TDK
Main Eventer
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2011
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<table><tr><td>JBL: If They Weren't Booing, I Wasn't Doing My Job
Retired wrestler JBL was interviewed at-length by the Bermuda Sun discussing his wrestling career. Included was an item on JBL disagreeing with WWE CEO Vince McMahon about the inspiration for his rich-man character. "Vince McMahon will deny this because he didn't see any parallel with the J.R. Ewing character (from "Dallas"), but in my mind it was a J.R. Ewing character. It was my idea," JBL said.
He noted McMahon wanted him to remain a babyface at the time when he debuted the character, but "a confluence of factors happened. Big Show got hurt, The Undertaker got hurt and Brock Lesnar left the company and they needed a guy to face Eddie Guerrero. Vince asked me if I wanted to do the JBL character and I said, 'I'd love to and said let's give it a whirl.'"</td><td>
</td></tr></table><table><tr><td>Did it bother you playing a bad guy?
I understood it was theatre. To me, it was never a problem being a bad guy. You would have people say something nasty to you in the airport, we had some that bothered them and couldn't be bad guys in wrestling because it bothered them too much.
To me, that was a kind of certification you're doing the right thing. That never bothered me because hopefully one day that person would come to watch me lose and be entertained and go home happy. I was much more successful as bad guy than I was as a good guy.
What was the best thing about playing a good character?
Being a good guy is easy. I had a wrestling match in Bagdad. They were all booing me. As soon as it was over they would all rush the stage and say 'Thanks for coming. That was great. Did you hear us booing you?' They all understood that was part of the show. When you're a good guy you get to interact with the fans a lot more.
Who did you like wrestling against?
The Undertaker was far the best. He and Eddie Guerrero - who was probably the most popular Hispanic character of all time - and those guys were just magicians. Those guys were so good and so professional and talented. With some guys, I wrestled hard, they wrestled hard but there was no chemistry. It's frustrating because you're wanting people to be happy because they're spending hard-earned money. You want them to enjoy the show but I walked away thinking 'I just didn't do my job.'
TDK's Rant:
I liked this interview. Mostly because it didn't contain a lot of the bitterness you often get from 'former' wrestlers... Now living in Bermuda, JBL seems to be enjoying the good life... Perhaps not quite as much fun as he had in this shoot with Torrie. But some fun nonetheless.</td></tr></table>
Retired wrestler JBL was interviewed at-length by the Bermuda Sun discussing his wrestling career. Included was an item on JBL disagreeing with WWE CEO Vince McMahon about the inspiration for his rich-man character. "Vince McMahon will deny this because he didn't see any parallel with the J.R. Ewing character (from "Dallas"), but in my mind it was a J.R. Ewing character. It was my idea," JBL said.
He noted McMahon wanted him to remain a babyface at the time when he debuted the character, but "a confluence of factors happened. Big Show got hurt, The Undertaker got hurt and Brock Lesnar left the company and they needed a guy to face Eddie Guerrero. Vince asked me if I wanted to do the JBL character and I said, 'I'd love to and said let's give it a whirl.'"</td><td>
I understood it was theatre. To me, it was never a problem being a bad guy. You would have people say something nasty to you in the airport, we had some that bothered them and couldn't be bad guys in wrestling because it bothered them too much.
To me, that was a kind of certification you're doing the right thing. That never bothered me because hopefully one day that person would come to watch me lose and be entertained and go home happy. I was much more successful as bad guy than I was as a good guy.
What was the best thing about playing a good character?
Being a good guy is easy. I had a wrestling match in Bagdad. They were all booing me. As soon as it was over they would all rush the stage and say 'Thanks for coming. That was great. Did you hear us booing you?' They all understood that was part of the show. When you're a good guy you get to interact with the fans a lot more.
Who did you like wrestling against?
The Undertaker was far the best. He and Eddie Guerrero - who was probably the most popular Hispanic character of all time - and those guys were just magicians. Those guys were so good and so professional and talented. With some guys, I wrestled hard, they wrestled hard but there was no chemistry. It's frustrating because you're wanting people to be happy because they're spending hard-earned money. You want them to enjoy the show but I walked away thinking 'I just didn't do my job.'
TDK's Rant:
I liked this interview. Mostly because it didn't contain a lot of the bitterness you often get from 'former' wrestlers... Now living in Bermuda, JBL seems to be enjoying the good life... Perhaps not quite as much fun as he had in this shoot with Torrie. But some fun nonetheless.</td></tr></table>