JBL Remembers How The Locker Room Reacted To Future WWE Champions Joining The Company

WWE Hall of Famer JBL opened up about the arrival of The Radicalz—Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn—when the four former WCW stars joined WWE in 2000.

Speaking on the Something To Wrestle podcast, JBL recalled the excitement and respect their debut brought to the locker room.

The boys loved it, the competition between WWE and WCW was more between the higher-ups because that was a zero-sum game for those guys. So when we saw those guys coming over, we thought, ‘Man, this is fantastic. We’ve got some incredible talent coming.’ Those four guys were incredible talents. Two of the guys went on to become world champions and headline WrestleMania.

According to Bradshaw, The Radicalz were welcomed with open arms, and their impressive reputations were already well-known within the industry. Their addition was seen as a major win for WWE, enhancing an already stacked roster.

We knew how good they were and we knew how exciting it was, the influx of talent into our roster. Those guys were some of the most liked guys in the history of the business. Chris Benoit fell off the deep end and did some horrific things, but Chris back then was just considered a good guy. Eddie Guerrero, people loved Eddie, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko were the same; those guys fit in incredibly well.

The Radicalz quickly made their mark in WWE, showcasing exceptional in-ring skills and creating lasting legacies. Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit went on to win WWE’s top championships, cementing their places in wrestling history.

Why Did JBL Need To Shave His Beard Off After A Match With Vader?

JBL recalled how he had to shave his beard off after a match with fellow WWE Hall of Famer Vader because it smelled so bad because of Vader’s body odour. Bradshaw said that following a match the two had an awful smell lingering in his beard from Vader that forced him to get up in the early hours of the morning so that he could shave off his beard because he couldn’t tolerate the stench.

H/t to ITRWrestling.com