Billy Gunn Says It's Wrong That Chyna Is Not In The WWE Hall Of Fame, Talks His WWE Firing
Billy Gunn was a guest on The Ring, the Cage, and the Stage show. Gunn started off by talking about the WWE Hall of Fame and said that he would like to see The New Age Outlaws inducted before anything, even DX. He also talked about the politics behind the ceremony and why Chyna should have been in the Hall of Fame before anyone else.
"She [Chyna] deserves it more than anyone that's in there right now," Gunn said. "That's a huge sore subject with me. It's just bulls–t! I just think Chyna should have been in a long time ago. She did more. It's who they send. It's political, they send who they want to send, and that's wrong. You send who deserves to go. It's about what you've done and contributed to this business and what legacy you left."
Gunn was fired by WWE in 2015 for failing a test for performance-enhancing drugs. He noted that there was more to the story.
"There's a lot more to it [getting fired from WWE for failing his PED Test]. The strength and conditioning coach at the Performance Center came to me to do a powerlifting contest. So I trained for it, they tested me, then someone leaked the information about failing my PED test. More to it, but I would rather hold up my end of the bargain to not talk about it. People thought I was doing it to cheat, but I wasn't. I'm 50 years old, I was on the drug because my levels were completely drained. That's about it. I don't hold any grudges, it was bad on my part, but I told them, and didn't hide anything either."
One of Billy Gunn's first tag team partners was Bart Gunn (Mike Polchlopek), and they worked together as The Smoking Guns from 1993 to 1996. Gunn commented about his former partner's match with Eric Esch, better known as Butterbean. Bart Gunn ended up in a legitimate match with the boxer and MMA legend at WrestleMania XV, who knocked Gunn out in 34 seconds.
"They were really good until he [Mike Polchlopek] started to box, that's not what he does. Mike just hits really hard like I told JR, "you're in a hell of a surprise, he's going to whip everyone out." Mike tried to box and be cute, but that's what they wanted him to do. Mike is just very willing to want the office wants him to do. He wants another shot bad, he can't stand it."
From 2001 to 2002, Billy teamed with Chuck Palumbo were a tag-team and were given a gimmick where they were an ambiguously gay couple. Gunn saw the storyline as a way to become a character and challenge himself.
"They knew what we were doing and that it was amazing," Gunn said. "They didn't understand it at first, but once they did, they thought it was pretty entertaining. There wasn't any bad backlash. A lot of people do say "can't believe that you did that." Why? That challenge me as a performance. Trying to pull off a character, you have to believe in it or the fans won't believe it."
You can see Gunn's full comments in the video above.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Ring, the Cage, and the Stage with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.