JBL On Why Initial Commentary Run Didn't Go So Well, Vince McMahon's Reaction To Mistakes

John "Bradshaw" Layfield recently sat down with GAW TV, where he spoke about his transition from being a professional wrestler to a commentator.

“When I first got to be a commentator … I wasn’t that good I don’t think in my mind, because I still wanted to wrestle. But, then when I went back and wrestled for a little bit, realized I was hurt … and went back to do commentary, that’s when I really enjoyed it. Because then I was just a fan, I had no desire to be back in the ring, I just wanted to call the action and do the best I could with it, and I really enjoyed it.”

On his duties as a commentator:

“Sometimes you say something like, ‘Oh, who is that?’ We know who it is, it’s The Undertaker, he’s been there 52 straight weeks, but you want to let the fans get it first. That’s one of the things that’s so hard to figure out, that’s why it’s hard for play-by-play guys to come from sports into wrestling that don’t know wrestling very well, because they have a hard time being behind the action instead of being ahead of it.”

On Vince McMahon's reaction to mistakes:

“Even when I made mistakes, he was very kind about it. I loved him being in my ear because he’s very succinct, he’s a great producer, he would tell you just a short little phrase, he wouldn’t tell you a whole paragraph … Sometimes he would feed me something, but he would feed Cole something different, and it made sense after Cole said it … I thought he was terrific at it.”