10 WWE Stars Who Only Won Gold Because Of The Brand Split

1. John 'Bradshaw' Layfield

JBL Royal Rumble 2005
WWE.com

The Grandaddy of the 'World Champion Due To Brand Split' list, this fact was even acknowledged on camera and in canon by Paul Heyman at 'WWECW' One Night Stand, where Heyman famously told JBL that the only reason he was champion was because 'Triple H didn't want to work Tuesdays'. A scathing line for sure, but one that is difficult to argue with.

Despite his ridiculously quick rise to the top of the SmackDown tree, JBL managed to stay WWE Champion for almost an entire year. It isn't as if he beat a load of mid card wrestlers in this time either. He defeated Eddie Guerrero for the strap and defended it against The Undertaker, Booker T, and others before dropping it at WrestleMania 21 to John Cena.

In many ways, John 'Bradshaw' Layfield was the biggest beneficiary of the brand split and the need to elevate stars quicker than they should have been elevated. It took him nigh on a decade yet still happened at light speed. With the roster as it was at the time, it is practically impossible to believe that JBL would have been World Champion without the brand split.

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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.