Monday, April 22, 2013

Match of the Debut - JBL debuts as JHB on WWF Superstars January '96

Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw vs. Bob "Spark Plug" Holly - WWF Superstars (1996)


Before becoming a wealthy Fox News bigwig with a white cowboy hat, John Layfield was a rough and tough cowboy with Yosemite Sam as a manager. The JBL that I'm referring to is Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw, and that Yosemite Sam character I'm referencing would be good ol' Uncle Zeb Cotler.

In Bradshaw's first match in the Fed, the relatively green Texan takes on Bob Holly, who at this point was not called "Sparky" but was no where near "Hardcore". Holly does a good job of getting Bradshaw over while Bradshaw showed that someday, say eight years from this match, he could have a run with the World title.

Bradshaw's time as Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw, while short, had a few high points including his eight second match with Fatu, his gimmick of branding his initials into his opponents bodies after matches, and his strap match against Savio Vega. I guess it's also worth noting that both Bradshaw and Jack Swagger have had Zeb (Dutch Mantel) Colter as managers and both had some sort of anti-immigrant gimmick. See: JBLKicksOutIllegalImmigrants.avi.

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