10 Awful WWE Ruthless Aggression Gimmicks That Didn't Get Over

8. JBL's Cabinet

lillian garcia viscera
WWE.com

There is a prevailing assumption among wrestling fans that factions and stables are good ideas. If a couple of wrestlers are floundering, the idea of putting them together with a few other likeminded performers is never far away. If a stable fails (which seems to happen more often than not), the blame always fails with creative as opposed to the stable concept itself.

If you want proof of the underlying failure that is the pro wrestling faction, JBL’s Cabinet is a great example. John ‘Bradshaw’ Layfield was an undeserving WWE Champion, and the decision was made to add Orlando Jordan and The Basham Brothers to his act in order to give the champ some credibility. What’s more, OJ and the Bashams soon won championships of their own, meaning JBL’s Cabinet held all the SmackDown gold.

Nobody was buying it. The JBL gimmick was an unqualified success, but his ‘Chief of Staff’ and ‘Co-Secretaries of Defence’ were well and truly out of their depth.

The Bashams soon lost the belts and disappeared, while Jordan eventually found himself losing in ever shorter time to Chris Benoit, before treading water in the lower part of the card. If you are looking for a historical version of Jinder Mahal, look no further than Orlando Jordan.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.