Looking back at his career in WWE, Rene Dupree describes JBL as a bully who had other people "do his dirty work for him."
The former WWE tag champion had plenty to say about JBL during a recent interview with Hannibal TV.
"Go watch the movie 'Dazed and Confused'. It has a character played by Ben Affleck, who basically flunked himself out of high school for the sole purpose that he can come back and haze the young kids coming from junior high and hit him with the stick," Dupree said when asked to describe what JBL was like. "That’s the best description I can give of JBL."
Dupree went on to describe the structure of WWE to the military.
"You got your head captain, we all know who it is, then we got little sergeants who are put in place who are align the troops and soldiers. The longer you’re there the higher you get ranked," he said. "That’s the best way I can describe WWE. If you don’t fit their mold, or you’re not part of their game plan, or you don’t react to their tests the right way you’re booted out. Maybe that’s every corporate American company. I don’t know."
The French Canadian went on to theorize that not fitting the mold may have been what precipitated the dispute that led to Mauro Ranallo's exit from WWE.
"There are certain tests to test certain people," Dupree explained. "Maybe he doesn’t fit the mold because he’s not a wrestler, he never came from a wrestling background. The guy’s very talented so perhaps there is a lot of jealousy in this business. Again, he’s been there a while and is higher rankings. He’s on of the people that the higher ups feel has a good judge of character for the people that fit that company.”
Vince McMahon reportedly soured on Ranallo's broadcasting style, ultimately labeling him as "weird", which evidently sparked a pattern of mistreatment of the commentator backstage that included an on-screen burial by JBL during an episode of the "Bring It To The Table" show on the WWE Network. In the weeks leading up to Ranallo's official departure from WWE, stories of JBL's bullying backstage gained wide circulation in the media.
“He never personally does anything but he gets like people under him, like the military a lower ranking person, to do his dirty work for him," Dupree said, adding, "Even though I’m persona non grata, there’s no way in hell that a person like me would go back knowing that he’s there cause I’d probably break his f------ neck."
And on that note, you can watch the full interview at the top of this page.
