WWE Hall of Famer John “Bradshaw” Layfield recently tipped his cowboy hat in respect to industry veteran and WWE trainer Finlay, whom JBL had the privilege of sharing the ring with in the opening contest of WrestleMania 24, defeating the former WWE United States Champion in a Belfast Brawl.

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“The best I ever saw was Fit Finlay,” JBL said on “HUGE POP! with Donnie DaSilva and Jimmy Korderas.” “You got Shawn [Michaels], and Eddie [Guerrero], and Undertaker, you got some incredible talent …  Finlay was the best I ever saw … Finlay when he was in Europe was, I think, the greatest professional wrestler ever.”

One of Finlay’s greatest accomplishments in wrestling was training WWE’s women’s wrestlers during the company’s “Ruthless Aggression” era, helping the divas to sharpen their in-ring skills and become more serious competitors.

“He was the one that brought the whole ‘women’s movement’ into being,” Bradshaw continued, “I don’t know it was a rib or not, we all thought it was … all of a sudden you give him women that really didn’t have important matches. They didn’t, they were almost filler, which is terrible, a sign of the times. They are where they should be now, but Finlay was a guy who really helped bring them into this equality that they should’ve had all along.”

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If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “HUGE POP! with Donnie DaSilva and Jimmy Korderas” with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.