John Layfield began his career acquiring a wealth of international experience, wrestling in Japan, Mexico and Europe before making it to WWE. After training with Olympian Brad Rheingans in Minnesota, JBL returned to Texas for a show at the storied Sportatorium where he was put into the main event after his second match due to a no-show from one of the performers. Japanese legend Kendo Nagasaki was at the show and booked him in Japan, which was a huge opportunity for American workers at the time. He credits Bob Orton, Jr. with helping him through his stint in Japan, a notoriously tough wrestling environment because he was in over his head. Reminiscing on Texas legends the Von Erichs, he recalls how tremendously over the brothers were, especially in their home state. In their prime the entire family were practically worshipped by fans, and only their substance abuse, personal demons and tragedy kept them from being even bigger stars. There's also a fun story about Layfield's time in Mexico working with Vampiro--at the time the biggest star in the country by a wide margin--where he was booked as "Vampiro Americano". JBL assumed it was meant to be an angle to help get Vampiro even more over when in reality he was caught in a political tug-of-war between promoter and talent. They put him in some of Vampiro's gear that they had literally stolen from him and sent them into the ring. Had it not been for a timely discussion just before bell-time the bout likely would've descended into a shoot.
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
