Skip to main content
Inside The Ropes
  • News

    WWE News

    AEW logo for their Dynamite TV show

    AEW News

    IMPACT Wrestling logo

    IMPACT News

    New Japan Pro Wrestling

    NJPW News

  • Features
    Poster for WWE Royal Rumble ft Roman Reigns

    WWE Royal Rumble 2023 Predictions

    NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17

    NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 Predictions

    WWE Superstars With The Most Wins In 2022

    WWE Superstars With The Most Wins In 2022

    Breakout WWE Superstars In 2022

    Top 10 Breakout WWE Superstars In 2022

  • Interviews
    20 Questions Deonna Purrazzo FI

    20 Questions With Deonna Purrazzo

    Rick Boogs

    Interview With Rick Boogs

    JONAH

    Interview With JONAH

    Rosemary Interview

    Interview With Rosemary

  • Podcasts
    What’s Going Down #99 – Austin Theory, Bray Wyatt & Tyrus

    Listen
    What’s Going Down #98 – SmackDown Main Event, Crown Jewel & More

    Listen
    Jeff Jarrett stands in-ring on AEW Dynamite 2022

    Listen
    Power Slam Podcast #264 – Steve Austin Comeback, Full Gear Preview & More

    Listen
  • Quizzes
    Play Word Rumble

    Play Word Rumble

    WWE logo

    Can You Name Every WWE Pay-per-view?

    WWE Survivor Series sole survivors quiz

    Can You Name All The WWE Survivor Series Sole Survivors?

    WWE Smackdown logo

    Can You Name Every Wrestler That Competed On The First SmackDown?

  • Live Tours
  • Shop
    Magazine
    Clothing
    Accessories
    Collectibles
  • Trending
  • Follow us:
    • Facebook Facebook
    • Twitter Twitter
    • Instagram Instagram
  • Watch us on YouTube:
    • YouTube YouTube
  • Subscribe to the Magazine
  • Play Word Rumble
Wrestling News

JBL Compares Vampiro To Hulk Hogan Whilst Recalling Hilarious Story

By Lyle Kilbane. Published 29th April 2021.
JBL

JBL has shared the hilarious story of the time when he and Mexican wrestling icon Vampiro almost got into a fight over some stolen gear.

John ‘Bradshaw’ Layfield recounted the story on his YouTube channel where he was hosting a Q and A for fans. The former WWE Champion kicked off with a story about his time wrestling in Mexico early in his career.

JBL was involved in a storyline with Vampiro, who Layfield compared to the biggest names in wrestling seen in the United States.

JBL recalled:

“Vampiro was the biggest name in Mexico – and when I say he’s the biggest name, I don’t think that people that didn’t see him understand how big he was. He had a rock band, he had his own cologne, it was insane. He sold out everywhere he went. I’ve seen guys over. I was with the Von Erichs, the Freebirds in Dallas, Stone Cold, The Rock, Hogan, John Cena, you name it I’ve seen it in the last 30 years in this business. He was as over as anybody I’ve ever seen.”

“I didn’t realise they [CMLL] had had a problem with Vampiro. Vampiro, great guy, love the guy, never had an issue with the guy apart from one which I’m about to tell. They had a bunch of stooges around Elizondo, anybody who was in charge back then had all these stooges. Rumour was Vampiro had punched one of these stooges. I don’t know what happened, I never did ask him, don’t blame him if he did. Every time a stooge gets punched, that’s a good thing. They were bringing me down to replace Vampiro – I didn’t know that. He’s irreplaceable. This is like replacing Hogan in his heyday. I’m not making that up, how popular he was at the time.”

JBL continued, recounting what happened when he finally came face to face with Vampiro:

“I think I’m going down as The Dark Vampire, same as The Dark Patriot. I’m the heel. Working all over the territory, I’m Vampiro, they put the title on me. Now all of a sudden, I’m coming up to face Vampiro at the Plaza del Toros – the big blow-off, at least part of it. I’m sitting there in a room with him, and now this is the first time I’ve met Vampiro in person. I’ve been going around all over northern Mexico, as Vampiro Americano, he’s Vampiro Canadiense, and working up to this angle for the title, for the name, for everything. And I’m sitting there this little small room, and he’s just sitting there staring at me. And I can’t figure out why he’s not receptive, and I can’t figure out what the heat is.”

“Finally I say ‘brother, we got heat?’ and he’s sitting there, looking at me and he says ‘you’re wearing my sh*t’, and I said, ‘well yeah, that’s the angle. I’m the heel vampire, you’re the good guy. Eventually, I’m going to lose the name to you and the title to you and all that stuff, it’s story’. And he’s still sitting there and I say ‘I don’t understand, what’s wrong?’ He looks at me again and he says ‘you’re wearing my sh*t’, and now I had no idea what he’s talking about and I said ‘brother, I’m sorry, you’ve lost me here’ and he looks at me and all of a sudden he just relaxes and he says ‘you’re not in on it are you?’”

This is when Layfield was let in on what the actual issue was. Rather than taking Vampiro metaphorically, he should have taken him literally:

We’re on the edge of a fight and all of a sudden he just relaxes, and I have no idea what calmed him down, I have no idea what made him mad – nothing. I said ‘brother, please smarten me up to this’ and he said ‘that’s my stuff!’. I said ‘I know it’s your stuff, I’m your gimmick, it’s storyline’, and he said ‘no no no’. He had ordered this stuff in Monterrey and I don’t know if he paid for it or not, I heard he did, I don’t know if he did or not, but it’s been 20-something or 30 years. And the office went by and picked up his stuff and gave it to me.”

“So I’m sitting there across from him, wearing his gear that he ordered and I think he paid for. And he’s thinking ‘the audacity of this guy to sit in front of me, wearing the gear that he stole from me’, that’s what he’s thinking. And I just started laughing. The office didn’t smarten me up. We’d have been in a fight if that had gone differently.

According to JBL, the words Vampiro repeatedly told him jogged his memory when the two men bumped into one another, years later:

“About 20 years later, I’m in an elevator, going up, and I see this guy get on, bald-headed, or head shaved or close, good-looking guy. I don’t really pay any attention, and he goes ‘you not gonna say anything to me?’, and I said ‘sorry?’, and he said ‘you’re wearing my sh*t’, and we just started laughing.”

“It was Vampiro, the first time I’d seen him since I’d been in Mexico, we hugged. Great guy, we had a terrific run, it was the most money I’d made at the time, I’d been nowhere, really. Made money with him down in Mexico, dropped the name, dropped the title, and then I left and never went back, went to Japan, went to Europe, and then to WWE. He continued his name and had a run in WCW. Terrific guy. I always had a terrific relationship with him.”

JBL has also recently told the story of the time he nearly got arrested in Spain while on tour with WWE.

If you use any quotes from this article please h/t and then link back to Inside The Ropes.

  • Facebook
    Share
  • Twitter
    Tweet
  • WhatsApp
    Send
  • Share

Popular Stories

  1. Iconic AEW Segment Left TBS Furious
  2. Former WWE Superstar Once Had S*x With Snow White At Disneyland
  3. Details On Backstage ‘Scuffle’ Between Top AEW Talent
  4. Matt Riddle Shows Off Bizarre Look During WWE Absence
  5. Cody Rhodes Commited A “Cardinal Sin” During The 2023 WWE Royal Rumble
  6. Missing WWE Championship Resurfaces During NFL Pro Bowl
  7. Adam Cole Gives Update On Absent AEW Star
  8. Bray Wyatt Shows Off Horrifying Injury
  9. Ric Flair Names The Worst Match He’s Ever Had
  10. Bray Wyatt Becomes Uncle Howdy At WWE Live Event
Inside The Ropes
  • News
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Podcasts
  • Magazine
  • Write For Us
  • Facebook Facebook
  • Twitter Twitter
  • Instagram Instagram
  • YouTube YouTube
© 2023 ITR Digital Media Limited. Read about our privacy policy.