WWE Legend Gets Emotional Remembering Blackjack Lanza

Blackjack Lanza passed away two days ago, and the pro-wrestling world has been mourning him. He was a notable figure in professional wrestling and WWE in the 60s and 70s.

Jim Ross revealed to his followers that Lanza passed away at 86. He was a lead agent during the attitude era of WWE.

Many superstars have shared their stories with Jack Lanza, including Vince McMahon, Matt Hardy, and John Bradshaw Layfield. Following Lanza’s passing, JBL reminisced about the man in an interview with Busted Open Radio.

JBL started by calling Jack a fantastic guy, and no one had anything wrong to say about Jack.

“You look at the people who are putting out Tweets, from every different ideology and everything. They all say Jack was a mentor and a friend. There was nobody that said anything about Jack. You know, Jack was a real tough guy. He was a man’s man.” [H/T Wrestling Inc]

JBL had first-hand experience with how Lanza worked, and he had a different approach with every superstar.

“But he had a way of dealing with every single person on the roster where he was everybody’s friend and mentor. He was an incredible person, and he was the right person for Vince McMahon to have in that position,”

“Probably the most important person in the company, other than Vince McMahon, was Jack Lanza,” JBL said.

READ MORE: WWE Legend Blackjack Lanza Passes Away at 86, Triple H and Others React

WWE: JBL calls Jack Lanza a ‘father figure.’

In the interview, JBL admitted that Blackjack was almost like a father in WWE. When he did the Blackjack gimmick in 1997, he sought Jack’s permission.

“Jack gave me his blessing, and I pulled him aside, and I wouldn’t have done it if Jack hadn’t given me the blessing.”

The Hall of Famer told John that he was honored that JBL would carry his legacy forward in a new era.

“He said, ‘I’m honored that you’re going to be the one carrying on the legacy,’ which meant the world to me. I’ve been tight with Jack over all the years.”

JBL was in a tag team with his on-screen cousin, Barry Windham, called The New Blackjacks in WWF. However, the team didn’t work out as Windham was plagued with injuries. Barry Windham is the maternal uncle of Bray Wyatt.

“He really helped me a lot. When I first came in, I was a bit lost, especially when I became a Blackjack. Jack did our vignettes for us. He did a bunch of them and put them all together and made it into one vignette.”

The former world champion and Barry tried to get Lanza to become their manager, but he didn’t want to come back to the ring.

“When he left the ring, I think it was 85, he never went back. He said, ‘I’m not getting back in the ring, I’m just not doing it. Once you do that, you’re back.’ Jack never would. But he would always help us with so much stuff.”

Through JBL’s stories, one can see how important Jack Lanza was to the company and the superstars. Jack helped them through their wrestling and characters, which we all love and idolize.

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