10 WWE wrestlers you didn't remember were WWE Champion

#3 John "Bradshaw" Layfield

JBL as WWE Champion

In a title reign that still seems unlikely almost 15 years later, Bradshaw, the long-time WWE employee who had spent most of his career in mid-card tag teams such as The New Blackjacks and the APA, was rather abruptly repackaged as a Dallas's J.R Ewing style millionaire character, John "Bradshaw" Layfield.

Not only did the JBL character come out of nowhere but it was a massive transition from the working class Texan gambler and beer drinker persona he had portrayed for the previous half-decade.

In an even bigger surprise, JBL, the career mid-carder was suddenly pushed as a main-eventer in a title feud with WWE Champion, Eddie Guerrero.

Guerrero who had vanquished Brock Lesnar, no less to win the gold and defended the title versus Kurt Angle in a killer match at Wrestlemania XX was no match for JBL apparently and dropped the belt to him in a lousy match at the Great American Bash 2004.

From there, JBL incredibly held the title for a staggering 280 days (a record that AJ Styles only recently broke as the longest reigning Champion in Smackdown history) before he lost the title to John Cena at Wrestlemania 21.

JBL was never considered for a WWE Championship run again.