The following are interview highlights with former WWE Superstar Billy Gunn:
On WrestleReunion: “Yeah, it’s gonna be a lot of fun! I mean, there’s gonna be so much stuff going on in Miami because of not only WrestleReunion, Wrestlemania, everything else; it’s gonna be crazy. But it’s gonna be a lot of fun—I mean—once me and Brian (Road Dog Jesse James] get together, not even WrestleMania can overshadow us!”
On current state of tag-team wrestling: “Right now, I think tags everywhere are a little weak, especially WWE. If you know anything about that company you know they’re not high on tags anyway; it’s all about singles and who their big single run can be.”
On the downfall of tag-team wrestling: “It’s just something that’s baffled me, and it’s baffled everybody that I’ve talked to, and they always ask the same question: “Why are tags not all that prevalent up there?” And I can’t ever answer that, I can’t ever give a good reason. One may be because there’s no good stand-out tag-teams. Or maybe it’s guys don’t wanna be in tags anymore because everyone is so worried about themselves that they don’t wanna have to worry about somebody else. Because when you’re in a tag, you’ve gotta at least gel a little bit for it to work anyway. I don’t have a great answer for that, I just wish they would put more emphasis in the tag division.”
On the state of wrestling in general: I think it’s picking up a little bit. Poor John Cena (not “poor John Cena” money-wise), but poor John Cena! He’s carried that company for a long time. No matter what anybody says, no matter what people say about him or what they do, he has carried that company on his back a long time. Now, they’re kind of stirring up the pot. I know they’ve done WrestleMania a year out with him and [The] Rock; they have to bring something with that strong of a personality to kinda kick things back in gear ‘cause it’s getting a little stale. And they started doing that with the CM Punk.
Punk started talking crap about the company and everything which, in turn, stirred some question about what was going on. So people started tuning in and getting into it a little bit more. In the Attitude Era, you weren’t getting just wrestling; you were getting all kinds of crazy stuff. It was what it was called: entertainment. You were entertained from the minute that Raw started to the minute it was over to making you want to want more. That’s what the show was, that’s what Raw was all about in the Attitude Era: what’s making you want more. They would leave you hanging to make you just chomp at the bit all week to make you tune in to the next week.
Now you watch the show like you’re watching an episode of “The Flinstones” or something. There’s nothing to keep your attention, or nothing to make you go Woah! Now this is what wrestling is! Y’know, we’re all parents now… they’re constantly telling their kids about the Attitude Era—The Rock, Stone Cold, DX, Mankind. There’s a whole slew of people! Now when you mention wrestling it’s John Cena. Not that that’s bad, but that’s where you get lost; there’s just nothing really interesting about the show.
On WrestleMania: “This is the one most spectacular thing I’ve ever been involved with. Starting from right after the [Royal] Rumble, you start getting goosebumps because it is that good, it is that much fun, it is that entertaining. It’s like an event that you’ll never, ever, ever experience in your life that you don’t go to live. You can watch it on TV, but until you’re there, you have no idea how fun it is. WrestleMania is the number one show of the year and they prove it because they hold nothing back. They let it all rip… It is phenomenal. It is probably the one greatest thing on Earth, to me anyway.”
Gunn’s appearance was on the Busted Open radio show, which can be heard every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 2-4 ET on SIRIUS 94 and XM 208. The show is hosted by Doug Mortman and Dave LaGreca.
