JBL calls pro wrestling talent pool the deepest he has ever seen
WWE Hall of Famer John Bradshaw Layfield has declared professional wrestling's current talent base the most expansive he has witnessed across his career, singling out performers in All Elite Wrestling and on the independent circuit as evidence of the sport's depth. Layfield made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Digital conducted in connection with his partnership with BZZR.
Layfield, who competed prominently during WWE's Attitude Era and held the WWE Championship for nearly a year between 2004 and 2005, drew a direct comparison between that period and the present landscape. "Back when we had the Attitude Era, we had a really loaded roster. WCW had a really loaded roster. The independents didn't have a loaded roster," he said. "Now, you go to these independent shows and these guys are fantastic. There's so much freaking talent, and it's so freaking deep. It's unbelievable the place the business is in right now." He attributed the shift largely to the proliferation of training schools and the broader availability of coaching resources for aspiring performers. dust2 us
Among those he highlighted by name were AEW competitor "Speedball" Mike Bailey, whom he described as "just an incredible talent," fellow AEW performer Josh Alexander, and Will Allday, an independent wrestler based in Texas who Layfield said had no television exposure to his knowledge but consistently energised live crowds. Bailey and Alexander won the AEW World Trios Championship alongside Kevin Knight at AEW Revolution on March 15, 2026. The scale of the current market underlines Layfield's point: WWE and AEW each run programming up to four times per week, while TNA airs on Thursday nights and Major League Wrestling broadcasts its flagship show on YouTube on Saturdays, alongside international promotions and independent streams that run throughout the week.
The breadth of available content means even committed viewers cannot track every active roster across every promotion, a dynamic that, by Layfield's assessment, works in favour of the industry overall - with compelling performers developing outside the two dominant companies and generating audiences on their own terms.
```
