The JBL controversy continues as more names — and stories — come out of the bag and accuse the wrestling figure of bullying and hazing other talent backstage. Recently, former WWE United States Champion and Money in the Bank winner Ken Anderson, along with Shawn Daivari, the manager of The Great Khali, Mark Henry, and Kurt Angle, were recently on the Pancakes & Powerslams Show to discuss JBL stories.
The consensus between the two were that in order to stop JBL of his backstage shenanigans, the best decision is to ignore him and not put over what he is trying to do. Both affirmed what many others say regarding JBL being one of the loudest people backstage, and is known for picking on people. Anderson stated that “the minute somebody would fire back at him, or just no-sell it, [they’ll] be fine. He wouldn’t keep hammering… I’m not saying that his way is right, but people are really, really sensitive nowadays for that reason.”
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Daivari stated that he understands JBL’s sense of humor, but he was indeed loud backstage. He also stated that out of the names who have been brought up that he bullied, too many of them kept giving him material to work with. If they keep feeding him stuff to pick with, he is going to maintain doing it. He added that “not everybody is gonna like you,” and “Maybe [John] doesn’t like you, you don’t have to prove a point and defend [yourself]. If he says you’re a dork and he hates you, you don’t have to prove to him that you’re not a dork and he should like you. Just let it go.”
Regarding names who stood up to JBL, Anderson named Edge and John Morrison.
“Paul Heyman told me this story about how JBL was needling Edge on a bus, overseas. Edge was pretty new to the company, and [JBL kept needling him]. JBL had a beer in his hand, Edge just stood up, and swatted the beer out of his hand, and said ‘Let’s go right now. I’m sick of it.’ From that point on, JBL said ‘Oh calm down, sweetheart.’ Everything was smoothed over, and he didn’t mess with him again.
“[John Morrison] stood up to him one night. JBL didn’t like the way him and Miz had sold at the end of their match. They hadn’t celebrated enough. [JBL was getting on him], and Johnny basically just snapped on him, and told him to mind his own business. They almost went at it.”
Daivari also shared how he also stood up to JBL after in the final evening of an 18-night European tour. He stated that since the same matches occur just about every evening, many wrestlers just leave the arena after their match to get rest for the next day. Daivari stayed around the night before because there was a tag team match the glued him to the monitor backstage. However, on this night, he was exhausted and was not looking at the monitor, just like mostly everyone else who stayed around until the end of the show.
Irate that no one was looking at his match, JBL looked around and decided to pick on Daivari by yelling, “Shawn Daivari doesn’t need to watch the main event! Shawn Daivari knows everything about everything in wrestling! Shawn doesn’t have to watch the main event! He’s good, he’s got it!” Daivari stood up to him and responded, “No. You’ve been doing the same match 17 nights in a row. I can call every single move you did, I can tell you exactly what happened, I can tell you what heat you did to the crowd to get them involved, I’ve seen it! No, I don’t need to watch it tonight!”
Based on these stories, and the other stories that have been unearthed, as well as the potential for more stories to come, fans will continue to speak out about how the situation with Mauro Ranallo go beyond what was said on Bring It to the Table . Based on the numerous tweets by protesters blocked by JBL, as well as someone escorted on SmackDown Live for a “ JBL Bullied Me ” sign, it does not look like the fans will sweep this situation under the rug anytime soon. This may force WWE to act accordingly.
[Featured Image by WWE]
