10 Wrestlers Who Were Recklessly Dangerous

7. JBL

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John Bradshaw Layfield's crisp white shirt soaked in crimson at the very end of 2005's glorious ECW One Night Stand wasn't as a result of the mouthy Texan getting his comeuppance from the hardcore crew forced to absorb his verbals in the weeks leading up to their big event or on the night itself. He'd been far more than just a dissenting voice - his physical disdain had left The Blue Meanie's nose separate from the rest of his face following a deeply cynical assault.

The show was set to end with a mass brawl ultimately won by the natives to trigger the arrival of Stone Cold Steve Austin for a beer bash. Long before 'The Rattlesnake' could crack some cans together though, JBL was cracking Meanie's face with a barrage of very real right hands. Others were lucky they weren't pinged by the violent spring-back of his elbow.

Allowing a personal grudge to manifest itself in a professional setting was the sort of ultimate no-no a lesser-tenured star would have been fired for. Layfield suffered no such grief for the act, and even agreed to lay down for Meanie and his bWo cronies on a follow-up SmackDown in a rather laughable coda to the entire situation.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett