One of the most infamous events in WWE history is the Brawl For All. The event is so maligned that there was even a Dark Side of the Ring episode based on the competition.
The part boxing, part MMA, part tough guy competition led to the most unlikely of winners in Bart Gunn. Looking for life after tag team wrestling, Gunn KO’ed the competition and instead of earning what was originally going to be a major feud against Stone Cold Steve Austin (which was planned for the person the WWE wanted to win, Dr. Death Steve Williams), Bart Gunn found himself in a boxing match at WrestleMania against Butterbean. Bart Gunn was knocked out in 35 seconds and shortly released after, and many people believe the boxing match was punishment for Gunn going over on Williams. Many people think that Gunn was overmatched for the match and had no chance against the professional boxer.
One person, however, thinks Bart Gunn not only could’ve actually beat Butterbean, but took a dive instead.
Mike Chioda talked about this on his Monday Mailbag podcast, and he revealed that he honestly believes Bart Gunn let Butterbean win. Though he doesn’t exactly know why Bart would do such a thing, Chioda gave his reason why he believes Bart Gunn took a dive.
“I used to travel with Bart Gunn all the time. Bart Gunn was a great guy and a big guy, a big dude, but he wasn’t a tough guy. Billy Gunn was a tough guy. When Bart Gunn went into that boxing tournament, I thought he was going to go all the way. I actually thought he jobbed out and took a dive for Butterbean. I think it was all built up for Butterbean to win because he was the boxer but I think he jobbed out. I’ll never know to this day but I would like to find that answer out. I think he let him knock him out. Bart had planned to attack him and it was weird because the game plan Bart had for him, he did not go in there with it. So, it was almost like, ok, let him knock me out. Let it look good.”
There’s a fair reason to believe Gunn would have to make the boxer look good to secure future paydays for Butterbean. However, if Gunn knew he may be on his way out after this, there was no reason to make himself look bad. Then again, maybe knowing he was on his way out gave him reason to believe he had nothing left to lose. Either way, the legacy of the Brawl For All remains as controversial as ever as it remains a topic of discussion to this day.
h/t to Wrestling News for the quote
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