Sports Illustrated‘s Justin Barrasso is reporting JBL’s Smackdown departure has been planned for several months, and cited travel issues and his contract status with the company as reasons for leaving.
SI reports JBL (John Layfield) gave notice of his departure nearly 11 months ago, which was well before the bullying allegations with Mauro Ranallo started. It was stated Layfield was not a ‘primary person of interest’ in the issues with Ranallo, which have reportedly been resolved since Ranallo returned to WWE with the NXT brand. Barrasso’s report noted some WWE board members were appalled that Vince McMahon didn’t fire Layfield and instead kept his SD! role due to the bullying allegations, but the story ended up settling after Ranallo’s return.
Additionally, it was noted that while Layfield left own his own, his travel schedule contributed to his departure. WWE reportedly scheduled for him to arrive for TV tapings on Sundays, but Layfield was changing his itinerary for nearly two months to arrive on Tuesdays before he was confronted with the issue. WWE officials were said to think he was just burnt out from his traveling from his home in Bermuda to TV each week, but his announced departure was still said to be a surprise due to him giving notice last week after being spoken to about the travel arrangements.
