“Vince gets a lot of heat over what he produces" - Former WWE Champion says Vince McMahon is a great producer
Chairman of WWE Vince McMahon was heavily praised as a producer by WWE Hall of Famer John "Bradshaw" Layfield.
Vince McMahon has often been criticized for poor booking and outdated storylines in WWE. The 76-year-old has been at it for decades and he doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. He paved the way for pro-wrestling to become sports entertainment in the modern world.
JBL was another successful experiment by McMahon, ruling over SmackDown between 2004 and 2005 as the WWE Champion. Layfield won the title from Eddie Guerrero and became the longest reigning WWE Champion on SmackDown until AJ Styles broke that record in 2018.
In a recent interview with GAWTV, JBL stated how he thinks McMahon is a great producer:
“Vince [McMahon] gets a lot of heat over what he produces, and I loved it. By the way, Vince was never rude to me. Not one time, did not yell at me one time. Jerry Lawler says the same thing. Booker T says the same thing. Now he yelled at Michael Cole and he yelled at some other guys, but I think it was the old guys who had been in the ring for him. He just treated us differently. Even when I made mistakes, he was very kind about it, but I loved him being in my ear because he was very succinct.” [H/T - WrestleZone]
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Despite the recent roundabouts of Sasha Banks and Naomi, JBL had nothing but praise for the WWE Chairman. It will be interesting to see how long Vince McMahon plans to work behind the scenes as a producer.
JBL talks about working with Vince McMahon when he was a commentator
JBL has been a part of WWE for over two decades. He played various roles and worked for the company even after retiring from in-ring competition. The WWE Hall of Famer has been one of the biggest heels in WWE history.
After he retired, The Wrestling God commentated alongside Michael Cole from 2011 to 2017 on SmackDown. The duo worked with Vince every week and JBL loved working with The Chairman. In the same interview, Bradshaw talks about working with Vince McMaho in the commentary role:
He would tell you just a short little phrase. He wouldn’t tell you a whole paragraph. Usually I’d be one word behind it. I’d just repeat exactly what he said, because he knew what was coming up and he also knew what he was feeding somewhere else. So, sometimes he’d feed me something, but he’d [Michael] Cole something different and it made sense after Cole said it. He (Vince) had access to everything. I enjoyed Vince being a producer. A lot of guys, I think it’s fashionable to say they hated it, but I thought he was terrific at it.” [H/T - WrestleZone]
It's safe to say that JBL has always enjoyed working with Vinnie Mac as they have shared the ring during the Attitude Era. It will be interesting to see if JBL decides to take on a backstage role in the future as he has plenty of experience with the company.