Tag Archives: San Antonio Riders

NFL, WLAF

Layfield, John ‘JBL’

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.

AAF, NFL, usfl, WLAF, XFL

Riley, Mike (2)

CARD: Topps AAF 2019 Certified
ACQUIRED: Private Acquisition, 2022
FAILURE: TTM C/o Home 2019, 2020

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

Picking up where we left off, Mike ended up back at Oregon State, where he became the school’s most winning coach. In 2014, he’d be pried off the Beavers by Nebraska. After a difficult tenure at Nebraska, Mike was welcomed back to Corvallis with open arms as an assistant coach.

When the Alliance of American Football was announced, I knew he’d be at the top of their list. I was excited to see Mike return to SA (from his days with the Riders of the WLAF) to coach the team. He was excited to take a walk down memory lane with me when I showed up with my Riders hat on at the Commanders unveiling. The team very much resembled the Riders, and finished 5-3 during the AAF’s season.

I had narrowly missed getting Mike’s autograph on his Topps AAF card during pregame warmups against the Salt Lake City Stallions. I had sideline passes and thought that he’d be a shoe-in to get later TTM. Oddly though, he’s dodged my TTM requests since then.

After the AAF folded, much to everyone’s dismay, Mike was hired on to be the offensive coordinator for the Seattle Dragons of the XFL in 2020- just because it wasn’t more local to Texas.

Recently it was brought to my attention that Mike and head coach Jim Zorn had a disagreement about who should be starting quarterback. The row was so bad between the two that Mike left the team for the first 3 games of the season.

He joined the new USFL as head coach of the New Jersey Generals, and led the team to a 9-1 record in 2022. The team zoomed out to a 2-1 record in 2023, before dropping their next 5, en route to a 3-7 record.

When the XFL and the USFL combined to form the new UFL, the Generals were not retained for 2024.

CFL, NFL, WLAF

Chryst, Paul

Pro Set 1991 World League Insert, #9

CARD: Pro Set 1991 World League Insert
ACQUIRED: TTM 2022, C/o Wisconsin
SENT: 5/23 RECEIVED: 8/5 (74 Days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Played college ball at Wisconsin in ’87 and ’88.
  • Saw time in ’87 at QB going 5 of 7 for 81 yards, before hopping over to TE.
  • In ’88 caught 12 passes for 103 yards.
  • Quickly joined West Virginia as a graduate assistant in ’89, before hopping over to the WLAF in ’91.
  • He’d coach WR/TE/RBs with the Riders through ’92.
  • Chryst saw a mixture of college and CFL positional stops added to his resume highlighted with stops in Ottawa (1994), Saskatchewan (1996), Chargers (1999-’01) .
  • Named head coach at Pitt in 2012, after rising up the coaching staff at his Alma Mater Wisconsin.
  • In 2015, he returned to Wisconsin as head coach, and led the team to 6 bowl wins (7 appearances), and ranked after 4 of those seasons.
  • Fired during the 2022 campaign after the Badgers got off to a 2-3 start.
  • Compiled a 67-26 record at Wisconsin.

ACCOLADES:

  • Big 10 Coach of The Year 2016, ’17

NOTES:

Paul Chryst is a member of the Mike Riley tree. He’s crossed back over into Mike’s sphere of influence a few times with the Riders and then later at Oregon St. He signed this card for me only shortly before he was let go. Paul’s not a sexy name, but I think he’d make a fine coach at another major program, or perhaps in the XFL23 or ‘new’ USFL.