JBL The Bully

Yeah JBL can be a real dick. Whats funny is that from what I've heard, he doesn't realise he's doing things or saying anything wrong. He was questioned about the whole Blue Meanie thing many times and at one point denied that he'd done anything wrong as he didn't have a problem with him apparently. Uh-huh, what ever you say JBL.

Far too many reports from different people that used to work at WWE about his locker room bullying for there not to be some truth in it.

He comes across as an arrogant jerk... I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that he believes himself to be above reproach and that anyone who disagrees with him is intrinsically wrong, just because they disagree with him... I really hope they either transfer him to raw or just remove him from broadcasting and replace him with someone who actually knows how to do the job! And then means that Ranallo won't have to deal with that shit anymore too.

There is talk that Ranallo won't be returning because of JBL. Wonder how this all goes with their "don't be a bully" campaign.

John Morrison has previously been quoted on JBL's bullying:

JBL asked me and my partner to steal [Justin’s] passport, and we didn’t. JBL was one of the main event guys at the time and I don’t remember exactly what Justin Roberts did to become the target for the hazing of this specific oversea trip, but JBL asked me and Joey to snag Justin’s passport.”

“I remember it ‘being a thing,’ you know? We were looking at Justin, he was a few rows ahead of us on this plane, sleeping. We were like, ‘What do we do?’” MNM had become a target of Layfield’s, as well, and they realized that if they went along with the abuse, which JBL presented to them as being a great prank, there was at least a decent chance that they would be left alone. Some of the abuse they endured included having the sleeves being cut off their ring robes—not only doing property damage, but getting them in trouble for not having the robes. “It’s enticing,” he said of going along with the plan.

“Ultimately, we considered the options, and wound up deciding to not do it. This is a weird thing for a wrestler to say, especially in that era, but I usually went by the golden rule. I wouldn’t have appreciated someone doing that to me, especially someone I considered a peer.”

Other stories include:

-JBL telling Justin Roberts to kill himself repeatedly.
-JBL bullying Chris Kanyon about being gay (we can say it was "a different time" but clearly based on all the other stories he hasn't changed one lick.)
-A horde of other stories from Matt Hardy among others about his bullying.

Fuck this guy. It probably won't happen, but I really hope this blows up in WWE's face so badly they have no choice but to fire him. Bullies are vermin and in any other workplace environment, this would not be tolerated. I don't agree that it should be tolerated because "hazing is part of the wrestling culture" as all the old school hacks will tell us. Fuck that. Guy is a scumbag and should be fired and left to rot somewhere.

Oh and Ranallo is not going back to WWE so JBL literally drove him out of the company.

I think he is a pretty cool guy.

#GiveJBLaChance

Looks like #FireJBL is starting to gain momentum, with a lot of WWE stars past and present adding to the claims of JBL's bullying. Considering how close he is to the fans, being on the commentary desk, it could get quite dangerous for him to go out there soon...

Anyone adding the be a star hashtag to those fire JBL ones? With all these reports coming out and WWE preaching be a star, it will surely be tough for them to back JBL and still promote anti-bullying.

With Mauro Ranallo back being active on Twitter, expressing gratitude and thanks to those supporting him, it appears JBL has begun blocking anyone who sends their well wishes to Ranallo. JBL also is reportedly blocking anyone who follows both him and Ranallo. So if you want to get blocked by JBL, send a positive message to Mauro.

It's funny watching a rat squirm.

A stipulation in Mauro Ranallo's contract prevents him from giving any unauthorized interviews on WWE and the assumption is that WWE is also trying to come to a further settlement that would include a mutual agreement that he not publicly talk about the issue now or when his contract expires on 8/12.

WWE and their affilates in the anti-bullying campaign "Be a Star" received a number of inquiries from media mainly related to JBL. This was fueled by not only the Ranallo situation but also by the release of Justin Roberts' book that was released two weeks ago, where he gave specific examples of bullying.

As of this time, neither WWE nor any of its partners have made any public comments pertaining to the allegations but the company is completely aware of everything that is happening. On air during the latest Smackdown, JBL portrayed an extremely different character - smiling away, saying nothing to bury his broadcast partners or insult any of the babyfaces.

WWE want to prevent Ranallo talking about it because it would make the company look bad haha. Easy answer is to just punish JBL and be seen to be doing something about bullying.

The Roberts book makes a reference to how JBL bullied people but nothing was ever done about it because Vince found it all hilarious.

Tough times for WWE. I wondered whether anyone would contact the "Be a Star" campaign about all of this, since WWE promote them.

Funny that they've changed how JBL is on camera too. Will see how long that lasts. Shame that they've had to do that, but when your on air character is a bit too close to your actual self... and your actual self is an absolute dick who enjoys making others lives miserable... then can see why.

Booker T has won the moronic comment of the year award. Seriously lost all respect for him with this.
"I think bullying pretty much goes away when you're a grown man"
"I don't think the "bullying" rule should fall under grown men having an issue with each other."

Seriously, what the fuck?! You can't be bullied as an adult? Fuck off. One of the stupidest things I've ever heard.

Booker also took issue with the term "bullying" being applied to the locker room in WWE. "I think [bullying] pretty much goes away when you're a grown man and you're able to take up for yourself and throw hands, or go and talk to someone," Booker said. "Say 'hey, I don't feel like I'm being treated right with this commentator, maybe you need to move me somewhere else otherwise there could be problems.' [...] But I don't think the "bullying" rule should fall under grown men having an issue with each other."

He mentions that he came up in the business around The Steiner Brothers, The Nasty Boys, and Brian Pillman, and if one of them had messed with him he would have settled it himself.

Just because you can handle it when someone messes with you, doesn't mean everyone else can. Just because you can talk to someone about it, doesn't mean that everyone else feels like they can or that they'd be taken seriously. Moron. An absolute moron. Booker T can do one and I hope everyone gives him shit for such stupid comments.

Mauro is a 46 year old man... he is old enough to say to JBL enough is enough, i haven't heard stories in years of JBL hurting anyone... Maruo was quite a bully to his broadcast partner in strikeforce... he also went off the deep end when Mayweather didn't want him calling his fight.

Justin Roberts thought he owned Conner... fuck him.

Mauro went into hiding tweeted that his doctor told him to stay off social media... i promise you JBL didn't cause all that.

He has Bipolar i know how it goes... you build things up in your head that may have been just a jab and find ways to obsess and find a deeper meaning to it... i think this happened to Mauro.

Can't agree with the Booker comments though. I know someone that left their job recently because she thought she was being bullied, and she did try and talk to someone about it didn't help and actually made things worse for her because the person that was doing the bullying was well liked within that team - they thought she was funny when she was being incredibly nasty to the girl. Talking to someone didn't help, as not only did the girl deny it and no one would speak against her, but it made things more hospitable. She couldn't do anything physically about it because size wise it would have been like Ellsworth going against Lesnar and she'd have lost her job, and it's a lot harder to get a job when you've been sacked from your last place for violent conduct.

Bookers comments are stupid and completely insensitive to anyone that has had to go through bullying in the work place.

Sounds like he pushed Lillian Garcia out the door, too. I find it hard to defend a bully, especially one that picks on people physically weaker than him who have no recourse in the situation, because Vince finds it funny. He should've been out the door a long time ago, regardless of whether you think everyone should be capable of standing up for themselves. You shouldn't have to at work.

Lillian left due to family issues either her father died or is dying.

Lillian left due to family issues either her father died or is dying.

Another JBL incident which has since been revealed is when he gave a non-wrestler a really hard time for missing some shows due to minor surgery. This employee also was dealing with a close family member dying at that time, yet JBL continued his harassment until the person broke down into tears. [ While it is not confirmed, the reports we are hearing are that this employee was likely Lilian Garcia ]

to Newsweek.com, WWE Smackdown Live commentator Mauro Ranallo has officially parted ways with WWE.

In a statement released to Newsweek, Ranallo had the following to say on his departure, and rumors that it was related to issues with fellow Smackdown commentator JBL:

“WWE and I have mutually agreed to part ways. It has nothing to do with JBL.”

Speculation about Layfield’s involvement in the drama led to angry WWE fans tweeting, and trending, #FireJBL. Fans attending the April 11 taping of SmackDown Live in Boston also disrupted the show with a loud “Fire Bradshaw” chant. Past stories of Layfield allegedly hazing WWE performers were also recirculated on Reddit and other websites.

“Admittedly, I took part in locker room pranks that existed within the industry years ago,” Layfield told Newsweek in a statement. “WWE addressed my behavior and I responded accordingly, yet my past is being brought up because of recent unfounded rumors. I apologize if anything I said playing ‘the bad guy’ on a TV show was misconstrued.”

Additionally, WWE issued the following statement on the JBL issue:

“As part of our commitment to creating an inclusive environment, in April 2011, WWE launched our anti-bullying campaign, Be a STAR, which encourages young people to treat each other with tolerance and respect.

“As a publicly traded company, that mantra carries forward in our corporate culture. As such, we fully investigate any allegations of inappropriate behavior including the recent alleged situation with John Layfield (aka JBL), despite no formal complaint having been submitted.”

Well, of course they'd have him say that. There was probably some sort of deal put forward, or an NDA already in place that he needed to follow in order to get out. There's already talk of WWE bringing Mauro back in the future, likely playing it off as them always trying to help their guys, so that wouldn't fit the narrative if he said JBL was to blame.

Yeah there was a report that was posted further up in the thread that WWE were doing to pay him off to not say anything about it as it paints WWE in a bad light. So no surprise, and to me the fact that he's kept his statement so short says a lot about it.

They want Mauro Ranallo back in the future as a "mental health ambassador", or so the rumours say.

#fireJBL

Fed up of hearing him anyway. A few years ago he was a breath of fresh air to the commentary scene. Now he's boring and half the time his "facts" are just plain incorrect. Find him more annoying now. Not sure who I'd replace him with, but then I don't get why they need 3 commentators when 2 has always worked fine.

RAW should be Cole and Graves.

SmackDown should be Phillips and Saxton.

Is it ideal? No, I can't stand Saxton, but everyone else I mentioned is pretty good and this is the best of a bad situation IMO.

Glad you didn't mention Booker in there. I can't stand Graves at all, but prefer him to Booker.

Glad you didn't mention Booker in there. I can't stand Graves at all, but prefer him to Booker.

Graves is fantastic. He is far and away the best colour commentator they've had in years. I like Booker too, although I understand why he is annoying.