"That was one of the best nights I ever had” - WWE Legend JBL speaks about an epic WWE event
WWE Hall of Famer JBL has opened up about the time he attended WWE's infamous ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view in 2005.
ECW was established with a lot of controversy and violence. The brand had been known to take its matches to an extreme height. The audience perfectly represented the product as they were some of the most passionate and hardcore fans in the world of professional wrestling.
In an attempt to revive the brand, WWE held a pay-per-view in June 2005 under the ECW moniker. The event - dubbed One Night Stand - took place in the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City - a venue ECW had booked some of its biggest shows at five years before.
Several WWE Superstars were in attendance and even took part in the event. One of them was JBL, who joined a brawl towards the end of the show. On the latest MackMania podcast, the former WWE Champion spoke about the show and how he relished the wrath of the ECW audience:
“I heard about the fan base. I heard how passionate they are. That was the first time I got to experience it and it was awesome. I mean, I could have done that every night for the rest of my life. It was that much fun. I remember they told me don’t walk through the crowd, and of course the first thing I did was walk through the crowd because I thought if this place riots, and I live through it, I’m the hottest heel in the world. I loved it. That was one of the best nights I ever had.” [H/T - Wrestling News]
Great to catch up with my buddy @JCLayfield today at @SquarCircleExpo !! https://t.co/mkE0M0LL8u
At the time, JBL had recently ended his feud with John Cena where he lost the WWE Championship. Regardless of how hostile the fans were to him after the infamous Paul Heyman promo, Bradshaw enjoyed the event to the fullest.
JBL on whether he watched ECW during its heyday
In the modern era, it's become quite easy to consume content from different genres with a single touch or tap. However, watching television back in the day was a different ball game.
There were fewer promotions to watch out for and one of them was ECW, which was the home of hardcore stars such as RVD, Sandman, TAZ and more.
In the same podcast, JBL spoke about whether he had ever watched the promotion while working for the World Wrestling Federation. Here's what Layfield had to say:
“We didn’t watch ECW. It’s not that we didn’t like ECW. We didn’t watch WCW either because we were working every night. It wasn’t like we chose not to watch them. We didn’t have the opportunity. The last thing you’re going to do is VCR something and watch it when you get back home. When you’re on the road all the time, wrestling all the time, the last thing you want to do is watch wrestling when you come home.” [H/T - Wrestling News]
We played rough and loved it. Miss you Ese. twitter.com/wrestling80s90…
The life of a superstar is not as easy as it looks. Between long hours on the road and grueling matches, it's likely difficult to make time to watch wrestling at home. Even though ECW didn't work out in the long run, JBL seemed to have an excellent time at the pay-per-view.
Do you think JBL can return as a manager to WWE? Would you like to see him return to commentary? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!