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The Blue Meanie has opened up about the backstage conversation he had with John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) after ECW One Night Stand 2005.
The ECW reunion pay-per-view ended with a brawl between ECW Originals (former ECW wrestlers) and WWE Crusaders (RAW and SmackDown stars). During the brawl, JBL caused The Blue Meanie’s face to bleed after legitimately punching him several times.
Meanie appeared on the latest episode of Gerald Brisco and JBL’s Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw podcast. Speaking about this altercation, Meanie recalled how he and JBL buried the hatchet.
“John, we went in a room like two men and he shut the door behind him and said, ‘Hey, we can either fight or we can make money,’” Meanie said. “I was like, ‘I’d like to make money, sir.’ 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, playing for the [Los Angeles] Raiders, ribs, and stuff like that.”
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The ECW One Night Stand 2005 incident led to a storyline between the two men. The Blue Meanie ended up gaining revenge by defeating JBL on the July 7, 2005 episode of WWE SmackDown.
The Blue Meanie explained how he would handle the JBL incident differently now
The Blue Meanie previously worked for WWE in 1998 and 1999, but he was still relatively inexperienced compared to many of his fellow wrestlers in 2005.
Looking back on the show, the 48-year-old would have dealt with JBL differently if he had more experience in the wrestling business.
“I didn’t wanna step on any toes, I didn’t wanna get any heat,” Meanie added. “I just wanted to show up, do what I had to do, get along with everybody, and go home to my family at the end of the day. If I could put this brain in that body back then, a lot of this stuff that happened between me and you probably would’ve been squashed right off the bat. If I knew how to react to it and sell for it properly.”
After retiring in 2009, JBL worked as a WWE commentator for several years before being inducted into the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame. The Blue Meanie, by contrast, left WWE shortly after his victory over JBL in 2005.
Please credit Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
