WWE Hall of Famer JBL appeared on Something To Wrestle With, where he discussed several topics, including how The Miz had a bigger career than he originally thought the A-Lister would.
JBL said, “Yeah, The Miz, no doubt about it, The Miz — when he came in, and it’s not because he lacked talent. He did. But how do you learn on national, global television? You know, that’s nearly impossible. What The Miz did is almost an impossibility. He had his first matches on global television. You know, by the time I got to WWE I probably had a thousand matches. Most of the guys did. And Miz is having to learn on global television without that educational background of working a bunch of territories and all the things that we got to do. And he has built a Hall of Fame career from that moment, and I think that’s incredibly remarkable that, because he didn’t have the background we had.”
On wrestlers using agents in wrestling:
“I don’t think I know Barry [Bloom]. Obviously, I know exactly who he is. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wanna say I don’t know him. I don’t think I’ve ever met him, unless perhaps we briefly shook hands. So, I don’t believe I know Barry. If I do, and Barry happens to be listening, I apologize, but I don’t think I know Barry. He’s highly regarded by everyone. He’s done really good stuff for a lot of guys. A lot of these agents have done really good stuff. Mojo Rawley, for example, is now an agent who’s done some good stuff for guys.”
On if he’s used an agent:
“I’ve never used one. I had an agent one time, and I remember he came to a show with me. I’d never use an him for Vince [McMahon]. Vince hated agents. Vince was a pay guy, but if you tried to back Vince into a corner, it would work just the opposite. So if you brought an agent to deal with it, you’d a worse deal than if you just went to Vince. Anyway, the agent I had was for my CNBC or Fox or whatever it was. He was a nice and competent guy. But I remember when he introduced himself to Vince, and Vince looked at him as if he’d just passed gas. The look of disgust was just — and then Vince looked at me, like, ‘You have an agent?’ I was like, ‘No no, not for you, oh my god.’ Vince hated agents. So no, I’ve never used one, but I’ve had a thought that maybe I should. Because the problem in wrestling is our salaries are confidential. There’s a confidentiality clause in all the contracts. Now some guys will release their contracts out, and some of them may not have confidentiality clause. All of mine did. I assume that most of them did from WWE. So I don’t know what anybody else is making. An agent has a way to get that stuff, because they’ve done other guys’ contracts. So I can see why you would use an agent, somebody like Barry Bloom. I’ve just never done it because I always had to deal with Vince. And Vince didn’t like agents, and Vince was best pay guy in the world, and I never had a reason to use an agent with Vince.”
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(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
