�<80><9c>Every bully I ever met can�<80><99>t shut his ****in�<80><99> mouth.�<80>� �<80>" Seth Bullock, HBO�<80><99>s �<80><9c>Deadwood�<80>�
Maybe now, at long last, John �<80><9c>Bradshaw�<80>� Layfield will.
The best news to come out of WWE in a long time was the bloodying and battering of the man-breasted phony cowboy by �<80>" of all people �<80>" Joey Styles. JBL had been harassing Styles throughout WWE�<80><99>s tour of Iraq, and the former ECW announcer and current dot-com geek finally had enough and �<80>" there is no other way to say it �<80>" kicked JBL�<80><99>s ass despite spotting him several inches and at least 400 pounds of cellulite.
Typing OH MY GOD!!! at this point is so clichéd, but quite unavoidable given the circumstances.
Good for Joey, and good for everybody at WWE. JBL has long bullied co-workers until they reach a breaking point. Why? Because he can, and that fact says more about the unprofessional working environment at WWE than it does about the fact that JBL is a flabby douche bag with the people skills of a rabid (now neutered) mongrel.
WWE owner Vince McMahon fancies himself a major corporate head like Donald Trump. But if bullying occurs at big companies, it�<80><99>s dealt with swiftly and severely. As an investments expert and entrepreneur, JBL surely knows how his transgressions would be treated in the business world: with dismissal, not a butt-whipping.
Me, I�<80><99>m glad about the butt-whipping. Coming at the hands of a four-eyed ex-announcer, it kills JBL�<80><99>s backstage cachet.
One reason McMahon has long pushed JBL is because McMahon is a mark for legitimate toughness. Now that JBL is Styles�<80><99> personal version of Jo-Jo the Dog-faced Bitch Boy, that aura is kaput. McMahon will never look at JBL the same way. Hopefully, JBL�<80><99>s push will diminish, his career will peter out, and he�<80><99>ll be reduced to hawking his foul-tasting energy swill for a minimal living. Sic semper tyrannis.
As for Styles, this won�<80><99>t get him back on TV. But to me, he�<80><99>s the True American Hero. He�<80><99>ll be a hero to the wrestlers, too, because the vast majority considers JBL a tool.
This sort of thing happens all the time in WWE.
Referee Billy Silverman left in 2001 because of JBL-led harassment. Diva Amy Weber quit in 2005 because of hazing. In 2006, Palmer Canon departed in the middle of a tour of Italy because of problems with �<80>" that name again �<80>" JBL. Dozens more tolerate the humiliation and stick it out because they want SO BADLY to make it in wrestling.
I�<80><99>m happy to say that this sort of thing was minimal when I worked at WCW. Despite grotesque mismanagement, it was a much more corporate environment.
People argued and yelled, but that happens everywhere. Chris Benoit stole my VISA card and used up my entire credit line with the boys at the bar, and Curt Hennig put a dead fish in my suit bag, but that�<80><99>s ribbing of a relatively harmless variety (unless somebody with a decent sense of smell happens to sit beneath the wrong overhead compartment). It�<80><99>s not malicious, systematic harassment.
JBL practices malicious, systematic harassment. He got socked in the face because of it. It should have happened long ago. But yet, it should have never come to that. JBL should have been warned (and then, if necessary, fired) years back.
Truth be told, McMahon loves it. Loves presiding over a human cockfight, loves being a puppet master, loves perpetuating the twisted traditions on the island of misfit toys.
That�<80><99>s fine. But then stop pretending that wrestling is family-friendly, that it�<80><99>s escaped the carnival days. It never has, and it never will.
Hey, now that JBL has been emasculated, do you think he�<80><99>ll actually start lactating?
