The ugliness of politics within professional wrestling has always been something that has turned me off. With all of the intriguing characters & mesmerizing storylines that have kept me hooked throughout the years, the petty b.s. behind why someone's career ends up not going as far as it should has always pushed me away.
I was always a fan of Bart Gunn's. Ever since his arrival in WWE as one half of the popular tag team The Smokin' Gunns, I thought he was a talent. To call his career a complete bust would be unfair, as along with Billy Gunn he held the coveted WWE tag team championship on three occasions. However post his time with Billy, his career fizzled in the WWE & never recovered....although by all means it should have.
I've heard Bruce Pritchard shoot on Bart Gunn saying that they were unable to get him over after the breakup of the Smokin' Gunns. I think that was at the fault of the company & not Bart Gunn's. The feud with Billy Gunn was starting to get steam & then ended up going nowhere with a ridiculous kayfabe injury angle that had Billy Gunn's wife screaming like a lunatic at the end of the match, "He's your brother!!!' It reminded me a lot of when Strike Force broke up & how Tito Santana Vs Rick Martel could've been a great grudge match, but it never came to fruition. It was no different here. Billy Gunn Vs Bart Gunn could have been a great opener for a PPV, but it was instead put as a throw away match on television, with one of the stupidest finishes ever seen in a wrestling match.
So then they job him out in a series of matches to other top talent before throwing him together with Bob Holly as the New Midnight Express. While both great workers & essentially what could have been a good tag team, neither was into the gimmick of trying to duplicate the past. They both wanted to do their own thing & have their own unique voice. It was clear that it was something that they were thrown into & had no passion for.
Then of course the Brawl For All, which everyone by now knows the story. He went in and won a tournament designed for Steve Williams. As a result of combining his amateur wrestling skills, with his brawling skills to show his legit toughness, he was punished. Instead of thinking of ways to capitalize upon his success & make him into something as they should have, they thought of ways to sabotage him instead.
Vince Russo said, "we had nothing for him." And I just have to say one way or another that is complete bullshit. A, if Vince Russo is the talent he claims to be as a writer & as a creator, then it should have been more than doable to find an angle for Bart Gunn. Or it means B, Vince Russo isn't as talented as he thinks he was & it's bullshit that he was one of the people in charge. My opinion. Take it as it is. Either Russo is a liar or he's full of it. I'm sure Jim Cornette would say, "C" the option for both.
I've heard others say that sticking him in the boxing match with Eric "Butterbean" Esch was the point of no return. That once he was humiliated by Butterbean there was no turning back. No saving his career in the WWE. It was through. It was finished.
I can't say I agree with that.
There's something that I would have wanted to have tried. I can't say that it would have worked or that Butterbean would have agreed to it, but I can say that I have enough confidence within it that I would have tried it.
I would have made Butterbean the ultimate heel. Had him on television bragging about what he did to Bart Gunn. Calling wrestlers pussies & saying that boxers are so much better & so much tougher. Riling up the audience calling them fans of wimps & how they should really be watching boxing instead.
That's when Bart Gunn comes in & says to the effect, "You're a boxer that beat a wrestler in boxing. If you're that good, how about we play my game? How about you the boxer step into my ring & see if you can't beat me as wrestling?"
This leads to the Bart Gunn Redemption. The two meet at SummerSlam, Bart not only avenges his loss to Butterbean but wrestling's loss to boxing.
I think that not only could have saved Bart Gunn's career, I think it could have excelled it. I really do.
Granted, he did go on to have six years of success in Japan including holding both the All Japan tag team titles & the New Japan tag team titles, but I think his career in the WWE didn't have to end when it did.
As of how he'll always be remembered as is Marty Jannetty is to the Rockers, the "other" Smokin' Gunn & the "Brawl For All guy."
It's a shame because in my opinion the guy was a real talent. Maybe not World champion material, but a contender for the I.C. title for sure.
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