Why JBL Disagrees With Opinion That Former WWE Boss Vince McMahon Was Bad For The Wrestling Industry

Whether one considers Vince McMahon a creative genius or a contemptible megalomaniac, wrestling is undeniably different because of him. As a businessman, McMahon excelled, transforming a niche carnival act into the global entertainment powerhouse that wrestling has become. However, not everyone is a fan of how he went about it, and he is often blamed for collapsing smaller promotions and poaching talent to build his own.

On a recent "Something to Wrestle" podcast, former WWE Champion John Bradshaw Layfield staunchly refuted those criticisms. 

"People say, 'Oh, Vince was the worst thing to happen to wrestling.' I hear that a lot of times," JBL said. "He took a company that he bought from his father for $1 million and sold it for $9.3 billion, and retained the rights. Now, I was in professional wrestling, and I was also in sports entertainment. There ain't no comparison as far as money, as far as medical, as far as how you're treated. What Vince did, he changed the business, massively, for the better."

JBL drove home the distinction between professional wrestling and sports entertainment, and didn't object to the transformation. He said McMahon not only made people more money, but the quality of life for a wrestler vastly improved under his leadership.

"I started in the territories," JBL said. "I saw how s****y it was. I saw how s****y promoters were. I saw how they treated you. I saw how you couldn't do anything about it. But people talk about professional wrestling/sports entertainment, there is no comparison. And most of that is attributed to Vince McMahon. So when people say, 'Vince McMahon really hurt wrestling.' No, he didn't. Brother, we're standing on the pillars that he and Kevin Dunn built."

Please credit "Something to Wrestle" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.