JBL Reveals Eddie Guerrero Was The Perfect Opponent For His WWE Championship Run

BY SACNILK

JBL and Ron Simmons have explained why the APA eventually had to come to an end, with Simmons saying the timing was right for his longtime partner to leave the tag team behind and finally receive his opportunity as a singles star. The APA became one of WWE’s most popular teams during the Attitude Era. Bradshaw and Faarooq initially worked together as The Acolytes before evolving into the Acolytes Protection Agency, better known as the APA. The beer-drinking, cigar-smoking pair became known for their backstage office, poker games and hard-hitting matches, while also winning WWE's tag team titles three times. Their partnership ultimately reached its end in 2004. In storyline, SmackDown General Manager Paul Heyman put the APA's jobs on the line against Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty. After the APA lost, Heyman fired Simmons but informed Bradshaw that he could remain with WWE. The breakup opened the way for Bradshaw's transformation into JBL and his move into the WWE Championship picture. JBL & Ron Simmons recently appeared on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet and explained why a gimmick that appeared capable of continuing had to finish, Simmons said the pair had already enjoyed several successful years together and believed the timing was right for JBL to get his singles opportunity. “We did it what, six years, right? Something like five, six years, right? And it was good though at that point to where it had come to that because, you know, it come to the point to where we was at on top with doing it and we'd had a lot of success with it.” Simmons had already experienced success as a singles wrestler before the APA, including becoming WCW World Heavyweight Champion. By the time their WWE partnership was nearing its conclusion, he felt JBL was the one who needed the opportunity to see what he could accomplish alone. “Myself having already gone through being world champion, had a good singles thing behind me. His thing was struggling coming up through the ranks, man. And the timing was perfect for him to go on and do his thing.” Simmons went further by saying the popularity the APA had built could be transferred directly into JBL's next chapter. “It was perfect timing for him to go on from there, from that momentum we had, and to go on and do what he did.” JBL's singles career changed almost immediately. He was repackaged as the wealthy John “Bradshaw” Layfield and entered a program with WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero. JBL has said that Vince McMahon personally called him about taking the opportunity, while Simmons believes his partner had already spent years preparing for that chance. JBL would defeat Guerrero for the WWE Championship at The Great American Bash in June 2004, beginning a title reign that lasted until WrestleMania 21, where John Cena defeated him. WWE itself has described JBL's singles pursuit as what followed his separation from Simmons. Despite what followed, JBL has repeatedly made clear that leaving the APA was not something he personally wanted. He has said he would have been perfectly satisfied finishing his wrestling career alongside Simmons and later admitted that he “absolutely hated” their 2004 breakup, even though he understood what WWE had planned for him.

BY SACNILK

JBL has opened up about the start of his rise to the WWE Championship, explaining that while he finally received the opportunity he had been waiting for, having Eddie Guerrero across the ring from him gave the newly created JBL character exactly what it needed. JBL and Guerrero became one of WWE’s central rivalries in 2004 after Bradshaw was repackaged as the wealthy and outspoken John “Bradshaw” Layfield. Guerrero was WWE Champion at the time, while JBL was attempting to establish himself as a singles star following the end of the APA. Their rivalry eventually led to JBL defeating Guerrero for the WWE Championship at The Great American Bash. While speaking on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet about how the opportunity came together, JBL admitted he knew WWE was giving him a chance, but repeatedly credited the timing and Guerrero for helping everything fall into place. “I knew I was going to have the opportunity. Yeah, absolutely. I knew I’d have the opportunity. I knew because they made the character for Eddie Guerrero. So, I knew I had the opportunity. They called me specifically for—we got a match at Staples Center in six weeks, eight weeks, whenever it was. And I just got lucky.” Ron Simmons immediately pushed back against JBL describing himself as lucky. Simmons argued that his longtime APA partner had spent years preparing for the opportunity, including working around the world before eventually finding his place in WWE. “No, he didn’t get lucky, man. Listen, he didn’t get lucky. Too humble. No, no, he didn’t get lucky. Like I said before, okay, and which is cool, I understand where he coming from. Well, he had put his work in. Okay. Germany, Japan, traveling all around, doing the things that people don’t get to see, living in and out of a car, sleazy ass hotels and motel and that kind of thing, right?” Simmons believed everything lined up at exactly the right point in JBL’s career. The APA had reached its conclusion, and WWE suddenly needed someone to work opposite Guerrero. “It was a absolute perfect moment for that. Any other phase, I believe, would have altered that run that he had. The timing was perfect. He was prepared for it.” JBL agreed that the way the APA ended helped put him in position for the opportunity. However, he again credited Guerrero when discussing whether the new character would actually succeed. “Ron had set me up perfectly with the way that the APA quit, you know, and all of a sudden you needed somebody for Eddie Guerrero and Vince called me and asked me if I wanted to take a shot at it and so I knew I had the chance. Now whether he was going to be successful or not, you know, was up to what was going to happen in that match.” Guerrero’s involvement extended beyond simply being JBL’s opponent. JBL recalled that Guerrero enjoyed the character and would even call him with ideas for things JBL could say or do during their rivalry. “Eddie loved the JBL character. You know, he called me one time. He’s like 2 o’clock in the morning. He goes, ‘Essay, I got something for you.’” The partnership between the two ultimately helped turn JBL from one half of the APA into a WWE Champion. JBL may still describe himself as fortunate to have received the opportunity, but Simmons made his position clear: the years of work had prepared JBL for it, and the timing of the APA ending and Guerrero needing a new opponent allowed everything to come together.

BY SACNILK

Before they became known as the Acolytes Protection Agency, JBL and Ron Simmons had already established themselves as a tough tag team in WWE. The APA eventually took that identity in a different direction, with the two men regularly shown drinking beer, playing cards and getting into fights in bars and backstage areas. The gimmick became one of the most understood parts of their run together. According to JBL and Simmons Chris Van Vliet, however, those bar-fight segments were not produced like carefully choreographed movie scenes. The pair recalled that WWE did not have many established rules for the type of destruction they were asked to perform, and some of the chaos came from simply figuring things out as they went. JBL explained that the APA's segments were happening at a time when wrestlers were not working with the same type of stunt coordination that is common in entertainment today. “We had real people ask if it was real beer. Yes. It was real every time. I didn’t even know if they had fake Hollywood beer at the time. We didn’t have OSHA. We didn’t have none of that crap. We had the first ladder matches and stuff. We didn’t have stunt coordinators. We were just guys doing stuff and hoping it worked.” The former WWE Champion then recalled one particular bar-fight segment involving Bull Buchanan that went wrong in a way that became another memorable APA story. JBL said he was supposed to throw Buchanan through a gimmicked wall, but Buchanan warned him that they were heading toward the wrong wall. The situation did not go according to plan, and the two ended up crashing through the wall and into a bathroom. “I’ve got Bull Buchanan. I’m going to throw him through a wall and we gimmick the wall and Bull says, ‘That’s the wrong wall.’ And I go, ‘I’m sorry.’ We go through a wall. We land in a toilet. He didn’t go through. He went through it. We land by a toilet. We went through a wall and went into a bathroom.” The story became even more unusual when the two explained who owned the bar where the segment took place. According to JBL and Simmons, the owner, Tim White, would actually give them instructions about what he wanted destroyed because he planned to replace certain items afterward. White's instructions reportedly turned the destruction into something of a renovation project. “Tim would give us a list of stuff he wanted broken so we could rebuild it. He had a jukebox that didn’t even work and we threw a guy through the jukebox by Tim’s request. He got like a digital jukebox to replace it. He had an analog television that didn’t work. He goes, ‘Guys, would you guys break my television?’ He got like a flat-screen TV to replace it.” Simmons added that the APA essentially ended up rebuilding the bar through their WWE segments. “We rebuilt his bar, man. Rebuilt his entire bar.” JBL then recalled how Vince McMahon was surprised by how much of the bar had to be replaced. “Vince told us, he goes, ‘I had no idea that I was going to rebuild Tim’s entire bar.’” The APA's bar-fight material was also tied closely to the pair's beer-drinking gimmick. JBL confirmed that the beer seen during some of their segments was not always fake, which occasionally created problems when they had to perform afterward. He recalled one incident at the Staples Center when the APA had been drinking before they were suddenly told they needed to perform live. “We had sat back there and got drunk. Again. Is that a common occurrence? It was. We had real people ask if it was real beer. Yes. Yes, it was real every time. And they go, ‘Guys, you got to go live. You got to get this right this time.’ And I said, ‘Why are we about to go live?’ They go, ‘No, you’re slurring your words.’” The stories help explain why the APA's segments often felt different from standard WWE backstage skits. JBL and Simmons were not simply playing two characters who happened to fight in bars; their real friendship and willingness to participate in the chaos became a large part of what made the act work. JBL and Simmons have previously described the APA as a natural fit because of the close relationship they had developed over the years. In the interview, they also discussed how that friendship helped them create a tag team that felt believable to fans. The bar fights ultimately became one of the defining elements of the APA era, alongside their famous office, poker games, beer-drinking segments and the iconic door. The new details from JBL and Simmons show just how much of the destruction was built around practical setups, real reactions and the trust they had in each other.

BY SACNILK

Stamford, December 8 - WWE SmackDown's special Tribute to the Troops episode delivered a delightful surprise for fans, featuring a very special guest on color commentary. ## John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL), a SmackDown legend and the creative mind behind the Tribute to the Troops concept, made a return to the commentary table during the December 8 episode of WWE SmackDown. He teamed up with Kevin Patrick and Michael Cole to provide insightful commentary for the evening's action. ## Michael Cole took a moment to acknowledge JBL's significant contribution to the Tribute to the Troops event, giving him credit for originating the idea for this annual holiday tradition back in 2003.## Cole emphasized that both he and JBL have been part of every single iteration of this heartwarming event, underscoring their steadfast commitment to honoring the troops. JBL's presence at the commentary desk stirred nostalgia for his time as the regular color commentator on WWE SmackDown following his retirement in 2006. ## During his in-ring career, Bradshaw had been a dominant force on SmackDown, holding the WWE Championship when it was exclusive to the brand from WWE Judgment Day 2004 until he was dethroned by John Cena at WrestleMania 21 in 2005. ## Stay Tuned To Sacnilk...