John Layfield

This article is about the professional wrestler. For the seventeenth century theologian, see John Layfield (theologian).

John Bradshaw Layfield
Layfield in 2022
Born
John Charles Layfield

(1966-11-29) November 29, 1966 (age 57)[1]
Sweetwater, Texas, U.S.[2]
Alma materAbilene Christian University
Spouses
Cindy Womack
​
​
(m. 1994; div. 2003)​
​
(m. 2005)​
Ring name(s)Blackjack Bradshaw[2]
Bradshaw[2]
Death Mask[2]
JBL
John "Bradshaw" Layfield[2][3]
Johnny Hawk[2]
Justin Hawk Bradshaw[2]
Vampiro Americano[2]
Billed height6 ft 6 in (198 cm)[3]
Billed weight290 lb (132 kg)[3]
Billed fromSweetwater, Texas (as Blackjack Bradshaw)
New York City (as John Layfield)
Bradshaw Ranch (as Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw)
Trained byBlack Bart[4]
Brad Rheingans[2][4]
DebutSeptember 23, 1992[2][4][5]
RetiredApril 5, 2009[6]
American football career
No. 61
Position:Offensive lineman, Right tackle
Career information
High school:Sweetwater (TX)
College:Abilene Christian
Undrafted:1990
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only

John Charles Layfield (born November 29, 1966),[1] better known by the ring name John "Bradshaw" Layfield,[2][3] is an American retired professional wrestler and football player. He is currently signed to WWE, where he is an ambassador and commentator for the company.

Layfield rose to prominence in WWE during its Attitude Era under the ring name Bradshaw, during which time he became a three-time WWF Tag Team Champion with Ron Simmons as part of the Acolytes Protection Agency (APA) or simply the Acolytes, a feared pair of strong and tough mercenaries who, aside from occasionally wrestling and doing "work" for "clients" spent most of their time sitting around in their "office" playing cards, drinking beer, fighting people backstage and then going out to bars and getting into bar fights. In 2004, Simmons retired and the APA separated, and Layfield was rebranded as the heel character JBL— a rough-mannered, brawling, blustering, bad-tempered and bigmouthed Texas elite businessman, driven into the arena by limousine. The gimmick was built off of Layfield's real-life accomplishments as a stock market investor. Later that year, he captured the WWE Championship and held it for 280 days. A month before his in-ring retirement at 2009's WrestleMania 25, he became Intercontinental Champion, which made him the 20th Triple Crown Champion and the 10th Grand Slam Champion in WWE history.

After his retirement, Layfield became an on-air commentator for WWE programming. Layfield was inducted into the 2021 WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2020. Layfield is currently a finance commentator and is featured regularly on Fox News and Fox Business. He is also employed by Northeast Securities as its senior vice president.[7]

  1. ^ a b "JBL Bio". BuddyTV. Archived from the original on October 1, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cite error: The named reference OWOW was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d "JBL bio". WWE. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  4. ^ a b c "John Bradshaw Layfield "Wrestlers Database" CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database". cagematch.net. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  5. ^ "John Bradshaw Layfield biography". SLAM! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on December 18, 2019. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  6. ^ Layfield, John (April 6, 2009). "JBL No More, Thank You". WWE. Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
  7. ^ "Arrival 11/04/06 Page 1 of 2". April 28, 2007. Archived from the original on April 28, 2007.