Before wrestling JBL was a professional football player. He started wrestling in 1992 in the Global Wrestling Federation. In the late part of 1995 JBL appeared on the WWF as Justin"Hawk" Bradshaw, his character was that of a tough cowboy/mountain man. He teamed up with Barry Windham but when Barry Windham had to leave because of injuries JBL just became a generic wrestler who would show up once in a while and was called just 'Bradshaw'. In 1998 JBL teamed with Faaroog and they were called the APA. They were faces and ended up winning the tag team titles three different times. In 2002 the APA had to split because of the WWE draft and JBL went to Raw. After an injury kept JBL out of action for 6 months he returned to Smackdown and once again teamed up with Faaroog, only this time he had a new look. He shaved his long hair, stopped dying it black and had no facial hair. The two then had a tag team match were the loser would have to retire, APA lost and Faaroog had to retire (in reality he was just retiring from the WWE). The Smackdown GM told JBL that the retirement thing didn't apply to him and despite it looking like JBL turned on Faaroog on screen, in real life these two are two best friends. The next week JBl became a heel with a cowboy hat, a suit and a tie and began using the name JBL or John "Bradshaw" Layfield. Many of his feuds were with Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle. JBL became the WWE Heavyweight Champion and labeled himself the 'wrestling god'. He held on to the title for nine months, losing it to John Cena. In May of 2006 JBL participated in a match were the loser would have to retire, JBL lost. In June of 06 he took over as color commentator for Smackdown alongside Michael Cole. He continued as commentator until December of 2007 when he announced that he was going to RAW to start wrestling again due to a challenge by Chris Jericho. He went on to defeat Jericho at the 2008 Royal Rumble. In February JBL announced to everyone that Hornswoggle was not really Mr. McMahan's son and that his real father was Finlay which Finlay later admitted. This caused a big rivalry between JBL and Finlay who would later meet up in a Belfast Brawl at Wrestlemania XXIV to settle their differences. JBL was able to capture the win at Wrestlemania over Finlay. JBL competed for the WWE Title at Backlash in a fatal four way elimination match against John Cena, Randy Orton and Triple H. JBL was not successful though as he was the first one eliminated.On the July 30, 2008 edition of Raw JBL challenged CM Punk for his World Heavyweight Championship belt. CM Punk had only won the gold that night when he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to steal it from Edge after Edge had taken a beating from Batista. JBL was unsuccessful in his attempt for the gold as CM Punk beat him.
JBL would later compete in a four way match with John Cena, Batista and Kane to see who would battle CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Great American Bash. Batista won that match but it fueled the feud between JBL and John Cena. They would meet up July 20, 2008 at the Great American Bash in a parking lot brawl which involved a lot of cars crashing into each other. JBL was able to pick up the win when he pinned Cena on top of a car.
On August 17, 2008 JBL would get another chance at the World Heavyweight Title against CM Punk but was unsuccessful.
On October 5, 2008 at No Mercy JBL would have a match with Batista. The winner would win the honor of becoming the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Title. JBL lost though after Batista hit a Spinebuster and a Batista Bomb.
JBL then began feuding with Shawn Michaels. It became known that Michael's wa going through a tough time financially. JBL offered to help Shawn out with a deal to have Shawn work for him and at Armageddon 2008 Michaels accepted the deal. This feud is based on the film The Wrestler, which was released the week after Armageddon. With help from his new employee, Shawn Michaels, JBL won a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match on the December 29, 2008 episode of Raw by defeating Chris Jericho, Randy Orton and Shawn Michaels, earning JBL a World Heavyweight Championship match at the Royal Rumble against John Cena.
At the 2009 Royal Rumble JBL would face Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship but would lose the match after Cena reversed a JBL Clothesline From Hell and turned it into a FU. During the match, Shawn Michaels kicked both JBL and Cena down and then put JBL on top of Cena before leaving the ring, unfortunately for JBL, it didn't help.
The JBL and Shawn Michaels situation had been going on for months but all would be laid on the line as the two would battle on February 15, 2009 at No Way Out in a All or Nothing Match. Late in the match, Michaels would hit his Sweet Chin Music to win it, saving himself and his wife Rebecca from becoming JBL's property! Rebecca cried happily in the crowd as Michaels celebrated in the ring.
On March 9th, 2009 JBL would win the Intercontinental Championship from CM Punk.
With Wrestlemania 25 not far away there started to be talk about who would face the Undertaker and try to end the streak. What eventually went down was a match between Shawn Michaels and JBL with the winner taking on the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. JBL lost the match but would still make a Wrestlemania appearance as he defended his Intercontinental title against Rey Mysterio. That was not a good day for JBL as he lost the title to Rey in only 21 seconds as Mysterio was able to knock JBL down, hit the 619 and hit a slash from the top ropes before the pinfall and the IC belt. After the match was over JBL grabbed the Mic and announced to the crowd "I Quite!" before dropping the mic and walking off.
In April of 2009, days after Layfield's retirement, OVW owner Danny Davis announced in a press-release that Layfield was to become a commentator and host for the up-start MMA promotion and OVW's affiliate Vyper Fight League in which Layfield also sponsors with Layfield Energy.
JBL Facts:
Birth Name: John Charles Layfield
Birth Date: November 29, 1966
Height: 6' ft 6' inch
Finishing Move: Clothesline from hell
