. He can be carried.

Cena/JBL (Mania)=dud

Notice that Cena's good matches took place about 2 yrs ago?

 

Not a coincidence.

 

Oh, and JBL v Booker > ANY Cena v Booker match.

-=Mike

[Promoter 0]

Well, Cena's matches in 2004/05 included...........

Booker T, Big Show(decent), Kenzo, Rene Dupree, and Carlito's debut match(not bad actually). This list is not exactly the greatest and everyone knows the guy aint HBK or Flair in the ring.

 

JBL in 2004 had Eddie, UT, Big Show(not good, but it's Big Show), Booker T, Kurt Angle and even had a fatal 4-way with these men. JBL had everything and everyone thrown at him to try to give his his title reign credibility.

[Guest MikeSC]

Umm, Cena was put cleanly over just about everybody while JBL was not by any stretch of the imagination.

 

And Cena was rather bad this year.

-=Mike