CARD: WLAF Pro Set 1991
ACQUIRED: EBay, 2025
CAREER SNAPSHOT:
- John Layfield played OT at tiny Abilene Christian.
- Clocking in at 6-5, 278- he’d earn Division II first team All American Honors as a Senior, and All-Lone Star Conference Honors as both a Junior and Senior.
- Undrafted in 1990, he’d sign with the Los Angeles Raiders but would be cut before camp began.
- Selected by the San Antonio Riders of the WLAF in 1991.
- Started all 10 games blocking up front for RB Ricky Blake– who finished 3rd in rushing.
- Didn’t return for the 1992 season and quickly decided to chase his true passion: Pro Wrestling.
- Over the next few years, Layfield would hone his game and persona in different leagues around the world.
- John Layfield joined the WWE in 1995.
- He won his first title- The European Continental Title in 2002, that he held for a bit over a week.
- In 2004, he rebranded simply as ‘JBL’, a wrestling version of JR Ewing from the TV show ‘Dallas’.
- JBL won the WWE Championship soon thereafter and held it for roughly 280 days.
- Continued to wrestle through the Attitude era and into the family friendly Cena years.
- Retired in 2009, but not before winning the Intercontinental Championship.
- Joined ringside as a commentator.
- Sporadically has returned to the ring and acts as a brand ambassador for the WWE and for other brands as well.
- A successful investor, he’s a Senior VP at Northwest Securities and commentator on Fox News.
- Lives in Bermuda and has been empowering the youth of the island through the sport of rugby.
ACCOLADES:
- WWE Hardcore Championship
- WWE European Championship
- WWE Tag Team Championship
- WWE Intercontinental Champion
- WWE Champion
- WWE US Championship
- WWE Hall of Fame (2020)
- Race to the Rumble Tournament
NOTES:
John is a non-signer TTM. I had however missed out on a paid signing for him back in 2014. I had gotten a bargain price on him and the promoter called me to tell me that they were unable to get him and that ‘they’d make it up to me’. -They never did.
Anyway, I had found John was in Bermuda, where he was really helping establish the sport of Rugby, but I couldn’t find a corresponding address to him and eventually gave up. He then later moved back into the wrestling world- which he honestly never left- and was touring all over Mexico and other countries.
I noticed a few certified encased autographs popped up of him on EBay, but in general they were running anywhere from 75-150 dollars, which honestly I thought was way too expensive for him. I got into a bidding war on one, but in the last 3 minutes of the battle, two other sellers zoomed it up well over 50 bucks which again was too rich for my blood.
It took a bit of patience, but it paid off as I sniped this Beckett certified autograph off of Ebay for 15 bucks when the day was done. I waited with baited breath that somehow this one would get lost, but credit the seller for getting it to me in this big win.
In 1992 after these cards were released, I went down to the field after the game where coach Riley offered to help me get autographs of any of the players he could identity from the set. When we got to Layfield- he obviously wasn’t happy about it and told me that JBL was no longer with the team.
Before he joined the WWF/E Layfield used to amuse his teammates with his impersonations of wrestlers and aspired to be one. This fact was so well known, it made it onto his Pro Set WLAF card.
A final note: Only true hard core fans are aware that JBL appeared in the 1991 World League set, but most aren’t aware either that if he was around for 1992, he’d have probably blocked against Bill Goldberg.
This photo is blurry because it’s still encased.
