JBL names four legends who should have been WWE Champion

John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) held the WWE Championship for 280 days between June 2004 and April 2005. In a recent podcast episode, the 58-year-old questioned why Goldust, Roddy Piper, Shelton Benjamin, and Ted DiBiase Sr. never won the title.

DiBiase Sr. was one of WWE's biggest stars in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Known as The Million Dollar Man, the wrestling legend created his own Million Dollar Championship. However, he never held the WWE Championship despite being in the title picture for several years.

On the Something to Wrestle podcast, JBL said DiBiase Sr. deserved to capture the gold at some stage in his career:

"A hundred percent. It was one of those things that [was said], 'Ted didn't need the title.' He had his Million Dollar title. And Ted didn't. Ted was such a great worker, but if I'm Ted I would kinda feel like, 'Why didn't I get just one run?' Because I think Ted should have. I think Ted should have been the WWE Champion. I think he should have been it for a long time." [23:21 – 23:40]

DiBiase Sr. was widely viewed as one of the greatest bad guys of his generation. In 2010, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

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JBL on Goldust, Roddy Piper & Shelton Benjamin as WWE Champions

Only 55 wrestlers have held the WWE Championship since the title was introduced in 1963. Cody Rhodes, the brother of Dustin Rhodes (aka Goldust), defeated Roman Reigns at WrestleMania XL in 2024 to win the title.

JBL thinks Goldust, Roddy Piper, and Shelton Benjamin were all worthy of being WWE Champions:

"I think Piper should have. I think Dustin Rhodes, especially as Goldust, I thought Goldust should have been champion. I thought he'd have been a great champion. He was a great worker who did everything and had incredible heat. I mean, there's tons and tons of guys. Shelton Benjamin should have been a world champion." [23:40 – 23:56]

In the same episode, JBL recalled how Vince McMahon rejected a veteran's return to WWE programming in the mid-2010s.

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Please credit Something to Wrestle and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.