We’re pulling up to the Wrestling Salvage Yard this week and All Elite Wrestling’s Billy Gunn is on the board! “Mr. Ass”, “The Bad Ass”, “Billy”, “Kip Sopp”, “The Outlaw.”
Gunn has had a bunch of names in a 35-year-long career. The ones above were just a few! Let’s go into Rockabilly’s career starting at the largest stage he reached and where things took a turn.
We’ve been there before—WWE 1993.
From Smoking Gunn to Billy & Chuck
When Gunn came into WWE in 1993, it was as a member of the team The Smoking Gunns with “brother” Bart Gunn (Mike Barton). The tandem was big, strong, tough, and had some athleticism.
Billy Gunn in particular stood out. He just looked like a future star who could go face or heel within WWE. There’s little reason he shouldn’t have been a main eventer at some point.
Don’t worry, we’ll touch on that. Having gone through WWE’s PPVs from 1995 and currently working through 1996, Rockabilly always came through as being enough of a blank slate that he could’ve been molded into whatever Vince wanted.
I mean, jumping forward almost a decade and he played his role in Rico’s ambiguously gay tag team Billy & Chuck well.
At the minimum, Gunn could hold up his end in a tag team combination.
Salvaging Billy Gunn
Now, Gunn doesn’t necessarily need salvaging. He’s always been able to find a place in some promotion and even did modern-day New Japan late into his in-ring career.
The salvaging point for Gunn would be after Edge won King of the Ring 2000. We went into his before as well as Gunn’s singles momentum afterward up until that promo duel with Edge.
He was very busy with singles storylines including fighting over what was left of DX and a run with the Intercontinental title.
Hopping into The Overtimer time machine and preventing this probably could’ve kept his momentum intact. Also, this could’ve been avoided if there was a brand split in place, just move Gunn to the SmackDown brand.
Without it, a fall and rise redemption storyline could’ve worked. Honestly, there’s nothing in the rules that says a former King of the Ring has to interrupt the new King and risk getting their cheeks clapped in a segment in front of everyone.
All of that aside, there was a period where Gunn would’ve excelled post-DX and New Age Outlaws.
SUBSCRIBE NOW: Get The Overtimer’s Hottest Stories, Breaking News and Special Features in your email, CLICK HERE! Don’t forget to check out Gamestingr for gaming news and reviews and TV Rocker for recaps and the latest gossip!
