Former WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts’ new book is now on sale and details his experience working for WWE. While the book is somewhat inspirational (‘fulfilling a lifelong dream’), it also contains several disturbing accounts of hazing and bullying that Roberts experienced on the road. One of the main culprits of this alleged behavior is WWE broadcaster John Bradshaw Layfield.
Some of the claims by Roberts about JBL include:
- “JBL would throw my bags down the street…he typically referred to me as dipshit and numbnuts despite my always trying to do a great job…every day I saw him, he asked me why I was still alive and told me to go kill myself”.
- Someone from Smackdown stole Justin’s passport from his bag on the final night of a tour to the UK. It was never returned. He had to go to the US embassy in London to get it reissued. “Stealing a passport out of someone’s bag is a pretty evil rib and not giving it back means it’s no longer a rib.”
- When they were in Japan on a tour, there were separate buses for the faces and heels. JBL allegedly had both buses pull over and they wouldn’t move until Justin moved to the heel bus. JBL and a others then bullied Justin for the entire journey. “I was very comfortable working the RAW tours. I was scared for my life to work SmackDown tours”.
- A teenager was interviewing JBL and dropped his notes. Bradshaw asked the kid’s mother if “she had any children who weren’t mentally disabled.”
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Roberts implies that this behavior was systemic that was encouraged by JBL’s superiors and part of a hostile corporate culture.
JBL has responded to Roberts’ bullying claims by … bullying him. JBL says he won’t respond to “net rumors” but calls Roberts an idiot who was hated by the entire WWE crew.
I won't answer Net rumors-but I didn't take Justin Roberts passport. Could have been anyone/he was hated by the whole crew. He's an idiot.
— John Layfield (@JCLayfield) April 7, 2017
