8 Things You Didn't Know About JBL
Bermuda thoughts on benevolent Bradshaw.
John O'Clock has chimed for the final time; JBL - or at least, his weekly desk-based drawl - is gone from WWE. No longer will we hear that this doesn't end well, Maggle! - although with Corey Graves replacing him in the hot-seat, it sort of does.
The Texan tormentor's departure from the company seems a long-time coming as far as many fans are concerned. We all know about his temperamental character backstage, and the bullying allegations which have followed him around throughout his tenure. It's no secret that JBL was directly involved in the sorry Mauro Ranallo debacle earlier this year, and it was a huge surprise when he was not only exonerated by the company, but Ranallo himself was scapegoated.
So for a lot of wrestling followers, it's a case of good riddance, not goodbye.
But there are other sides to JBL, ones which are difficult to reconcile with his well-earned reputation as a bit of a w*nker. Did you know he's a keen alpinist, and uses his hobby for a noble cause? And that he's devoted himself to a really dull sport just for the benefit of disadvantaged kids?
Not such a bad egg after all, is he? But nor is he a particularly good one. Let's call him a medium egg.
8. He Had His Own Energy Drink
You'd imagine a man of JBL's boundless, often erratic exuberance wouldn't need any more energy, but it's tiring work climbing mountains and bullying colleagues, so a little pick-me-up from time to time probably doesn't harm.
Taking a somewhat startling turn from his typical outside pursuits of stock market analysis and scaling rockfaces, JBL released Mamajuana Energy in January 2008, a natural tonic based on the Caribbean cocktail described by the man himself as "simply virility/energy in a bottle."
Wait - did he mean virility? Yes, he did, and it wasn't a mistake. In the extraordinary promotional film, in which JBL seems to be stood in front of an Aztec ziggurat for no conceivable reason, the Texan tussler noted how the product "makes sex better". The science behind the claim? Well, it had the word 'nutraceutical' in the advertising, and that's absolutely not made up twaddle.
Even if the drink was nature's aphrodisiac, surely the accompanying and inevitable reminder of JBL acted as a counterbalance?