There some universally held beliefs in the wild world that is professional wrestling.
Among those held by WWE fans, for instance, you’d find the truth that The Attitude Era was the wildest period in the industry’s history.
Born from it, Triple H, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin are generally accepted as some of that time’s biggest stars ever, too, with undeniable star power and charisma.
Known to be equally true is the fact that The Brawl For All, while peak Attitude Era, was a very, very silly idea.
The entire basis on which professional wrestling is produced is that its outcomes are pre-written, its matches largely rehearsed, and its moves perfected to avoid, ideally, even the slightest of injuries.
Goodness knows what was in the minds of top WWE brass, then, when they decided in 1998 to let its athletes punch each other for real.
Legitimate tough guys including Steve Blackman, former golden gloves boxing champ Marc Mero, John ‘Bradshaw’ Layfield and The Godfather were all part of a 16-man tournament to crown the Brawl for All Champion.
Legitimate contests were held and judged accordingly, but injuries proved all too frequent. Longtime WWE commentator Jim Ross has since blasted the initiative as ‘horrendous,’ saying: “It was a sad time, and I was glad when it was over, because that was a journey we all took together.
“Guys got hurt, we got thousands of dollars of medical bills, and it was just horrendous, so thank god it was over.”
The Brawl For All Champion ended up being none of those aforementioned ‘big’ names but, instead, lesser-known tag team wrestler Bart Gunn.
Gunn ended up defeating Bob Holly and knocking out favourite Steve Wiliams and Godfather on his way to the final, where he downed Bradshaw.
While the concept allowed for ‘real’ fights, it was believed Williams was the man favoured to win the whole thing – leading to a reported punishment for Gunn who’d left him laying.
At WrestleMania 15 in 1999, that punishment arrived in the form of established and professional boxer Butterbean was drafted in for a one-off Brawl For All match against Gunn, and it didn’t go well.
WWE Champion at the time, Rock, was backstage watching the bout with rival Stone Cold Steve Austin minutes before their main event match, and scoffed as the Texan predicted Gunn would once again upset the odds.
The Great One noted in his autobiography that Austin had told him: ‘I’ll bet you right now Bart knocks that s******* out.’
Rock added: “I laughed and said: ‘I don’t know, man. Butterbean is a real boxer. He can throw some heavy punches… but Bart’s a brawler, too.”
The two on screen enemies watched on intently behind the scenes, but didn’t need to settle for long – it took just 35 seconds for Butterbean to brutally floor Gunn with a gruesome KO and to end the contest before it had really begun.
“Butterbean threw a big uppercut that damn near decapitated Bart,” Rock went on to write. Steve and I jumped to our feet simultaneously.
“It was so bad that we were honestly concerned for Bart’s safety, because people have been known to die from a punch like that. But within a few minutes he was sitting up and talking.
“’Good thing you didn’t bet real money on that match,’ I said to Steve. He just laughed.”
Decades later, few people see the funny side of Brawl For All, not least of all poor Bart Gunn…
