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JBL has revealed he was once arrested while he was going through customs.
During a recent stream on his YouTube channel, the former WWE Champion explained how he was stopped at customs in Spain for attempting to bring a sword into the country.
In a recollection of the incident, JBL described how he struggled to communicate with the local police due to the language barrier. He stated that, at the time, he genuinely believed he was about to be thrown in a Spanish prison.
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"Years ago I was on tour with WWE in Spain… After the tour, I go from Spain to take the ferry to Morocco, to Tangiers, because I wanted to see North Africa. I get there and I see a snake charmer… Not many people were around, but I found this Camel Sheath sword from the snake charmer, and I bought it for 100 dollars. I asked him “Can I carry this back into Spain?” He said, “Yeah, yeah, I sold six yesterday!”... You have to go through customs, because you’re going from North Africa into the EU, to Spain."
"As I walk through customs, I start thinking “Something is not right here.” There was a conveyor belt and metal detector. I put my sword right on the conveyor belt, it went right through… Two guys were there talking, the thing beeped, they didn’t say a word. I thought, maybe the sword is OK… I grab the sword, walk out, and get arrested by the Spanish police!"
International travel is usually a regular part of being a WWE Superstar. Some wrestlers navigate this experience by speaking foreign languages. But JBL found himself in an undesirable situation because he couldn't communicate with the customs agents.
JBL was luckily saved by a local wrestling fan
JBL continued to explain how the Spanish police officer he dealt with began writing up official arrest papers for him. Thankfully, as JBL described, he caught the eye of a local wrestling fan, who was able to convince police to let the WWE Superstar go.
"I was about to get a weapons charge after 9/11!... He doesn’t understand my English. I’m trying to explain to him… I realized I’m going to jail now. I give him my wallet, I tried to bribe him… As I’m sitting there waiting to get cuffed and stuffed, a guy walks by outside the window… I can tell he recognizes me. Now remember, JBL had a lot of heat at that time. This guy’s obviously a wrestling fan. He comes in… You could tell he was a fan because he doesn’t like me. I said “You know The Rock? That’s a friend of mine!”... I’m just killing kayfabe… So he talked to the guy, they talked back and forth in Spanish really fast. The guy looks up at me, sighs, screws up the arrest record, throws it in the trash, and hands me the sword back!... He goes, “Take it, take it. Mistake.”"
JBL is set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year after the 2020 ceremony was canceled due to the global pandemic.
