JBL And Blue Meanie Reflect On ECW One Night Stand 2005 Incident
The ECW One Night Stand 2005 PPV had a lot of memorable moments including the show’s conclusion when there was a big brawl that led to Bradshaw pummeling The Blue Meanie with punches. Many years later, Bradshaw and Blue Meanie have discussed what happened.
When WWE produced the ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view in June 2005, the idea behind it was that it was a show featuring ECW originals while the main heels in WWE would be there to be party crashers of sorts. It was their job to get some heel heat and they sure got it like when Bradshaw (as JBL) did a promo or when the fans chanted lewd things at Edge because of his real life situation involving Matt Hardy and Lita. Paul Heyman delivered his shots as well as a babyface former owner of ECW.
Heyman’s line towards JBL on that night was a classic: “Since you want to shoot, cowboy, the only reason you were WWE champion for a year is because Triple H didn’t want to work Tuesday.” The ECW crowd loved that as did the viewers at home.
At the end of the show, there was a big brawl between the ECW guys and the WWE superstars, which led to the very real situation of JBL beating up The Blue Meanie for real. They were not worked punches. JBL punched him hard and Meanie’s face was a bloody mess.
During a recent appearance on Stories With Brisco And Bradshaw, the Blue Meanie and JBL gave their explanations about what happened that night and how they were able to move on past it. JBL explained:
“I didn’t know that Meanie already had a cut [on his head] from Sandman from a while back, I had no idea. As far as the incident, after Meanie came back in, I pulled him in a private room and I apologized. I said sorry for the whole thing, and sorry for my part. I was also sorry for the fact that ECW had such a good pay-per-view, and that what was remembered was me and Meanie rather than the good work that the guys had put in.”
Meanie added that their issues were squashed when they talked at a Smackdown show soon after:
“The most important thing is we got to SmackDown on July 4, 2005 and [JBL] approached me and said ‘Hey, want to go talk?’ I said ‘Absolutely’. . . Here’s the deal, you’ve all been to TV and there’s signage everywhere. Catering, kayfabe, Vince’s office. So, as we’re walking I’m seeing less signage. And I’m like ‘If me and John go into this room and there’s plastic on the floor, I’m running.’”
“We went in the room like two men, he shut the door behind me. He said ‘Hey, we can either fight or make money.’ I said ‘Uh, I’d like to make some money, sir.’ And we had a heart-to-heart talk. I explained everything at the time, how I thought he bullied me. He told me about his experiences with the NFL and playing for the Raiders and a little bit of ball-breaking and ribs, and stuff like that.”
Meanie went on to explain that he felt like a new kid in school being in the WWE locker room and he had to prove himself:
“I was like the new kid at school. When you get into the wrestling business you’re always going through this process of re-establishing yourself. You could’ve been the coolest kid in grade school, but when you go to high school, you’re a freshman. Then you become the coolest kid in high school and you go to college. Again, you’re a freshman. Then you graduate college and then you have to become an intern and start the process all over again. I might have been whoever I was in ECW, but now I’m in WWE. They don’t give a crap about what I did in ECW, I have to re-establish myself in that locker room.”
The WWE Hall of Famer JBL added that he has changed a lot over the years and is more cautious about who he jokes around with:
“I’ve learned over the years if people don’t know, you just don’t bust their balls. It’s construed wrong, it’s taken wrong, and I didn’t think about it at the time. I hope I’m a different guy now than I was then. [Brisco] will tell you I’m not. I still bust his balls.”
When JBL faced The Blue Meanie on the July 7, 2005 edition of Smackdown, The Blue Meanie managed to get the upset win! It was a No Disqualification match with Batista showing up with a spinebuster in order to help Meanie get the victory.