B is for Bully.
- Mike Difranco
- Apr 11, 2017
- 3 min read
Anyone who has watched Smackdown in recent weeks, or that truly follows the WWE has noticed the recent disappearance of SmackDown's broadcaster Mauro Ranallo. Ranallo is one of, if not the best play by play commentators on the current WWE announce team. (outside of the recent re-hire of Jim Ross to a two-year deal) JBL's constant bullying, and the removal of anything WWE associated on Ranallo's social media accounts, has fans speculating about the two’s relationship. Many believe the WWE has more of a JBL issue, than a mental health issue.
Reports of JBL being an “ass hat” are nothing new. The dude loves to draw heat, and that’s fair because he’s really, really good at it; and has made a lot of money doing so. But that doesn’t mean controversy hasn’t followed. In 2004 Layfield was fired from his position on CNBC for doing a Nazi salute, while the WWE toured Germany.
There are also many speculations that Layfield was asked to quit by the WWE back in 2009. Layfields reputation of being a behind the scenes bully is well known, and documented by many in the industry.
Former WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts, recently released a book titled “Best Seat in the House: Your Backstage Pass through My WWE Journey.” In it he has documented many accounts of 2003-2004 JBL horror stories. An excerpt from Roberts book portrays JBL as a backstage terror.
“JBL would throw my bags down the street…he typically referred to me as dipshit and numb nuts, despite my always trying to do a great job…every day I saw him, he asked me why I was still alive and told me to go kill myself.”
Another incident documented in Roberts book, is the case of the missing passport. Roberts claims JBL (or one of his goons) was behind the act. The incident involved Roberts passport disappearing the night before the crew was set to leave the United Kingdom and head back to the States. Roberts was forced to go to the U.S. Embassy and get a passport reissued in order to be able to return home. Now as far as ribbing in the locker room goes, this isn’t the worst. I’ve heard of incidents of shitting in the other guy’s gym bag, or even cases of putting one’s penis in another man’s mouth. So in the larger picture of the culture of backstage ribbing, a missing passport doesn’t take the top spot. However, that doesn’t mean JBL in true heel fashion hasn’t managed to draw heat over this 2003/2004 incident. Layfield recently sent out a tweet in which he has denied the claims that he was behind the stolen passport, but then goes on to let everyone on the internet know that “everyone hated Justin, and the dudes an idiot”. Let’s just say it’s not hard to imagine this guy telling someone to go kill themselves.
With mental health getting more recognition as a legitimate issue any American can face, letting Ranallo walk away from the company with such a dark cloud lingering over the issue is a hypocritical look for the WWE. Especially when the WWE is the proud creator of the “Be a Star” campaign, an initiative that is designed to stop bullying. Until Vince puts his foot down, JBL is going to keep being an asshole. So for now the B in JBL stands for bully and apparently that’s good enough for the WWE
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