11 Wrestlers Who Waited The Longest To Win A World Title

On the one hand, the John 'Bradshaw' Layfield character enjoyed one of the speediest rises to world title glory in WWE history. After debuting the JBL gimmick in March 2004, just 94 days later he was beating Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Championship at the Great American Bash.

However, the man behind the character, John Layfield himself, had previously spent a long time toiling away in the lower echelons of the WWE card.

Layfield actually first debuted way back in January 1996 as Justin 'Hawk' Bradshaw. But after little success, the following year saw Justin Bradshaw become Blackjack Bradshaw, before ’98 saw any kind of first name ditched entirely.

This led to a memorable run alongside Faarooq, first as the Acolytes and then the APA, but still there was to be no singles glory for a man fast becoming a veteran of the locker room.

Until, of course, the JBL character was eventually spawned, and Layfield finally struck gold by landing himself the main event push that he’d spent the better part of seven years striving for. Given the drastic gimmick change, this is a contentious entry, but since Layfield remained a part of the company under each of his many aliases, that just about makes him eligible.