From a brawling Acolyte to a JR Ewing-like self made millionaire, John Bradshaw Layfield is the epitome of an over the top, intelligent heel that wrestling fans love to hate. He really knew what to say, what to do and how to do it in order to get fans to hate him. I know that over the years JBL has commented that his character was similar to Ted Dibiase and then Alberto Del Rio was later a clone of them. The thing is, those characters always struck me as rich guys who inherited money. JBL was the guy that made his money on his own. He's not the guy with the rich mommy and daddy. He was the self made millionaire, which made him easier to hate because he got to that level while the rest of us were stuck paying money to see. What I liked about him once he turned into JBL is that he never tried to be a babyface. It didn't work. It was a pure heel character that was designed to get fans to boo him. That's what we did. It was a great gimmick that worked exactly as it should have. What's interesting is that the guy really did make his own fortune. He's living in Bermuda because of all the success he had in the stock market.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
