9. He Was Supposed To Get A Main Event Push In 2002
The Legend: That JBL was supposed to receive a major singles push in 2002. Why People Believe It: Bradshaw and his longtime APA partner Farooq/Ron Simmons were broken up during the inaugural WWE draft in March 2002. Simmons was drafted to Smackdown and Bradshaw was drafted to Raw. During this time, Bradshaw changed his luck, reverting to plain black trunks and cowboy boots instead of his long tights/jeans look that he'd had for the previous couple of years. He also played up his Texas roots, bringing a cowbell to the ring and renaming the Clothesline from Hell the Clothesline from Texas (seriously). Were these changes part of a new, main event Bradshaw? The fact that he began teaming with Steve Austin in his dispute with the nWo suggest that may have been the case. Unfortunately, when Austin walked out of the company, the creative team didn't really know what to do with Bradshaw. So they stuck him in the hardcore division, where he mingled with the likes of Johnny Stamboli, Steven Richards, Tommy Dreamer and Chris Nowinski. Is It True: Whether or not Bradshaw would have been pushed to Hogan/Lesnar/Triple H levels is very doubtful. However, it seemed as though WWE were trying to make him a credible, upper-card act before they placed him in hardcore purgatory. The Texan injured his bicep in September, delaying any plans of a singles push. When he returned in spring 2003, he was back to being a member of the APA. He would have to wait another year to get another crack at the main event.
