JBL Thinks He Lucked Into His WWE Championship Reign

JBL opens up about his WWE Title run.

John “Bradshaw” Layfield first captured the WWE Championship in 2004 and it wasn’t until AJ Styles’ second WWE Title reign which concluded in 2018 that JBL was dethroned as the longest reigning champion in the history of the SmackDown brand. JBL held the WWE Title for 280 days and defeated the likes of The Undertaker, Eddie Guerrero, Booker T and Big Show to retain the championship.

As Layfield was chatting with Sean Mooney during an edition of the ‘Prime Time With Sean Mooney’ podcast, Mooney asked JBL if championships mattered to him during his time as an in-ring performer. JBL said that when he was younger, having titles did not mean as much but when he got older he became thankful for those positions because he feels he “lucked” into them because of other performers either getting injured, departing from the WWE or mental setbacks which opened the door for him to win a World or mid-card title.

“When I was younger, it [titles] didn’t mean as much. Fortunately, when I got the WWE Championship I was older and I had been around for a while and I already thought my career was over.” JBL shared. “I had torn my bicep, I had two hernia surgeries. I thought my career was over and all of sudden, a little luck happened again for me. Kurt Angle had gotten hurt, Brock [Lesnar] had left the company, Big Show was out. They needed somebody to wrestle Eddie Guerrero in about six weeks at the Staples Center, and, it was just luck, and it got thrust upon me late in my career and because of that I think I appreciate it much more.”

The current WWE Champion Daniel Bryan is set to defend his title this weekend inside the Elimination Chamber at the ‘Elimination Chamber’ pay-per-view and to get a look at the updated match card for the event, head over to Fightful’s “events” page.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit the ‘Prime Time With Sean Mooney’ podcast with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.