12 WWE Failures Who Became World Champion
9. JBL
The hard-nosed grind of the European circuit was fresh on big Bradshaw's mind when he signed on with the WWF in late-1995. Back then, the company was going through a down period, but it still offered more hope to the rough and tumble Texan than low-paying bar-style brawls in Germany could ever hope to. Maybe things were picking up in his pro wrestling career, eh?
Or not. An early undefeated streak gave way to mediocrity as 1996 developed. Vince McMahon's new Stan Hansen rip off was as lower tier as you were likely to get from somebody who wasn't an outright jobber, and there didn't seem to much room for upward movement either. Then, they stuck The New Blackjacks gimmick on him with Barry Windham and the mediocrity continued.
Things did pick up when Bradshaw started a tag-team with Faarooq in late-1998, but it looked like he'd be a tag guy for life in the fed. McMahon's desperate need to create fresh new stars in 2004 led to an unlikely repackage job and main event push. Bradshaw became JBL, and it turned out to be the role he was born to play.
He'd previously failed to get over pre-Acolytes/APA, and now here he was beating Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Title. Not many could've claimed to see that coming in '04, but it happened, and it wasn't a crap call either. JBL was legitimately the hottest heel in the industry for a while, and those dismal memories of jobbing for Savio Vega faded away.
The John Bradshaw Layfield era was nigh. Unpredictably nigh, but nigh nonetheless. He'd ride that train all the way to the WWE Hall Of Fame.