page_title: John Layfield
section_title: John "Bradshaw" Layfield, WWE Champion (2004–2005)
hierarchical_section_title: John Layfield / Professional wrestling career / World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment / John "Bradshaw" Layfield, WWE Champion (2004–2005)
caption_attribution_description: English: World Wrestling Entertainment Superstar JBL gives his signature cowboy hat to a service member in Iraq during the WWE's Tribute to the Troops main event on Camp Victory, Dec. 5.
context_page_description: John Charles Layfield, better known by the ring name John "Bradshaw" Layfield, is an American businessman, retired professional wrestler and television personality currently signed with the WWE on a part-time basis. Layfield is currently a financial commentator featured regularly on Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network. He is also employed by Northeast Securities as its Senior Vice President.
  Layfield rose to prominence in WWE during its Attitude Era under the ring name Bradshaw, during which time he became a three-time WWF Tag Team Champion with Ron "Farooq" Simmons as part of the Acolyte Protection Agency. In 2004, the APA separated and Layfield was rebranded as JBL – a wealthy, big mouthed businessman – based on Layfield's real-life accomplishments as a stock market investor. Later that year, he captured the WWE Championship and held it for 280 days. A month before his in-ring retirement at 2009's WrestleMania XXV, he became Intercontinental Champion, which made him the twentieth Triple Crown Champion and the tenth Grand Slam Champion in WWE history. During his career Layfield was accused of perpetrating various pranks or hazing upon other WWE employees.
context_section_description: After the on air character of Faarooq disappeared from WWE TV, Bradshaw proceeded to take on a J. R. Ewing esque gimmick, complete with a suit, cowboy hat, and tie as he began his first main event push since Kurt Angle and Big Show were injured and Brock Lesnar left the company, so WWE needed someone to face the current WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero. He began referring to himself as John "Bradshaw" Layfield, or JBL. His finishing move's name was part of the overhaul, becoming the Clothesline From Wall Street until he later changed it back to its original name. His first promo was on the border between Texas and Mexico, where he hunted for incoming illegal immigrants in order to win a "Great American Award", which granted the winner number one contendership to the WWE Championship. He won, thanks to the then-SmackDown! heel general manager Kurt Angle, and immediately challenged Eddie Guerrero for the title.
  At Judgment Day, JBL defeated Guerrero via disqualification in a match for the WWE title, but since a title cannot change hands by disqualification, Guerrero retained the title. JBL controversially won his sole world championship, the WWE Championship from Guerrero in a Texas Bull Rope match at The Great American Bash. The initial decision of Guerrero's victory was reversed by then-General Manager Kurt Angle, awarding the match and the title to JBL; the replay showed that JBL touched the fourth corner before Guerrero. JBL won a rematch in a steel cage two weeks later, again with Angle's assistance.
  After claiming he would not be defending the title at SummerSlam, The Undertaker challenged JBL for the title. Around this time, JBL hired Orlando Jordan to help him in title matches. At SummerSlam, JBL won the match by disqualification. After the match, Undertaker chokeslammed JBL through the roof of his limo. JBL wore a halo complete with his cowboy hat on top for the next few weeks to sell his "injuries". SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long then booked a Last Ride match for the title at No Mercy. JBL retained the title with some help from Heidenreich.
  Though JBL held the title for many months, most title matches were won controversially. At Survivor Series, JBL defeated Booker T to retain his WWE Championship by hitting Booker in the face with the title belt when the referee was knocked out. JBL defeated Eddie Guerrero, The Undertaker, and Booker T in a Fatal Four-Way at Armageddon after a run-in by Heidenreich, who incapacitated the Undertaker, allowing JBL to take advantage and hit Booker with the Clothesline From Hell to get the pinfall victory.
  During JBL's time as WWE Champion, he employed a stable named "The Cabinet". At its peak, the stable contained Orlando Jordan, who was JBL's "Chief-of-Staff" and Doug and Danny Basham, who were his "Co-Secretaries of Defense" until quitting the Cabinet on the June 16, 2005 episode of SmackDown!. Amy Weber was also a member, being JBL's image consultant, but later left WWE. WWE explained Weber's absence by saying that JBL fired her after an episode of SmackDown! taped in Japan. That episode saw Weber accidentally shoot JBL with a tranquilizer gun. Jordan is the only member not announced to have left the group, though mention of the term cabinet went on hiatus after SummerSlam and Orlando was released from WWE in May 2006.
  JBL defended the title at Royal Rumble against Big Show and Kurt Angle in a Triple Threat match when he pinned Angle after the Clothesline From Hell and against Big Show in a Barbed Wire Steel Cage match at No Way Out, when Big Show chokeslammed JBL off the top rope through the ring and crawled out from under the ring apron, winning the match by escape. On the next episode of SmackDown!, JBL had a "Celebration of Excellence" in which he and his Cabinet celebrated the fact that he was the longest-reigning WWE Champion in ten years, a party which was broken up and ruined by Big Show and newly crowned number one contender John Cena.
  JBL lost the WWE Championship to John Cena at WrestleMania 21. Layfield's unbroken nine-month reign was billed as the longest in a
caption: Layfield at Tribute to the Troops
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