Browsing: JBL

Is The Undertaker the most underrated “big man wrestler†of all time? JBL thinks so.

For 30 years, Mark Calaway struck fear into the hearts of WWE Superstars and fans alike as The Undertaker. The legendary Phenom battled some of the biggest names in the history of the business — from Hulk Hogan to “Stone Cold†Steve Austin to Shawn Michaels — becoming a mythical figure in the process.

Taker retired from in-ring competition after three decades of putting his body through hell. He still makes occasional cameos, and when heâ€s not circling the ring on his chopper, Calaway spends his time mentoring legends and future greats while providing creative input for AAA.

Speaking of legends, WWE Hall of Famer JBL was recently asked to name his top five underrated big men wrestlers on the latest episode of Something to Wrestle. The former WWE Champion listed Vader and Mark Henry at number five, Bruiser Brody at four, Stan Hansen at three, Kane at two, and The Undertaker at number one.

When Conrad Thompson joked, “Who the hell is underrating The Undertaker?†JBL offered the following response:

“You talk about the greatest big men of all time,†JBL said. Heâ€s not on everybodyâ€s list. What? Heâ€s 6â€8″, 6â€10â€, whatever he is. Heâ€s 320 or 330 pounds when heâ€s at his peak. And people want to bring all kinds of different guys ahead of The Undertaker.

“I donâ€t think thereâ€s anybody in the history of the business, especially when youâ€re talking about big men, who belongs ahead of The Undertaker. I mean, heâ€s done absolutely everything. He was the guy who got other guys through matches. He was the guy who got put out there with sh*tty gimmicks — guys who couldnâ€t get over by themselves. They said, ‘Taker can do it.â€â€

JBL on The Undertaker being the barometer for wrestlers in the â€90s

“He was the barometer for guys who came in during the â€90s. To see if they could work or not, they got put out there with him. But he was also expected to draw crowds, and he did it everywhere he went.

“You know, ‘Mr. WrestleMania,†the ‘Streak†— thereâ€s just so much about him. To this day, when he walks out there, people go nuts. He is the greatest big man in the history of the business.â€

READ MORE: JBL Explains What Hurts Kaneâ€s Legacy As A Great Big Man Wrestler

Do you agree with JBLâ€s rankings? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below!

If you use the quotes from this article, please credit the Something to Wrestle podcast and give an H/T to WrestleZone for the transcription.

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JBL recently broke down some of his favorite big men wrestlers in history and dove into what was holding back Kane during his run.

\In a recent talk on the Something to Wrestle podcast, JBL brought up his favorite big men. The list included a litany of legends, and when the topic turned to iconic WWE star Kane, JBL listed him as his second-favorite big man and praised the star.

“Glennâ€s incredibly talented,†JBL said. “I mean, Glenn could do comedy. The stuff he did with Daniel Bryan was fantastic. He could do hardcore stuff. He could also wrestle. Glenn carried a lot of matches for a 10-15 year period in WWE, that was just remarkable. I donâ€t know anybody else who could have that run.â€

Alongside the praise, JBL opened up about why he believes, to some, Kane might be seen as “underrated.†Specifically, he believes a handful of things held Kane back from being considered one of the greats.

“I think not just the political affiliations, but seeing him without the gimmick on, seeing him talking, heâ€s a very cerebral guy. Heâ€s a very smart guy. Heâ€s very much a student of history, especially economic history. He can lecture you on Keynesian models and all kinds of crazy things that smart people are able to lecture you on. So when you see that, it takes you away from this ‘monster†that he was, this character that he played.â€

READ MORE: JBL: The Buried Alive Match Was Horrible, But Undertaker Made It Work

If you use the quotes from this article, please credit the Something to Wrestle podcast and give an H/T to WrestleZone for the transcription.

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Brian Pillman was one of the most unique acts in WWE when he sadly died after a heart attack caused by previously undetected heart disease. Following his passing, WWE had a controversial interview segment between Vince McMahon and Pillman’s widow, Melanie, that was aired on television, which many felt was awfully distasteful at the time. However, according to John Bradshaw Layfield, there was method to McMahon’s madness at the time.

“I don’t see how you can possibly say no to this,” JBL said during an episode of “Something To Wrestle” after it was brought up that Melanie had requested to do the interview about her husband. “You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. If you don’t put her on there, and years later you find out the widow wanted to come on, why didn’t you have her on? Because she wasn’t a draw? People are gonna bash Vince for that.”

“There’s no right answer to this. Vince is a standup guy, and he was willing to sa,y ‘Okay, I did it, I made the decision. If you want to shoot arrows at somebody, shoot them at me.’ And a lot of people did,” JBL added, noting that if he were actually in McMahon’s position at that time, he would’ve also done the same thing that the then-WWE Chairman did. “Are you gonna tell the family themselves, ‘We don’t want you to do a eulogy on television’? Then you’re gonna look like the biggest jerk in the world!”

JBL claims he had a feeling that Brian Pillman was dead before the news of his passing broke

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John Bradshaw Layfield also claimed that he was actually with Pillman the night before he passed away. “Brian and I were pretty good friends – I’d say good friends – and I’d always joked with him about something, a little personal joke, and he always kinda laughed and snickered at it,” he recalled, noting that the night before, he joked with Pillman again but the late wrestler snapped at him for the first time. “At the time I thought: that’s strange, that’s not like Brian? Brian was a really nice guy.”

Additionally, JBL told a story about a night between him and Pillman when the two were drinking where he found out that his friend was in a lot of pain all the time. “I said ‘Are you in pain?’ he goes, ‘Every step I take, every step I take hurts.’ He was in a tremendous amount of pain,” he recalled. “Later he didn’t make the show in Saint Louis, and I remember thinking right away back to the fact that it was different that he snapped at me and thinking ‘I don’t think Brian’s with us anymore.'”

JBL further claimed that he was saddened by the news of Pillman’s passing but not surprised, as he knew the late wrestler was a professional and wouldn’t no-show an event.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Something To Wrestle” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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By Ella Jay

Oct. 12, 2025 10:30 am EST

Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images

At the top of WWE’s creative department currently sits Paul “Triple H” Levesque, the Chief Content Officer. Years from now, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes sees himself, CM Punk, or Seth Rollins potentially stepping into the same role. During a recent episode of “Something To Wrestle,” WWE Hall of Famer John “Bradshaw” Layfield backed up that idea.

“Triple H is pretty young. He could be there quite a while, but yeah, I think all three of those guys could do a great job with it,” JBL said. “I’ve told you many times, when you walk into a wrestler’s meeting, they’re going over a finish, going over an angle or storyline or something, there’s always one guy that talks. You just have certain respect and a certain guy has the acumen that everybody cedes to him. These three guys are those guys. I think they all do a wonderful job. They’re all smart guys. It’s a tough job. They all have the intelligence to do it.”

According to JBL, former WWE CEO Vince McMahon had long trained Levesque to take over WWE someday, with the foundational principle that WWE was to be run like an entertainment company, rather than a professional wrestling one.

“I think Triple H has a huge lead on these guys, but what Vince did for Triple H, Triple H could do for one of these guys,” JBL added.

Following his eventual in-ring retirement, Rollins foresees himself taking on a backstage role somewhere in WWE. Meanwhile, Rhodes already has backstage experience through his previous role as an EVP for AEW. Both he and Rollins also once stepped in as producers for a WWE live event. In the case of Punk, he continues to lend words of wisdom to WWE’s young talents in “WWE NXT” and on the main roster.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Something To Wrestle” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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He may not have had the same nor great in-ring skills that JBL once…

WrestleMania 43 will be taking place in Saudi Arabia in 2027 but a lot of people are happy about this…

JBL believes WWE having AEW as competition is nothing but a positive for them.

On a recent episode of Something To Wrestle, WWE Hall of Famer JBL spoke in-depth about the company being in competition with AEW and why he believes itâ€s a good thing for them.

“I think it makes it better. I think it makes it a lot better,†JBL said. “The times that Vince did things that were crazy was when he was bored. He came up with ICOPRO when WCW had no ratings. Of course, then he had, unfortunately, the government trial against him at the same time, which took his time away and really hurt the business, but thatâ€s when he came up with ICOPRO.

“He came up with the XFL when WCW was no longer around later. When you have no competition… creative guys need to fill a void somewhere, and thereâ€s no reason to fill it with wrestling because you donâ€t have competition. Thatâ€s just my opinion. I would imagine, when you donâ€t have (competition), itâ€s hard to put your feet to the fire. I know with Vince, when things went bad, I would see him, and he was almost like, ‘Fantastic, I get to go to work.â€

“He gets to pull the company out of a tailspin or gets to pull something out of a fire. He loved that. And I think all creative guys do. And when you donâ€t have somebody to beat, I think it hurts the business. So I think itâ€s really good for WWE. I think their show is absolutely on fire and all the stuff theyâ€re doing is a response to… I donâ€t think AEW is big competition – you could argue how big they are as competition, I donâ€t think itâ€s much – but they do respond.

JBL believes WWE competing with AEW has a huge positive effect on the business

“And I think that has a huge positive effect on the business. And then you have other companies trying to be a part of this. I think itâ€s huge to have two companies. It was huge (working for WWE when WCW was competition). Absolutely huge. You wanted to beat them. You wanted to see what they had on their show and you wanted to go up against it. You wanted to be the guy to bat. And when thereâ€s no competition, what happens if you shit the bed? It doesnâ€t really matter.

“I understand your pride as a performer, I get all that stuff, but if thereâ€s no consequence for it, like, ‘Okay, it wasnâ€t good that week, weâ€ll try again next week.†If youâ€re not good when you have competition, and youâ€re going up against something that competition has, and you lose, youâ€re either gotten rid of or youâ€re put way down on the roster somewhere.

“You wonâ€t be in that spot again. So you love the competition. And I think the times that WWE has not been creative, and they tried to find their own competition within themselves, thatâ€s when they did ECW, thatâ€s when they did NWA, thatâ€s when they did all kinds of stuff – it just hasnâ€t worked very well.†[H/T: WrestleTalk]

READ MORE: “Blow Me†– JBL Crudely Responds To Fans Upset That WWE Is Counter-Programming AEW

What do you make of JBLâ€s overall comments? Do you believe competition from companies like AEW is good for WWE? Let us know your overall thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.

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Randy Orton (photo credit Wade Keller © PWTorch) SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)… …