This was absolutely 100% bad booking for Billy. They tried pushing him way too fast with Austin and Rock. Billy was definitely a solid worker but he needed much more time to grow and get over as a singles competitor.
Kam Fisher no, no. He’s right, actually. I hate smarky bullshit, but criticism can be legitimate. Wwe throughout their history has this problem of not understanding the audience properly. Wcw was WAY worse though. Bischoff was the biggest stooge in the history of wrestling.
@@kamfisher1714 Nothing "smark" about it. If you followed what they were doing with Billy then you would see that the situation was exactly as described. They tried pushing him way too hard, way too fast when he was nowhere near ready. Even Prichard himself admitted in this same shoot that it was poor booking on their part.
@@jediknightgeo You're absolutely right. They tried it once with the freaking Honky Tonk Man. So guys are better as a tag team than as a singles guy and he was thrown to the wolves. Billy had no mic skills, that was Roaddoggs job. So don't put a guy who can't talk on the mic go up against The Rock
Well it was also the fact that they wanted Billy to trade insults with the rock I mean like conrad said they're were very few people that could hang with the rock on the mic
@Stephen Joens true if you are going to build a new top star you have to make sure that you have them win at least most of their matches otherwise fans are going to lose interest in that star
WWE was chock full of underutilized talent that was “buried”/not used to their full extent. A TH-camr called Wrestling with Andy did some bios on wrestlers and I’ve seem at least 5 that could’ve been pushed but weren’t either due to lack of mic skills or backstage politics or short sightedness
@@jimbowlan5804 he was a hogan style singles guy. Go out do a 5min match where he takes some punishment and then massive comeback. Billy should have been pushed slowly instead of straight for Rock but go through a bunch of popular mid careers 1st and build that momentum.
Billy Gunn: "Oh dear God, my name is Billy. I just won King of the Ring, but there is a problem... Everyone still thinks that I absolutely suck" *The heavens open up and God himself looks down at Billy* God: "Bob.." Billy Gunn: "But my name's Billy" God: "It doesn't matter what your name is!"
This,the bubba Dudley stutter one,and the hell in a cell Armageddon 2000 promo are rocks best absolutely shitting on your opponent’s moments. No ones fans weren’t laughing at that stone cold and Backstreet Boys part
There's a reason Road Dogg did the talking in their team. The outlaws were very popular at the time and I never liked them splitting up. I think it's all because Vince isn't a fan of tag teams and always ends up breaking them up eventually even when they are a big draw.
Tag Teams become stale too. That’s why he breaks some of them up & builds stars out of them if it can be done. Then brings them back together after a long break from them
Yeah the later part of the attitude era had so many nonsensical heel/face turns and tag break ups. Most notable was Austin heel at Mania which fell flat.
I just went back and watched the match from Summerslam 1999 and his match with The Rock was pretty decent. He did just as good in that match as The Rock did. It wasn't nearly as bad of a match as they're making it out to be. To compare him to Gangrel or the Brooklyn Brawler after that match is ludicrous. It was a decent match
Bruce was spot on, because remember HHH wasn't feuding with top guys off the bat, he was built up, put with Chyna, and given the IC title then after a year or so he was ready for the main event. Gunn was shot to the top too quick. He should've worked with mid level guys first then gradually pushed.
what I gathered from this video you can hear what conrad is inferring. Is that they no intention of ever pushing billy they just wanted someone to job out to the rock lol
Rock didn't have no problem putting over al snow or hurricane i think he just didn't want to work with dx individually he worked with dx for a couple of years
I truly believe if Billy Gunn wasn’t a part of DX, Rock would have gave him the time of day. But you can tell the real life heat between Rock and Triple H seeped through that Billy & God promo....
I thought they could have done more in a singles run with Billy Gunn but maybe pairing him with the Rock too early on just ended any potential run he could have had.
Billy should have worked with Triple H, and gotten a title shot at Unforgiven for helping Trips win at Fully Loaded. I don't think Levesque would have liked that though.
There never was going to be 2 main eventers coming out of DX. Billy was just a filler feud for Rock then he went back to being HHH's lackey when he needed DX to prop up his run.
XPAC was a hell of a lot closer to being a main eventer at that time than Billy ever was. That being said, I agree only one Main Event guy was coming from DX. Nobody else had the talent or the chops to make it past midcard.
michael preller All of them could’ve been Main Eventers. X-Pac was the Underdog before Mysterio & Daniel Bryan showed how , Mr Ass had the looks & athleticism to excel & Road Dogg had the Mic Skills , Crowd Energy & Entertainment like Rock has (not exactly like Rock) but you get my point. Everybody could’ve been top world champion
Billy could have worked as a champion for the IC. He would have been big if they just slowly turned the New Age Outlaws into a single and manager type of deal. Road Dogg could just become a manager and get Billy some heat
Billy won the IC belt on Thanksgiving and dropped it a few weeks later. He was a champ the same way Sid was. Just a transitional champ until they had someone else ready.
Road Dogg could’ve been his own star too so making him a manager/lackey for Billy would’ve been stupid. Why you think he was feuding with Jericho? Road Dogg had Mic Skills & decent wrestling skills like Rock had to push his entertainment value
Billy Gunn's whole gimmick was that he thought he had a great ass. As a tag team wrestler, it's funny and cool. As a main eventer, that gimmick will never work. No top guy is going to want to put over someone named Mr. Ass on PPV.
It took a very rare talent to keep up with the Rock at that time and come out looking better in the end. Billy Gunn's limitation was his promo ability. That was the kiss of death against the Rock. You either had to be a monster like Kane or Big Show, or have a presence like Austin, Undertaker, Angle, Mankind, or Preperation H to hang with the Rock.
@@quentinkaasa47 that was ok. He was taking a step back from the main event scene after losing that 99 survivor series triple threat. January 2000 he would win the rumble and be off to the races again
@@sectphiro607 Two different people. Two different paths. The comparisons are ridiculous. So what the rock's in movies. Hollywood needed a big action guy he fit they couldn't find another Arnold Schwarzenegger so they made one. Is Gunn better than the rock wrestling? Yes..without the people's elbow even😁
@@smoochydatrhino5793 I agree, but I don't believe Johnson is the biggest movie star ever. Thinking about it, what really good movie has he done? Comparing to say Lord of the Rings, Gladiator, Braveheart, etc.
I think they just waited too long to give Billy Gunn a huge push. He was pretty popular in late 98/early 99 as a single going after Ken Shamrock's IC title. There was an episode of Raw where he and Shamrock had a show stealing match and Gunn got the win. The fans thought he won the title, but commissioner Shawn Michaels came out and said it was a non-title match. Fans went crazy for what they thought was his title win. They should have given him the belt on that night. Instead, Gunn and Shamrock ended up having a boring rematch at the next ppv and Shamrock retained the title. I think Gunn lost a lot of momentum at that point.
Yea and they had him keep getting beat up and his ankle injured….I doubt we’d get behind Austin if he walked out with crutches and got his ass whooped everytime
I always thought that Billy Gunn packaged JUST as Bad Ass Billy Gunn (not Mr Ass, not The One) had main event potential. I was rooting for it for sure. I remember Rock burying Billy and it was the first time I ever saw a wrestling promo where I thought "That definitely just killed that guy off".
I agree. The name needed to be Badd Ass Billy Gunn with a better theme song and you would've had a much more believable top guy. Everything else about that character was good enough.
@@vinnysoori4512 To a point, I agree... but as popular as Rock was, burying your opponent really isn't the team dynamic wrestlers talk about needing. The Rock got to be a bad guy AND a good guy. He got to be the hero but he got to dress down his opponents and use dirty tactics too. He built his popularity up immensely, but he never made anyone else. Flair and those guys talk about the importance of being a heel-- you can't steal the hero's light or shine or you ruin the dynamic. The NWO was super popular but they got the have the best of both worlds too. It left the heroes and villains facing them in a crappy spot. They could never get any real momentum against a "cool heel" or a "mean face". Rock definitely tapped into something people responded to, but he (and I think HHH too) really didn't put much emphasis on making others look great as much as they could or should have. Bret, Shawn, Flair, and others were way better at that part.
When the Rock did the promo where he made fun of Billy's entrance music where he changed it from "I'm an ass man" to "I'm an ass hole" that was one of the greatest and funniest promos in WWE history there was no way Billy could've come back from that.
Everybody remembers THE promo (which was on Heat, it wasn't even on Raw) but The Rock took numerous beatdowns from Billy Gunn that summer. Billy wasn't over as a singles heel, plain and simple. Unlike HHH, he didnt change his gimmick post-DX. He also wasn't great on the mic. At least The Rock feuded with him... He didnt refuse to work with him, unlike a lot of top guys back then.
@ guys like Steve and Foley have said you need to stand up for yourself. Be it a crappy payoff or crappy booking, sometimes you need to get your voice heard.
I love The Rock. But I disagree with him on this. I still believe Billy Gunn had main event potential. They just pushed him too soon. The WWE was already in the process of transitioning Triple H to the main event. So sending two people from the same faction to that important role in the same year seemed too premature. Give Billy the IC title. Let him work his way up a little bit. But don't feed him to wolves abruptly by facing a megastar like The Rock at a huge event like Summerslam.
Can we just say... the Attitude Era from 97-99 was entertaining but had some bad matches. 2000-01 was better as far as both entertainment and matches. Getting Kurt Angle, Eddie, Benoit, Dean, Y2J, pushing Rikishi, pushing Val Venis helped build WWE even better
you can't put entertainment and Dean Malenko in the same sentence .... good matches ? yeah but he wasn't a big draw, Benoit also turned out not to be... but Eddie 100%
This show is sooo much better when Bruce is straight forward and in this case brutally honest about Billy Gunn instead of giving answers that he thinks Vince wants to hear.
I remember that summer slam title match for triple h. I was at it. Triple threat with h, mankind, and stone cold. Rock had match against Billy gun too that night. Man I was just a kid and thinking why the hell the rock wasn't in the main event that night. Regardless, he stole the show. Arena went nuts during the elbow. Such good wrestling times.
If you ever pay attention, Conrad is definitely a hip hop fan from waaaaay back. Early on, he did the beat selection for commercials, and he always used those mid-to-late 90s east coast tracks.
I was gone from wrestling as a fan by this point, but was not 100% alienated yet and would still take an occasional casual peek. Especially since I live in Minneapolis, and Summer Slam 99 was in Minneapolis. Once the winner of King of the Ring wasn’t being given the Summer Slam main event shot, I knew his goose was cooked. And he was done.
After reading Bret’s book … this was what I learned. You absolutely will get buried if you don’t stand up for yourself. When they wanted Bret to be cowboy bret hart … he hated it. He stated: “from where I come, if you’re gonna call yourself a cowboy, you better really be one”. So he goes to the booker and comes up with a better alternative. Why not put him and the Anvil (who was also running as a single at the time) in a tag team and call them the hart foundation. Vince loved the idea and gave them the go. That was the thing about Vince … the man could be an asshole back then, but if you took the initiative to come up with a better idea, he wouldn’t shoot it down. Whatever draws more money right. This wouldn’t be the first time Bret stood up for himself. And it helped. Billy should have shot the storyline where he gets his face buried in someone’s ass, down. He had pull. He could have made it happen. I’m not blaming Billy as much as I’m blaming creative and Vince for letting it happen. But he should have stood up for himself. As for the Rock, I can understand why he wouldn’t like someone like Billy. The Rock had taken a lot of shit, including racism when he first came in. Ironically enough, it was Bret who defended the Rock to Vince, and told him that he can have a match with the Rock and show him what the kid’s capable of. To this day, the Rock praises Bret. Watch the Rocks interview for a movie he did with Emily Blunt, and the interviewer’s wearing a Bret shirt. The Rock stops the interview midway to comment on the shirt and how much Bret means to him. It’s amazing.
It wasn't a tough break. It wasn't hindsight. It wasn't an experiment gone bad. Billy Gunn was a tag wrestler. He was Dennis Condrey. He was Robert Gibson. He was Marty Janetty. Nothing more. He was a GOOD tag wrestler, but he had no business on a microphone, or in the ring as a single competitor.....
@Stephen Joens Nope. 56 and guarantee you I have seen more wrestlers, workers, performers, and attractions, than you could name if you had until Thanksgiving. Billy Gunn was lower mid-card on a GOOD day.
@Stephen Joens I don't care for The Rock terribly either. He was infinitely better than Billy though. OK. Name me everybody on the roster, circa 1999-2000, who YOU think Billy was better than singles wise.
Listen, that conversation with God promo buries anybody on the roster at that time. It is by far one of the greatest promos ever cut. while I don't think that Billy gun was ready, you can't blame him for not being able to recover from that. 🤣
If anything, The Rock vs Billy Gunn, and the way it was booked, as Conrad and Bruce put it, this helped The Rock's career excel. It made him look like a massive star.
Why does everything get called a "shoot" interview? Most of these videos are just perspective interviews about the past. Shouldn't a "shoot" contain some emotion?
Shoot means = real life. Work = work. For instance me and you work in the wwe but we hate each other. Thats called heat. Now when we go to the ring(work) and we throw real punches, thats called a shoot. Cause we feel like that out side of work. So in that case we are shooting on eachother.
Billy Gunn had/has a great physique and is definitely a good in ring athlete. He's also 100% a tag team guy, every singles push he ever had, either as RockaBilly, Mr. Ass, The One, all flopped. So Rock saw this as a transition feud, until his next big feud.
93: Bret didn't get a title shot for a long time, but he was undoubtedly THE top guy at that time, even over Luger and Yoko 94: Owen got a title shot at summerslam in a classic against the top guy 95: Mabel got a title shot at Summerslam in a poor match against the top guy 96: Austin didn't get a title shot for a while, faced Sid on Raw the next year 97: HHH didn't get a title shot for a while, but he faced Bret on Raw 98: Ken Shamrock......I don't think had a PPV title shot after this and I don't think he faced Austin or Rock while they were champ? so 99: Billy Gun..... didn't get a title shot, but he did get to face the top guy without many single matches before to prove himself.....i dunno if it's justified
The failed Billy Gunn experiment reminds me of their (extremely brief) attempt to get Lance Storm over. I feel bad for Lance. I kinda laugh at Billy Gunn too.
they should have booked billy against rikishi. both were stuck in that weird position of being over, having the distinct look and can go but are not main eventers just yet but at the same time if you book them in a feud that might look good on paper against someone like hardcore holly you just demoted them to the hardcore tier.
The Rock at one point used to sit at the commentators booth and commentate his own match. You do not put an unproven singles wrestler up against The Rock and expect the poor guy to do well lol.
Billy Gunn is a good talent what they did they put them in too soon . To work with the Rock you need a LOT of preparation, a excellent story line, adequate promos. That's way Billy Gunn didn't seceded 🤔💥
Why have him go from tag team to a program against the most over guy in the business at the time. When Shawn and Bret went solo they had to work their way up the singles card.
Stephen Joens that’s how you destroy them Rock after turning face in late 98 and getting huge reactions he didn’t just jump and start feuding with the top guy (Austin) but start feuding with Mankind who elevated them both in that feud
Abdou Ibrahim Daher Rock already feuded with Austin for the IC title at DX 1997 & he/Austin was the last 2 in the RR 98 lol Rock & Austin been around each other throats a year or so before they really just became serious rivals. Granted that was Austin before the WWF title but Rock was no stranger to Austin by any means lol
The Vicious Precision Yh but that wasn’t a long term feud they just feud for the IC title Austin retained he drop to him next night by forfeit For the royal rumble they weren’t feuding at that time they were just last two Austin eliminated him on his way to winning the wwf title
I mean in the attitude era that's what it was..... Kurt Angle said it on his podcast In the spirit of pushing talent it's either sink or swim. If you're going to be king of the ring and possibly be champion you have to be able to feud with anybody and if you can't then you're not ready....... And although that seems harsh that's the nature of the beast.... Same thing happened to Kurt Angle.... He went from wrestling Shawn stasiak to wrestling Austin and Rock on a consistent basis in a matter of months. You either sink or swim
Conrad said that Billy Gunn was the same size as Hulk Hogan, but that's not correct. In his hey day, Hulk Hogan was 6'7", 300+ pounds, while Billy Gunn was billed as 6'4", 269 lbs, and looked noticeably leaner than Hogan in his prime.
Hogan was never 6.7..he was 6.5 at peak..now he's 6,2-6,3..Billy was an is a legit 6.4..and still.in great shape..as Conrad said people don't realise just how big Billy is..he's a monster
The math makes sense. No pops were louder than the new age outlaws coming out, go back and turn on your stereo system- plus, billy gunn looked the part of a guy who can go toe to toe with a world champion.
Not really, it was because they put him in such a midcard feud even though he had literally just finished the most popular heel run of all time which he got over all on his own, Rock was as popular if not more popular than Austin, yet he got stuck facing midcarders all that summer.
Billy had no mic skills other than to recite his part of the DX introduction. Even his finisher had one of the stupidest names in history, like he couldn't think up anything better. At best different booking would have hidden his weaknesses for a little while longer, but the result would be the same.
@@damianpriest196 If he wanted to use a butt pun, he could have called his finisher Asstounding, or Asstonishing, or Fantasstic, or given a nod to Ren & Stimpy and gone with The Flying Butt Pliers.
The only problem is.. he was a shit wrestler n looked like shit!! You coulda got by without being able to wrestle.. But in a Vince organization you at least have to look the part!
If wwf really wanted to make a star out of Billy Gunn, they would've taken the time. Not everyone who won KOTR won the wwf title in that same year. Austin, Rock (who didn't even win the tournament), and HHH were all developed and repackaged over time. If Stunning Steve could turn into Stone Cold, if Rocky Maivia could become The Rock, and the Blueblood could become The Game, could they not make something of Gunn? Write him off TV and don't bring him back until he's repackaged into something better.
Justin Turley but they didn’t win the title just like that it like one and a half year for Austin to win the title and he was red hot and super over Billy was no where near that
Speedyreedy1218 Stunning Austin , Rocky Maivia & Blueblood Triple H didn’t fit the Attitude Era’s mold. Billy Gunns character at the time already fitted the Attitude Era’s mold so it was no need to change his attitude. He was a Pretty Boy Asshole who showed his ass to say I’m so good looking my ass is better than the females. Lmao it’s weird but you gotta look deeper into it
Billy was never going to be able to go tit-for-tat against the Rock on the mic...practically all of Billy's promos started with, "I'm going to make this short and sweet..." 🙄 And yeah, it was the Attitude era, but did anyone genuinely believe Vince would ever view someone named Mr. Ass as a viable main event star?
I think if Billy Gunn had turned heel and changed his look sooner, he may have been a main eventer. The guy had size, charisma, mic skills and ability in the ring. The Rock shouldn’t have minded putting him over in my opinion. My guess would be he didn’t wanna put anyone over in DX because of animosity with Triple H and HBK back in the day. It seems Rock never got over that bad blood and sadly buried Billy Gunn as a result.
The guess The Rock changed his tune on working with lower guys, cause he worked with Hurricane and Gregory Helms spoke of how The Rock helped him and sold his stuff.
Rock was funny on the mic which is no secret. Stone Cold was also funny on the mic. But, I do believe that if BG had some type of mic skills he’d could sorta match up with Rock. BG had size and all of the physical tangibles which is no secret, but the mic skills he needed to work on and I agree that he should of gotten his feet wet a little bit more as a singles competitor.
@Devon R B He was over with that gimmick though. The decision to push comes from creative without necessarily listening to what the fans are reacting to. Sometimes it’s arbitrary.
@@NameLess-ks4fi rock did it to everyone. If that one promo buried him then he obviously wasn't that good and wouldn't have ever been a top star. Just calm down, not everyone will be world champion
Stephen McCuntbiscuits Rock was always like that did you watch that promo where he owned Kane and especially Benoit with the “pull your pants down and prove to Kane you’re not a woman” did it bury him ? No simply Billy couldn’t keep and that gimmick lol would’ve never been a main event wrestler
That would've made his character more gimmicky and cheesier but in a good "Attitude"way. Even 2002 WWE writers have us "The Golden Thong" award. Could you imagine Billy at the time as his Billy & Chuck presenting the award to the winner? I always saw Billy as a more believable leader of a stable like DX but seeing him in retrospect play backseat to HHH all those years made me and still makes me cringe. Monty didn't care about his "spot" as much as those other politicians but perhaps if he cared more Vinnie would've rewarded his work ethic and kept his push strong. Could've made him a main event all of the early Naughts but maybe Monty's son will outshine Thee Mr. Ass.
If you asked me there was some backstage politics going on for the push of Billy Gunn and Vince McMahon was going along with it but truth be told Billy gun didn't have the charisma Mic skills or talent to be a main eventer let alone to be a midcard he's just a tag team guy and The Rock knew that so that's why the rock cut that promo on him
Everyone says that promo killed Billy's run, but what really did it is that they never gave Billy Gunn a chance at revenge at that verbal beating. Losing to the Rock right off the bat nailed the coffin shut. They didn't need to do the stipulation to save Rock that humiliation. Billy Gunn needed a number of decisive wins and the chance to show that he's not a midcarder - by winning against midcarders. Then have that moment which he's in a match against a top guy (like Rock), lose but then beat the Rock down afterwards. Then when Rock wants his revenge, have Gunn come out the victor. Booking this shit isn't that tough. If you WANT the guy to get over, you will find a way to get the guy over.
@Stephen Joens Name one because for the life of me, I cannot remember much about Billy Gunn other than he was a member of DX and one half of The New Age Outlaws
Like so many guys, someone like Billy easily could have been a top guy if they booked him right. He was good in the ring, on the mic, and looked convincing. Vince just liked who he liked. Look at guys like Caesaro or Rusev who even managed to get over on their own. If Vince didn't approve, it doesn't happen.
That's a shame (if true). There were wrestlers who put The Rock (Rocky Miavia) over in the beginning and I am sure that some complained as well. Should be a no brainer to "return the favor" for other guys in the business.
For the Rock to be as electrifying as he was early 2000s , they still wanted triple h to maintain the belt most of the time I was watching ..over the Rock over stone cold they held it briefly every time ...I think once the rock had the title for awhile but most of the time he would lose it
It's too bad. I always like Billy Gun but I understand that he didnt click. Maybe a total repackage/character. Made him more hard core. Coulda worked. Maybe. The talent was there
So basically they totally gave up on Billy Gunn 2 months after winning King of the Ring becuase of a bad match with The Rock. Not even giving him a chance. Imagine if they gave up on The Rock 2 months after it not working out when he was Rocky Miavia.They put him back with Road Dogg like a few weeks later
I just went back and watched that match from Summerslam 99 and it was actually a pretty decent match. I don't know what the big deal is with Billy Gunn being a "bad wrestler" he did just as good of a job in that match as The Rock
This was absolutely 100% bad booking for Billy. They tried pushing him way too fast with Austin and Rock. Billy was definitely a solid worker but he needed much more time to grow and get over as a singles competitor.
Ok wannabe fantasy booking smark
For some reason they booked him in the Hardcore title match at Wrestlemania 15 instead of the IC title match to lay the groundwork for a singles push.
Kam Fisher no, no. He’s right, actually. I hate smarky bullshit, but criticism can be legitimate. Wwe throughout their history has this problem of not understanding the audience properly. Wcw was WAY worse though. Bischoff was the biggest stooge in the history of wrestling.
@@kamfisher1714 Nothing "smark" about it. If you followed what they were doing with Billy then you would see that the situation was exactly as described. They tried pushing him way too hard, way too fast when he was nowhere near ready. Even Prichard himself admitted in this same shoot that it was poor booking on their part.
@@jediknightgeo You're absolutely right. They tried it once with the freaking Honky Tonk Man. So guys are better as a tag team than as a singles guy and he was thrown to the wolves. Billy had no mic skills, that was Roaddoggs job. So don't put a guy who can't talk on the mic go up against The Rock
Bad booking to put Billy with the Rock so soon. Billy needed a good midcard feud to go over in.
Well it was also the fact that they wanted Billy to trade insults with the rock I mean like conrad said they're were very few people that could hang with the rock on the mic
@Stephen Joens what about the billy and god promo
@Stephen Joens true if you are going to build a new top star you have to make sure that you have them win at least most of their matches otherwise fans are going to lose interest in that star
@Stephen Joens that would have been a good rivalry to start with
@@jeremy19175 Bad booking. Trade insults with The Rock? Good luck.
Billy Gunn was an amazing athlete, one of the most underrated stars in my opinion
He was my personal favorite as a kid.😁
WWE was chock full of underutilized talent that was “buried”/not used to their full extent. A TH-camr called Wrestling with Andy did some bios on wrestlers and I’ve seem at least 5 that could’ve been pushed but weren’t either due to lack of mic skills or backstage politics or short sightedness
Well billy Gunn Yaa he’s a hell of an athlete and tall and jacked to the moon but billy has asthma that’s why he was tag team for so many years
@@jimbowlan5804 he was a hogan style singles guy. Go out do a 5min match where he takes some punishment and then massive comeback. Billy should have been pushed slowly instead of straight for Rock but go through a bunch of popular mid careers 1st and build that momentum.
Totally agree pal!!! The streets know!!!
Billy Gunn: "Oh dear God, my name is Billy. I just won King of the Ring, but there is a problem... Everyone still thinks that I absolutely suck"
*The heavens open up and God himself looks down at Billy*
God: "Bob.."
Billy Gunn: "But my name's Billy"
God: "It doesn't matter what your name is!"
Classic
It was then Billy Gunn’s turn to prove he was main event material and then nothing, Billy just couldnt hang
I was about to put this. Best shit ever
This,the bubba Dudley stutter one,and the hell in a cell Armageddon 2000 promo are rocks best absolutely shitting on your opponent’s moments. No ones fans weren’t laughing at that stone cold and Backstreet Boys part
@@Real_Bastard his promo on Triple H after his famous “it’s my time” interview with JR was brutal too.
"Bob" "But my names Billy " "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR NAME IS "
Classic 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
There was no coming back from that
Ronnie J Dio yeah be buried him without having the match.
Stephen Joens know your role and shut your mouth 😂
🤣🤣🤣
I love the fact he used the nas song "ether" as a reference for going and dissing someone worse than they dissed you lol.
I had to replay it just to be sure!
@@brandonbyes7344 He mentioned the Nas song Ether which is something not many people do!
Classic song though
@@dustinpalaghe8233 Nas won with Ether once his 2001 Stillmatic album was released by any means necessary!
He absolutely shit on Jay Z in that song lmao
There's a reason Road Dogg did the talking in their team. The outlaws were very popular at the time and I never liked them splitting up. I think it's all because Vince isn't a fan of tag teams and always ends up breaking them up eventually even when they are a big draw.
Tag Teams become stale too. That’s why he breaks some of them up & builds stars out of them if it can be done. Then brings them back together after a long break from them
@@MASTER3371 True. But the NAO didn't have that long of a run- not even 2 years. Also putting them on TV every week burns them out too fast.
Yeah the later part of the attitude era had so many nonsensical heel/face turns and tag break ups. Most notable was Austin heel at Mania which fell flat.
Rock: "my name is billy...AND I ABSOLUTELY SUCK!"
And with that Billy’s career was peaked.
I just went back and watched the match from Summerslam 1999 and his match with The Rock was pretty decent. He did just as good in that match as The Rock did. It wasn't nearly as bad of a match as they're making it out to be. To compare him to Gangrel or the Brooklyn Brawler after that match is ludicrous. It was a decent match
You can’t watch a match now and feel the same as people did back then
Billy Gunn was a great worker. It really is a shame that people shit on his career all the time. He doesn't deserve it
Gunn was cut from that cloth. I think they rushed him.
@@LanceG007 but everyone’s untitled to their own opinions you can’t expect others to have the same exact same feelings or emotions as you
@@dominiquejones3805 Bruce discussed the main reason why Billy Gunn couldn’t make it as a singles star because he had bad asthma issues
“Triple h did you beat the rock? You damn sure you did. Did you do it by yourself. You damn sure you didn’t!”
“DID NOT”***
He never beat anyone by himself!!🤔🤣🤣
Chyna had rock-fever
@@arlenescott8004 not in 1999.
Dont forget triple hhhs best move im not talking about the pedigree...
I mean marrying the bosses daughter. 😂
The People’s Ass vs The People’s Champ!!!
If Eric was in charge and the Rock refused. Eric would've fired him
Bruce was spot on, because remember HHH wasn't feuding with top guys off the bat, he was built up, put with Chyna, and given the IC title then after a year or so he was ready for the main event. Gunn was shot to the top too quick. He should've worked with mid level guys first then gradually pushed.
what I gathered from this video you can hear what conrad is inferring. Is that they no intention of ever pushing billy they just wanted someone to job out to the rock lol
Rock didn't have no problem putting over al snow or hurricane i think he just didn't want to work with dx individually he worked with dx for a couple of years
Yeah he probably felt hhh was pulling strings to eliminate him from the title picture by putting him with billy
@@LanceG007 💯
There was substance 2 Hurricane getting the W. I gotta go back and watch the Al Snow W
I swear Al Snow was q of the best n the ring
@@dominiquejones3805 al snow and hurricane were enhancement talent and the rock was generous to put them over
I truly believe if Billy Gunn wasn’t a part of DX, Rock would have gave him the time of day. But you can tell the real life heat between Rock and Triple H seeped through that Billy & God promo....
I thought they could have done more in a singles run with Billy Gunn but maybe pairing him with the Rock too early on just ended any potential run he could have had.
Billy should have worked with Triple H, and gotten a title shot at Unforgiven for helping Trips win at Fully Loaded. I don't think Levesque would have liked that though.
Yeah they rushed his singles push before giving people a reason to care.
@@quentinkaasa47 heel vs heel. Idk about that 1. They really lacked top faces in 99.
BowlesMovement08 that’s why you turn Billy in the match with Trips. Trips goes full heel by turning on Billy.
Quentin Kaasa he did work with triple H and it didn’t work out
There never was going to be 2 main eventers coming out of DX. Billy was just a filler feud for Rock then he went back to being HHH's lackey when he needed DX to prop up his run.
Idk why they didn’t book dx as a pre evolution stable
XPAC was a hell of a lot closer to being a main eventer at that time than Billy ever was. That being said, I agree only one Main Event guy was coming from DX. Nobody else had the talent or the chops to make it past midcard.
Technically it was lol H & Shawn
@@kingmatt314 I mean post WM14 DX as HBK was a main event player before ever entering DX.
michael preller All of them could’ve been Main Eventers. X-Pac was the Underdog before Mysterio & Daniel Bryan showed how , Mr Ass had the looks & athleticism to excel & Road Dogg had the Mic Skills , Crowd Energy & Entertainment like Rock has (not exactly like Rock) but you get my point. Everybody could’ve been top world champion
Billy could have worked as a champion for the IC. He would have been big if they just slowly turned the New Age Outlaws into a single and manager type of deal. Road Dogg could just become a manager and get Billy some heat
I think he was an ic champ.
He was IC champ for a week Benoit beat him a Armageddon ppv
@@Speedyreedy1218 For 19 days nothing of any real length.
Billy won the IC belt on Thanksgiving and dropped it a few weeks later. He was a champ the same way Sid was. Just a transitional champ until they had someone else ready.
Road Dogg could’ve been his own star too so making him a manager/lackey for Billy would’ve been stupid. Why you think he was feuding with Jericho? Road Dogg had Mic Skills & decent wrestling skills like Rock had to push his entertainment value
Mr ass was one of the most underrated workers in the business.p
People are never going to cheer the ass man not in the attitude days when there core fan base is 15 to 30
what makes Billy Gunn "underrated"?
@@OmegaRedFan HHH and his greed...
Billy Gunn's whole gimmick was that he thought he had a great ass. As a tag team wrestler, it's funny and cool. As a main eventer, that gimmick will never work. No top guy is going to want to put over someone named Mr. Ass on PPV.
I wonder if Pat Patterson gave him this gimmick.
It took a very rare talent to keep up with the Rock at that time and come out looking better in the end. Billy Gunn's limitation was his promo ability. That was the kiss of death against the Rock. You either had to be a monster like Kane or Big Show, or have a presence like Austin, Undertaker, Angle, Mankind, or Preperation H to hang with the Rock.
All he needed was a catch phrase and a better finishing move. The finishing move is vital to the fans excitement of the character.
Well that anc billy had ashma that’s why he was tag team for so long
@@yettiluch1 I liked the Fameasser...
“The Rock has one question...who is booking this crap? First it’s The Rock versus Mr. Ass and now it’s The Rock versus Gangrel? Well, so what?”
I believe the Rock says that while on commentary during the match where HHH won his first world championship, August 29th, 1999.
@@AmateurBarbarian yes he did
Looks like the guy who hit the Rock with the chair and won the title did do the booking too
@@Raynnman No way, Hunter was ready then.
I suppose next week they will the rock layin the smackdown on the Brooklyn brawler for Christ sakes
Going from working with Undertaker, Austin and HHH to working with Billy Gunn (even if he had just won the 1999 King of the Ring) was a real demotion.
@Stephen Joens If he was such an up and coming star why did he get put back in the tag team with road dogg straight after the rock feud ended????
@Stephen Joens what star quality did mike awesome and sean o'haire have? I get that less than i got the billy gunn thing
@Stephen Joens i saw no star quality from either of them. God bless them both but i didn't see it.
@@omegaman6494 Rock was back working with Billy in tag team matches by the end of the year.
@@quentinkaasa47 that was ok. He was taking a step back from the main event scene after losing that 99 survivor series triple threat. January 2000 he would win the rumble and be off to the races again
Conrad: do you like blue or red
Bruce : Red
Conrad: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Hunter was NEVER on The Rock's level...there's a reason Dwayne Johnson is the biggest movie star on Earth and Paul is Mr. Stephanie McMahon.
Biggest movie star on earth... mmmm...😕
@@sectphiro607 Two different people. Two different paths. The comparisons are ridiculous. So what the rock's in movies. Hollywood needed a big action guy he fit they couldn't find another Arnold Schwarzenegger so they made one. Is Gunn better than the rock wrestling? Yes..without the people's elbow even😁
@@smoochydatrhino5793 I agree, but I don't believe Johnson is the biggest movie star ever. Thinking about it, what really good movie has he done? Comparing to say Lord of the Rings, Gladiator, Braveheart, etc.
The biggest star in this or any other universe
@@TheWinstonSlip true
3:25. IT WAS THE NAME! Nobody will cheer or boo "THE ASS MAN" . You'll just laugh and/or shake your head
It always made me think of the Seinfeld episode with the proctologist and Kramer getting his vanity license plates.
Jack Storm I love to kick him
Top guys now and days are ass man
With lips 👄 on his trunks too and that hsirline
My ass looks like a little peach or nectarine rather
8:00-8:20 While Pritchard just responds "Yeah..." sums it all up lol
Hilarious.
I think they just waited too long to give Billy Gunn a huge push. He was pretty popular in late 98/early 99 as a single going after Ken Shamrock's IC title. There was an episode of Raw where he and Shamrock had a show stealing match and Gunn got the win. The fans thought he won the title, but commissioner Shawn Michaels came out and said it was a non-title match. Fans went crazy for what they thought was his title win. They should have given him the belt on that night. Instead, Gunn and Shamrock ended up having a boring rematch at the next ppv and Shamrock retained the title. I think Gunn lost a lot of momentum at that point.
Well said. I remember that
Yea and they had him keep getting beat up and his ankle injured….I doubt we’d get behind Austin if he walked out with crutches and got his ass whooped everytime
I always thought that Billy Gunn packaged JUST as Bad Ass Billy Gunn (not Mr Ass, not The One) had main event potential. I was rooting for it for sure. I remember Rock burying Billy and it was the first time I ever saw a wrestling promo where I thought "That definitely just killed that guy off".
LARRYLONGSTRETH I’d agree with that
I agree. The name needed to be Badd Ass Billy Gunn with a better theme song and you would've had a much more believable top guy. Everything else about that character was good enough.
Guys, The Rock buried everyone lol that was part of his gimmick
@@vinnysoori4512 To a point, I agree... but as popular as Rock was, burying your opponent really isn't the team dynamic wrestlers talk about needing. The Rock got to be a bad guy AND a good guy. He got to be the hero but he got to dress down his opponents and use dirty tactics too. He built his popularity up immensely, but he never made anyone else. Flair and those guys talk about the importance of being a heel-- you can't steal the hero's light or shine or you ruin the dynamic. The NWO was super popular but they got the have the best of both worlds too. It left the heroes and villains facing them in a crappy spot. They could never get any real momentum against a "cool heel" or a "mean face". Rock definitely tapped into something people responded to, but he (and I think HHH too) really didn't put much emphasis on making others look great as much as they could or should have. Bret, Shawn, Flair, and others were way better at that part.
@@504westside9 ngl I still love that song 20 years later lmfao.
Billy Gunn is still in great shape and wrestling. Too damn bad they couldn’t cultivate him into a legacy career.
He does have a great legacy. It’s more to wrestling than going on last at Wrestle Mania
When the Rock did the promo where he made fun of Billy's entrance music where he changed it from "I'm an ass man" to "I'm an ass hole" that was one of the greatest and funniest promos in WWE history there was no way Billy could've come back from that.
The rock was so over in 1999 I don’t think people realize that sometimes
Everybody remembers THE promo (which was on Heat, it wasn't even on Raw) but The Rock took numerous beatdowns from Billy Gunn that summer.
Billy wasn't over as a singles heel, plain and simple. Unlike HHH, he didnt change his gimmick post-DX. He also wasn't great on the mic.
At least The Rock feuded with him... He didnt refuse to work with him, unlike a lot of top guys back then.
@ guys like Steve and Foley have said you need to stand up for yourself. Be it a crappy payoff or crappy booking, sometimes you need to get your voice heard.
I love The Rock. But I disagree with him on this. I still believe Billy Gunn had main event potential. They just pushed him too soon. The WWE was already in the process of transitioning Triple H to the main event. So sending two people from the same faction to that important role in the same year seemed too premature. Give Billy the IC title. Let him work his way up a little bit. But don't feed him to wolves abruptly by facing a megastar like The Rock at a huge event like Summerslam.
Can we just say... the Attitude Era from 97-99 was entertaining but had some bad matches. 2000-01 was better as far as both entertainment and matches. Getting Kurt Angle, Eddie, Benoit, Dean, Y2J, pushing Rikishi, pushing Val Venis helped build WWE even better
you can't put entertainment and Dean Malenko in the same sentence .... good matches ? yeah but he wasn't a big draw, Benoit also turned out not to be... but Eddie 100%
This show is sooo much better when Bruce is straight forward and in this case brutally honest about Billy Gunn instead of giving answers that he thinks Vince wants to hear.
Billy Gunn was never meant to be more than what he was..which was pretty damn good.
He just didn’t have the voice or promo skills to be a top top guy.
I remember that summer slam title match for triple h. I was at it. Triple threat with h, mankind, and stone cold. Rock had match against Billy gun too that night. Man I was just a kid and thinking why the hell the rock wasn't in the main event that night. Regardless, he stole the show. Arena went nuts during the elbow. Such good wrestling times.
"ether him" conrad's a deep ass hip hop fan wtf
Ether is a pretty well known track. The entire Stillmatic album is my shit though.
MikeyXSuicide - Illmatic & Stillmatic are two classic albums (this is coming from a hip-hop head)
Everyone knows Ether and the Jay Z beef lol
If you ever pay attention, Conrad is definitely a hip hop fan from waaaaay back. Early on, he did the beat selection for commercials, and he always used those mid-to-late 90s east coast tracks.
The time to build Billy as a singles wrestler should have been during the WCW invasion
I was gone from wrestling as a fan by this point, but was not 100% alienated yet and would still take an occasional casual peek. Especially since I live in Minneapolis, and Summer Slam 99 was in Minneapolis. Once the winner of King of the Ring wasn’t being given the Summer Slam main event shot, I knew his goose was cooked. And he was done.
That wasnt a thing
It was a thing. It didn't make sense for it not to be a thing for billy Gunn when It helped elevate the likes of Angle and Lesnar and King Booker....
@@carltongraham1240 Austin didn't get a title shot at summerslam, neither did ken shamrock, HHH or Bret Hart
Billy Gunn looks like Andre The Giant on AEW these days, compared to all the modern guys lol
Jericho looks big compared to them guys mate lol
Handing The Rock a hot mic back in the day was a death sentence for his opponents. He used to embarrass triple h so bad
The first time Rock did the "it doesn't matter what your name is" line was one of the funniest things ever.
After reading Bret’s book … this was what I learned.
You absolutely will get buried if you don’t stand up for yourself.
When they wanted Bret to be cowboy bret hart … he hated it.
He stated: “from where I come, if you’re gonna call yourself a cowboy, you better really be one”.
So he goes to the booker and comes up with a better alternative.
Why not put him and the Anvil (who was also running as a single at the time) in a tag team and call them the hart foundation.
Vince loved the idea and gave them the go.
That was the thing about Vince … the man could be an asshole back then, but if you took the initiative to come up with a better idea, he wouldn’t shoot it down.
Whatever draws more money right.
This wouldn’t be the first time Bret stood up for himself. And it helped.
Billy should have shot the storyline where he gets his face buried in someone’s ass, down. He had pull. He could have made it happen.
I’m not blaming Billy as much as I’m blaming creative and Vince for letting it happen. But he should have stood up for himself.
As for the Rock, I can understand why he wouldn’t like someone like Billy.
The Rock had taken a lot of shit, including racism when he first came in.
Ironically enough, it was Bret who defended the Rock to Vince, and told him that he can have a match with the Rock and show him what the kid’s capable of.
To this day, the Rock praises Bret.
Watch the Rocks interview for a movie he did with Emily Blunt, and the interviewer’s wearing a Bret shirt.
The Rock stops the interview midway to comment on the shirt and how much Bret means to him.
It’s amazing.
Billy was made for an lengthy IC run ala Honky Tonk, Perfect, Rude or Shawn.
It wasn't a tough break. It wasn't hindsight. It wasn't an experiment gone bad. Billy Gunn was a tag wrestler. He was Dennis Condrey. He was Robert Gibson. He was Marty Janetty. Nothing more. He was a GOOD tag wrestler, but he had no business on a microphone, or in the ring as a single competitor.....
@Stephen Joens Nope. 56 and guarantee you I have seen more wrestlers, workers, performers, and attractions, than you could name if you had until Thanksgiving. Billy Gunn was lower mid-card on a GOOD day.
@Stephen Joens I don't care for The Rock terribly either. He was infinitely better than Billy though. OK. Name me everybody on the roster, circa 1999-2000, who YOU think Billy was better than singles wise.
@Stephen Joens Tells me what I need to know. Simple question / quiz. Couldn't give me one damn name. SMH. Bye, Felicia.....
Stephen Joens did what lol Billy was shit a singles wrestler had no mic skills couldn’t cut promos little charisma and the “IT” factor he had none
The Ass man was my fav! He could of beat HHH & HBK
Listen, that conversation with God promo buries anybody on the roster at that time. It is by far one of the greatest promos ever cut. while I don't think that Billy gun was ready, you can't blame him for not being able to recover from that. 🤣
If anything, The Rock vs Billy Gunn, and the way it was booked, as Conrad and Bruce put it, this helped The Rock's career excel. It made him look like a massive star.
Half of this is ads and empty air time. I had to check if I paused the video there is so much silence.
Bruce is still doing podcasts? How does he find the time?
Why does everything get called a "shoot" interview? Most of these videos are just perspective interviews about the past. Shouldn't a "shoot" contain some emotion?
Shoot means = real life. Work = work. For instance me and you work in the wwe but we hate each other. Thats called heat. Now when we go to the ring(work) and we throw real punches, thats called a shoot. Cause we feel like that out side of work. So in that case we are shooting on eachother.
Billy Gunn had/has a great physique and is definitely a good in ring athlete. He's also 100% a tag team guy, every singles push he ever had, either as RockaBilly, Mr. Ass, The One, all flopped. So Rock saw this as a transition feud, until his next big feud.
rock was being a diva
93: Bret didn't get a title shot for a long time, but he was undoubtedly THE top guy at that time, even over Luger and Yoko
94: Owen got a title shot at summerslam in a classic against the top guy
95: Mabel got a title shot at Summerslam in a poor match against the top guy
96: Austin didn't get a title shot for a while, faced Sid on Raw the next year
97: HHH didn't get a title shot for a while, but he faced Bret on Raw
98: Ken Shamrock......I don't think had a PPV title shot after this and I don't think he faced Austin or Rock while they were champ?
so 99: Billy Gun..... didn't get a title shot, but he did get to face the top guy without many single matches before to prove himself.....i dunno if it's justified
The failed Billy Gunn experiment reminds me of their (extremely brief) attempt to get Lance Storm over.
I feel bad for Lance. I kinda laugh at Billy Gunn too.
Does any one remember when Billy Gunn had that gay gimmick with Chuck Palumbo ?
Hell yea lol i remember the "wedding" too
Like John Cena told Roman Reigns. You either step up or step aside. Billy couldn’t keep up. The attitude era locker room was a different beast!!
He's at AEW where he is the head coach. AEW is awesone🙌
Seriously though a wrestler called "Mr. Ass" as a top guy?
they should have booked billy against rikishi. both were stuck in that weird position of being over, having the distinct look and can go but are not main eventers just yet but at the same time if you book them in a feud that might look good on paper against someone like hardcore holly you just demoted them to the hardcore tier.
I don't think Rikishi was around until November/December '99. By then, they had already given up on Billy Gunn and reformed DX/NAO.
there were just so many good and great wrestlers back then.
My question is, who else would they book Billy with around that time? What other faces did we have in the Summer of 99?
You are smart my friend
The Rock at one point used to sit at the commentators booth and commentate his own match. You do not put an unproven singles wrestler up against The Rock and expect the poor guy to do well lol.
I think a European Championship run would of did billy some good before getting in there with the rock
Billy Gunn is a good talent what they did they put them in too soon . To work with the Rock you need a LOT of preparation, a excellent story line, adequate promos. That's way Billy Gunn didn't seceded 🤔💥
Stephen Joens dickhead for what he was no where near Rocks level they should’ve put him in some IC feud before that
@@abdouibrahimdaher3894 Best not to respond to stupid shit
They threw Billy into the deep end and just let Rock bury him every week. Total booking failure.
Why have him go from tag team to a program against the most over guy in the business at the time. When Shawn and Bret went solo they had to work their way up the singles card.
Stephen Joens that’s how you destroy them Rock after turning face in late 98 and getting huge reactions he didn’t just jump and start feuding with the top guy (Austin) but start feuding with Mankind who elevated them both in that feud
Abdou Ibrahim Daher Rock already feuded with Austin for the IC title at DX 1997 & he/Austin was the last 2 in the RR 98 lol Rock & Austin been around each other throats a year or so before they really just became serious rivals. Granted that was Austin before the WWF title but Rock was no stranger to Austin by any means lol
The Vicious Precision Yh but that wasn’t a long term feud they just feud for the IC title Austin retained he drop to him next night by forfeit
For the royal rumble they weren’t feuding at that time they were just last two Austin eliminated him on his way to winning the wwf title
That's a damn good point. They should have had him work his way up the ladder instead of putting him against one of the top guys at the time.
I mean in the attitude era that's what it was..... Kurt Angle said it on his podcast In the spirit of pushing talent it's either sink or swim.
If you're going to be king of the ring and possibly be champion you have to be able to feud with anybody and if you can't then you're not ready.......
And although that seems harsh that's the nature of the beast....
Same thing happened to Kurt Angle.... He went from wrestling Shawn stasiak to wrestling Austin and Rock on a consistent basis in a matter of months.
You either sink or swim
Conrad said that Billy Gunn was the same size as Hulk Hogan, but that's not correct. In his hey day, Hulk Hogan was 6'7", 300+ pounds, while Billy Gunn was billed as 6'4", 269 lbs, and looked noticeably leaner than Hogan in his prime.
Hogan was never 6.7..he was 6.5 at peak..now he's 6,2-6,3..Billy was an is a legit 6.4..and still.in great shape..as Conrad said people don't realise just how big Billy is..he's a monster
Few years later Brock wins king of the ring and beats Rock for the Undisputed title at summerslam lol
Brock Lesnar is no Mr Ass
Do you know of the difference between Billy Gunn and Brock Lesnar?
Few years later "Latino Heat" Eddie Guerrero won over Brock Lesnar the WWE Title!! Oh yes!
Billy couldn't be taken seriously by calling himself Mr Ass.
The math makes sense.
No pops were louder than the new age outlaws coming out, go back and turn on your stereo system- plus, billy gunn looked the part of a guy who can go toe to toe with a world champion.
Basically The Rock didn’t want to work with any member of DX accept for Triple H
And that's only because he had to lol, I'm pretty sure X Pac was the only DX member Rock liked, Chyna too
@@webbiefade14 I liked Rock's 1998 WWF beef with Faarooq more because he was Ruler of the Nation of Domination!
Not really, it was because they put him in such a midcard feud even though he had literally just finished the most popular heel run of all time which he got over all on his own, Rock was as popular if not more popular than Austin, yet he got stuck facing midcarders all that summer.
The Elbow on X Pac is so underrated. X-Pac had so much genuine fan love behind him. That was my guy
Calling Billy Mr. Ass was never a main event move. He had the look, the ability and reasonable mic skills, but everything never quite gelled.
I always thought that was the most retarded name. Imagine parents going to buy their kids favorite wrestler Mr Ass toy
Bruce saying “ yeah “ was hilarious !
Yeah
Billy had no mic skills other than to recite his part of the DX introduction. Even his finisher had one of the stupidest names in history, like he couldn't think up anything better. At best different booking would have hidden his weaknesses for a little while longer, but the result would be the same.
Ay.... the Fame Asser was great
Love the famouser!
Been watching the attitude era starting with Survivor Series 97. Agree with that promo statement 100%. Billy couldn't talk.
@@damianpriest196 If he wanted to use a butt pun, he could have called his finisher Asstounding, or Asstonishing, or Fantasstic, or given a nod to Ren & Stimpy and gone with The Flying Butt Pliers.
Palace Of Wisdom literally every single one of those suck....thank god you weren’t part of creative
There is no "maybe a little brutal" with the Rock's prayer... it was brutal as hell! Hysterical but brutal.
I remember thinking that this feud was a massive downgrade for Rock.
And yet you don’t really hear Billy still pissing and moaning about it. That must be a first in this business
I kinda wish Road Dogg was pushed just to test the waters, cool look, super over, and amazing mic skills
He got a singles push. He was a hardcore champ, and Euro champ.
The only problem is.. he was a shit wrestler n looked like shit!! You coulda got by without being able to wrestle.. But in a Vince organization you at least have to look the part!
@@davedub5959 Not everyone was ripped with abs. Look at Bam Bam, Yokozuna, Big Show.
@@davedub5959 Vince wanted Jarrett getting a sort of push like that. I'm guessing Road Dogg was supposed to help elevate him.
Unreliable druggy is why
Billy Gunn is one of the biggest guys on AEW’s roster and they’re underutilizing him. It’s a damn shame
They need to strap the rocket to that up and coming 56 year old
He works behind the scenes. He's not an every day on screen talent.
Because it’s 2020 and not 1998.
If wwf really wanted to make a star out of Billy Gunn, they would've taken the time. Not everyone who won KOTR won the wwf title in that same year. Austin, Rock (who didn't even win the tournament), and HHH were all developed and repackaged over time. If Stunning Steve could turn into Stone Cold, if Rocky Maivia could become The Rock, and the Blueblood could become The Game, could they not make something of Gunn? Write him off TV and don't bring him back until he's repackaged into something better.
Billie got roasted online
Austin and HHH both won the KOTR. Austin was being repackaged before and during the KOTR Tournament.
@@justinturley7071 Exactly. That's my point. What stopped them from doing the same with Billy?
Justin Turley but they didn’t win the title just like that it like one and a half year for Austin to win the title and he was red hot and super over Billy was no where near that
Speedyreedy1218 Stunning Austin , Rocky Maivia & Blueblood Triple H didn’t fit the Attitude Era’s mold. Billy Gunns character at the time already fitted the Attitude Era’s mold so it was no need to change his attitude. He was a Pretty Boy Asshole who showed his ass to say I’m so good looking my ass is better than the females. Lmao it’s weird but you gotta look deeper into it
Billy was never going to be able to go tit-for-tat against the Rock on the mic...practically all of Billy's promos started with, "I'm going to make this short and sweet..." 🙄
And yeah, it was the Attitude era, but did anyone genuinely believe Vince would ever view someone named Mr. Ass as a viable main event star?
Greatest theme song of all time!
I think if Billy Gunn had turned heel and changed his look sooner, he may have been a main eventer. The guy had size, charisma, mic skills and ability in the ring. The Rock shouldn’t have minded putting him over in my opinion. My guess would be he didn’t wanna put anyone over in DX because of animosity with Triple H and HBK back in the day. It seems Rock never got over that bad blood and sadly buried Billy Gunn as a result.
I don’t think he was good talking
Did anyone else catch the Gangrel reference? I always thought Gangrel was considered a solid working hand in wrestling, was that not the case?
The guess The Rock changed his tune on working with lower guys, cause he worked with Hurricane and Gregory Helms spoke of how The Rock helped him and sold his stuff.
The Rock was a mega star by the time he wrestled Helms & was already in Hollywood by that time so he knew putting Helms over wouldn't hurt him.
Rock was funny on the mic which is no secret. Stone Cold was also funny on the mic. But, I do believe that if BG had some type of mic skills he’d could sorta match up with Rock. BG had size and all of the physical tangibles which is no secret, but the mic skills he needed to work on and I agree that he should of gotten his feet wet a little bit more as a singles competitor.
No it doesn’t sound “weird” Bruce. It sounds like bullshit. Super athletic, over performer with a great look. He was buried by Rock
@Devon R B He was over with that gimmick though. The decision to push comes from creative without necessarily listening to what the fans are reacting to. Sometimes it’s arbitrary.
@Real Son if Rock didn’t bury him then why was he allowed to say what he said to the guy creative wanted to push?
Devon R B the fans liked the mr ass gimmick. Plus he had a finisher to match. Even the theme song was kinda iconic
@@NameLess-ks4fi rock did it to everyone. If that one promo buried him then he obviously wasn't that good and wouldn't have ever been a top star. Just calm down, not everyone will be world champion
Stephen McCuntbiscuits Rock was always like that did you watch that promo where he owned Kane and especially Benoit with the “pull your pants down and prove to Kane you’re not a woman” did it bury him ? No simply Billy couldn’t keep and that gimmick lol would’ve never been a main event wrestler
WWF dropped the ball with Billy Gun. Didn't he win king of the ring without getting a title shot
He didn't even get a golden ass trophy.
That would've made his character more gimmicky and cheesier but in a good "Attitude"way. Even 2002 WWE writers have us "The Golden Thong" award. Could you imagine Billy at the time as his Billy & Chuck presenting the award to the winner?
I always saw Billy as a more believable leader of a stable like DX but seeing him in retrospect play backseat to HHH all those years made me and still makes me cringe. Monty didn't care about his "spot" as much as those other politicians but perhaps if he cared more Vinnie would've rewarded his work ethic and kept his push strong. Could've made him a main event all of the early Naughts but maybe Monty's son will outshine Thee Mr. Ass.
I guarantee Vinnie was more in love with Billy's physique than Hunter's. Ever notice how short Trips' arms are?
If you asked me there was some backstage politics going on for the push of Billy Gunn and Vince McMahon was going along with it but truth be told Billy gun didn't have the charisma Mic skills or talent to be a main eventer let alone to be a midcard he's just a tag team guy and The Rock knew that so that's why the rock cut that promo on him
Everyone says that promo killed Billy's run, but what really did it is that they never gave Billy Gunn a chance at revenge at that verbal beating. Losing to the Rock right off the bat nailed the coffin shut.
They didn't need to do the stipulation to save Rock that humiliation.
Billy Gunn needed a number of decisive wins and the chance to show that he's not a midcarder - by winning against midcarders. Then have that moment which he's in a match against a top guy (like Rock), lose but then beat the Rock down afterwards. Then when Rock wants his revenge, have Gunn come out the victor.
Booking this shit isn't that tough. If you WANT the guy to get over, you will find a way to get the guy over.
yes they did, Billy Gun left the Rock lying in the ring the next week
Billy is known for his tag team matches not singles this was doomed b4 he walked out the curtain
@Stephen Joens Name one because for the life of me, I cannot remember much about Billy Gunn other than he was a member of DX and one half of The New Age Outlaws
Like so many guys, someone like Billy easily could have been a top guy if they booked him right. He was good in the ring, on the mic, and looked convincing. Vince just liked who he liked. Look at guys like Caesaro or Rusev who even managed to get over on their own. If Vince didn't approve, it doesn't happen.
That's a shame (if true). There were wrestlers who put The Rock (Rocky Miavia) over in the beginning and I am sure that some complained as well. Should be a no brainer to "return the favor" for other guys in the business.
The Rock spent a majority of his career putting people over
@@webbiefade14 I hear you. Now Name 2 (who were NOT already established in the WWF/ E at the time).
@@cajunasian71 I will when you name me people who were not already established in the wwf by the time he was face of the company
The Rock vs Billy overall was a decent match
For the Rock to be as electrifying as he was early 2000s , they still wanted triple h to maintain the belt most of the time I was watching ..over the Rock over stone cold they held it briefly every time ...I think once the rock had the title for awhile but most of the time he would lose it
Did Conrad just use the term "Ether him" ?
Who is conrad. I keep seeing people say Conrad. Isn’t Bruce interviewing billy Gunn?
Yup! Ether is a common slang term now.
My opinion is if Billy wanted to go into business for himself Rock would be helpless to stop him. Billy Is a freak of nature athlete
It's too bad. I always like Billy Gun but I understand that he didnt click. Maybe a total repackage/character. Made him more hard core. Coulda worked. Maybe. The talent was there
He’s boy stable
@@cooliereddz4141 Billy Brah making kids cry.
ZealKingdom Billy brah, making gay activists cry brah!
Coolie Reddz if he could sell like Luger he could have made it all the way to the top!
MikeyXSuicide can of coke to you!!
The Rock could carry any match or feud he was in.
So basically they totally gave up on Billy Gunn 2 months after winning King of the Ring becuase of a bad match with The Rock. Not even giving him a chance. Imagine if they gave up on The Rock 2 months after it not working out when he was Rocky Miavia.They put him back with Road Dogg like a few weeks later
I just went back and watched that match from Summerslam 99 and it was actually a pretty decent match. I don't know what the big deal is with Billy Gunn being a "bad wrestler" he did just as good of a job in that match as The Rock
@@danielmoore8695 i agree. I remember enjoying the feud back in 99