John Layfield
John Charles Layfield (born November 29, 1966), better known by the ring name Bradshaw or JBL, is an American professional wrestling commentator and retired professional wrestler and football player. He is currently signed to WWE, where he is an ambassador for the company. Layfield is currently a financial commentator and is featured regularly on Fox News and Fox Business. He is also employed by Northeast Securities as its senior vice president.
John Layfield | |
|---|---|
Layfield in 2018 | |
| Born | John Charles Layfield November 29, 1966 Sweetwater, Texas, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Abilene Christian University |
| Spouses | Cindy Womack
(m. 1994; div. 2003)Meredith Whitney (m. 2005) |
Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Blackjack Bradshaw Bradshaw Death Mask JBL John "Bradshaw" Layfield Johnny Hawk Justin Hawk Bradshaw Vampiro Americano |
| Billed height | 6 ft 6 in (198 cm) |
| Billed weight | 290 lb (132 kg) |
| Billed from | Sweetwater, Texas (as Blackjack Bradshaw) New York City (as John Layfield) Bradshaw Ranch (as Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw) |
| Trained by | Black Bart Brad Rheingans |
| Debut | September 23, 1992 |
| Retired | April 5, 2009 |
|
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 | |
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), 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.