Brawl For Naught Part II: The Backstage Story On WWE's Infamous Brawl For All Tournament

Welcome to the second and final installment of Brawl For Naught: The Backstage Story On WWE's Infamous Brawl For All Tournament as a part of Wrestling Inc's long form feature series. In this conclusion, you'll learn about the lasting effects of the tournament, as well as the feelings from backstage writers, producers and talents, as well as the rise of fall of Bart Gunn.

You can check out part one of the long-form feature at this link. If you haven't already, check out the first long-form feature we published in January, Finding Muhammad Hassan: Reconnecting With One Of The Most Controversial WWE Stars Of A Generation.

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Enter Bart Gunn.

"Anytime you see guys go in there and fight each other and you don't know anything about them, you're going to have one of those guys and go 'Wow, he can hit hard.' Someone's always going to have that sneaky power, and it ended up being Bart Gunn. Did it ever," Ken Shamrock told me of Bart Gunn.

Bart Gunn was, and still is, a mountain of a man. His 6-foot-4, 265 pound frame would dwarf any normal man, but in the "land of the giants" that was the WWF, his size was nothing special. He entered the company five years prior as a part of a successful tag team with Billy Gunn, becoming three-time WWF Tag Team Champions. The duo split and their careers took drastically different turns. Billy would be a prominent character, while Bart would struggle to get on television.

Gunn faced his then-tag team partner Bob Holly in the first round of the tournament, winning by points. There was nothing really to write home about his performance, or it least it seemed at the time. Heads were turned, literally and figuratively in round two.

After a close, back and forth fight with Steve Williams, who was now the tournament favorite, Gunn knew he needed a finish to win. Gunn, tag team partner Holly, and countless personalities backstage had suspected that the deck would be stacked against Williams' opponents, although they couldn't prove it. Gunn eliminated all doubt with his left hand by viciously knocking out Williams near the end of the fight. The wrestling world was stunned, even backstage.

Stunned, and possibly overjoyed, based on who you talk to. The story of Steve Williams and the Brawl For All is one that lives on in wrestling lore.

"(We were) Happy for Bart, and everyone popped like a 1985 Road Warrior entrance. Everyone felt like it was designed for Doc to win it. That's been denied and I believe JR about that, but I don't believe for one second most were assuming Bart would win," said Sean Waltman, who was in the WWE as X-Pac at the time.

Former WWE creative writer Vince Russo corroborated Waltman's account, and expanded on why the talent were so happy to see Williams lose.

"JR (Jim Ross, friend of Steve Williams) carried on in the back for weeks and weeks and weeks about how Dr. Death was going to destroy everybody. The boys got so sick of hearing it, that they were rooting against Dr. Death. Everybody wanted to see Dr. Death taken out, and it had nothing to do with Dr. Death. Sweetheart of a guy, everybody loved Steve Williams, but the way JR put over Steve Williams, people wanted to see him get his lights knocked out. JR was so over the top in what Dr. Death was going to do to people," Russo said.

As Waltman mentioned, for nearly two decades since the narrative has been that either the WWE wanted Steve Williams to win, or at the very least Jim Ross did.

"I was learning as it went on that it was supposed to be an entry deal for 'Dr. Death' Steve Williams, a way to introduce him into the WWF again," said Dan Severn, confirming that the locker room buzz was similar to the information passed down over the years.
Jim Ross told me he wasn't as worried about Williams losing, as he was about the injury 'Dr. Death' sustained.

"The Dr. Death storyline was that JR was angry when Dr. Death got beat," Ross said. "I was angry that he tore his quadriceps from the knee. We have a 40-something year old wrestler that we want to bring in for one more run and now that whole run, that whole investment is gone. Had nothing with him losing, had everything to do with him getting injured and never being the same again."

Ross isn't wrong. The tournament did much more than just abandon traditional format and lose the interest of the audience, it put several of the participants on the WWE disabled list. Williams was out for seven months, and would only wrestle three more matches for the WWE.

Dr. Death wasn't the only one put on the shelf because of the Brawl For All tournament, either. Steve Blackman got hurt and was shelved for three months. Hawk was out of the ring for over four weeks, Droz for three.

One of the scariest injuries was suffered by The Godfather, who was Bart Gunn's latest left hook victim. He'd miss three months after a terrifying knockout.

"He hit that man so hard, his eyes rolled into the back of his head. I've never seen anybody get hit that hard in my life," Russo remembered. "I don't think we thought that through, if half the roster gets f'd up. It didn't really affect our (creative) plans, though."

Even those who weren't hurt, like Brakkus, Savio Vega, Mark Canterbury and Pierre Oullette, were barely seen in the WWE again. Most of the talents used weren't factored in to the WWF's creative landscape.

Still, the WWE's early ringer, the one who the Brawl For All was going to be used as a vehicle for, had been defeated. Steve Williams was down and out. Prior to the fight, Gunn was intimidated, but for the wrong reasons.

"Bart called me the week before and asked me if he'd be fired if he knocked out Dr. Death," Prichard said. "He said 'I know this was set up for Doc, and he's the chosen one, but I will knock him out.'"

One person that was said to be upset was former world champion Terry Funk (who actually picked Bart Gunn to win the Brawl For All), who felt that wrestlers and crew members backstage disrespected Dr.Death with the '1985 Road Warrior pop' in response to his knockout. Despite the lukewarm audience reaction, the Brawl For All was a 'curtain sellout' among active roster members.

"75 percent of the time backstage, nobody is watching. When a Brawl for All fight was going on, it was standing room only," Vince Russo said. "You had to fight to get a spot in front of the monitor because all the boys were so into it."

Despite the interest backstage, many talents still shared Ross and Prichard's sentiments that the Brawl For All was a bad idea. Shoot fights during a worked program confused the audience, and also seemed to undermine the point of the show. Waltman remembers his feelings on the tournament.

"It was the dumbest f–king idea in WWE history. These guys are fighting for real, and everything else you're watching is bulls–t. That's basically what they were telling everyone watching. That, the injuries, and having guys fighting each other that are supposed to be working with each other is just the dumbest f–king thing I can ever remember in my years in wrestling. Real f–king easy for guys that have never fought, let alone been real pro wrestlers to think that s–t up while they're sitting around playing Dungeons & Dragons in a writing meeting to come up with that dumbass f–king bulls–t. They don't have to suffer any of the consequences. Is it any wonder no one wants to take full credit for that abortion of a f–king idea?" Waltman said.

Waltman reminds us of yet another overlooked aspect of the Brawl For All tournament. Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn had been pro wrestlers in the past, but transitioned from the world of no holds barred fighting, a precursor to today's mixed marital arts, which has regulations and rule sets. Many WWE talents weren't sure if they could trust the former UFC stars in a scripted environment.

"When I got approached about it, I was disappointed," Shamrock said. "It took me a long time to be able to build trust with the different people I got in the ring with and would wrestle with. They're trying to do this fight that's real, but they're not professional fighters, and they're going out there and mixing it with their jobs. It put a lot of pressure on them to perform and do both. I felt bad for them."

If The Hardcore Truth is to be believed, the fact that Jim Ross was putting over Steve Williams backstage wasn't the only reason Dr. Death had started getting resentment backstage. Holly also has publicly stated that many talents felt as if the scorecards were being generously tilted in the favor of Williams. Williams himself brought the issues about, as he'd told Holly that he was already paid to win the tournament.

"I spoke to Bob Holly, who had written in his book that Dr. Death got paid ahead of the Brawl For All, and he didn't hear me say it, he didn't hear the office say it, ," Jim Ross explained. "Dr. Death told him that. The wrestlers are the wrestlers. One of the great arguments and controversies in any wrestling locker room is the wrestlers to talk about their paydays with their peers. They rarely tell the truth, and are embellishing their pay to look better than their peers. I love Doc like a brother, but he's no different than any of the other boys. He wanted to make himself look better than he was."

Despite the rumors that Williams started about being paid ahead of time and the hype surrounding him, he was still well regarded and heavily respected backstage. He wasn't necessarily the favorite to win among talents, though.

"I felt awful for Doc," Waltman said. "He was such a good man, and I don't think he wanted to do it anymore than half the other guys who were asked and afraid to say no. Blackman was all for it & probably would've won if they hadn't changed the rules halfway through. I'm pretty sure Blackman said "f–k this" when they changed the rules."

Prichard agreed with Waltman, saying, "I think Blackman would have won it if Steve would have stayed in. Steve is tough on all fronts. He was a good grappler, and lightning fast."

But Blackman was gone. Severn was gone. Shamrock couldn't be financially convinced. Dr. Death had been defeated. Bart Gunn didn't care. He kept knocking people out.

Bart Gunn had defeated his own tag team partner in Bob Holly, knocked out the early favorite in "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, ruined at least one higher-ups plans, and then brutally KO'd and shelved The Godfather. The finals were pretty much a formality. In the words of Holly, Bart Gunn "knocked Bradshaw out colder than a well digger's ass." Bart Gunn was the Brawl For All Champion, and his left hook would forever be associated with the tourney.

The prize (outside of the bonus cash) wasn't much of a prize at all. Gunn was scheduled to face well known pro boxer Eric "Butterbean" Esch at WrestleMania 15, which was right in the middle of one of WWE's hottest periods of all time. The fight was going to have standard Brawl For All rules, meaning Gunn could take down Butterbean, who wasn't an experienced wrestler.

Butterbean was a 32-year-old boxer who got into the sport through Toughman competitions himself. He was more than just a toughman Champion by the time WrestleMania 15 rolled around, however– he was the IBA World Super Heavyweight Champion with a record of 42-1-1. In a true sign of how seriously he took the matchup at WrestleMania, he fought and won a title bout six weeks before facing Gunn. He'd also fight just five days after.

"I was his punishment. That was all kind of under the table, but that was pretty much what happened. I don't think they were happy he beat Dr. Death," Esch told me. Saying he'd even heard rumblings that Gunn rejected an offer to throw the fight.

It definitely ended up being a punishment, either directly or indirectly. Gunn looked different in the opening seconds of the bout than he did in his successful Brawl For All fights. Early on, Butterbean dropped Gunn with a combination, after working the open body of Gunn. A likely already concussed Gunn got to his feet, only to be immediately KO'd by a brutal overhand right. Gunn's fall to the mat was disgusting, as he went limp and tumbled into the ropes.

Esch, who I was told was also very well liked backstage, said that he was concerned for Gunn after the fight, and that he holds no ill will for his opponent.

"After the fight I was concerned, he took a pretty bad punch. His head turned all the way around. I'd never seen that. It concerns you. We've run into each other a couple of times. No hard feelings, it was just a sport," Esch explained.

There has long been speculation that Gunn's shocking knockout win over Williams put him in the dog house with many in WWF management at the time, as Gunn feared it would. Despite Esch saying he was led to believe he was Gunn's 'punishment,' Jim Ross vehemently denied those claims to me. According to Vince Russo, the higher-ups had actually been banking on Gunn beating the boxing veteran, and could have had plans for Gunn afterwards had he won.

"I think the thing that really set it back was the performance against Butterbean. With the presentation he put on in the Brawl For All, we really thought he could have beat Butterbean, or else we wouldn't have put the guy in the ring. Bart Gunn started working with Marc Mero's boxing coach Ray Rinaldi and changed his whole style. He started training to beat a boxer, and that's not how he won the Brawl for All."

Butterbean, who had an extensive toughman career as well, agreed with Russo.

"His biggest mistake was going to a boxing trainer and trying to box. When you're fighting three one-minute rounds, you need to go out there and brawl. Go mad. You can't try to jab and set it up, you just go at it. Having 60-something toughman wins, I had all that experience that he didn't have," said Esch.

The knockout that Bart Gunn suffered on the 'grandest stage of them all' did irreparable damage to his American wrestling career, which wasn't too hot to begin with. The Brawl For All champion was effectively killed off of WWE television. Gunn wouldn't wrestle for the company again until a one-shot deal in 2007 in a battle royal. The Brawl For All had become a brawl for naught.

Esch said that he think's Gunn's long term plans weren't even in the WWE anyway.

"I heard from other people that he knew his wrestling career was over and he wanted to become a professional boxer. There was a lot of threat there. He had a lot of power. I was counting on him getting up twice. It wasn't really a boxing match. He just fought the fight wrong," said Esch.

In the years that followed, Butterbean gained a degree of fame, appearing on MTV's Jackass. He also made something of a hobby of savagely beating pro wrestlers in shoot fights. Former WWE superstars Sean O'Haire and Aaron Aguilera (Carlito's WWE bodyguard), as well as ZERO-ONE mainstay Tom Howard (twice) all fell to Butterbean in MMA fights.

Even though the Brawl for All may have killed Bart Gunn's career, it helped open doors elsewhere.

"Unfortunately WrestleMania 15 would outshine Bart's other WWF accomplishments," said Prichard. "The bright spot that came out of it was that the knockout of Doc, it made him a big name in Japan. When Bart finished up with us, he was able to get a few runs out of that notoriety."

Gunn would find success in Japan, where his KO over Steve Williams helped gain notoriety. He had a good run in All Japan Pro Wrestling and later New Japan Pro Wrestling, with a short stint in TNA thrown in between. He also tried his hand at MMA, headlining a 2006 show by defeating Wesley "Cabbage" Correira, whom Butterbean had defeated earlier that year. Both Butterbean and Gunn would ironically lose their bouts against Ikushi Minowa. Gunn would give up wrestling and fighting soon after.

Today, Bart Gunn, real name Mike Polchlopek, is largely out of the pro wrestling spotlight. He doesn't make a lot of public wrestling related appearances. Not that he couldn't– he's more impressive physically than in the 90s. He's married and appears to have moved on from the business, and the unfortunate memory that overshadows his previous accomplishments. In a 2013 WWE. com article, Gunn said that he's working as an electrician, while dabbling in construction.

"He had 60 or 70 fights. That was my first as a boxer," Gunn said in the interview. "I was very green. Looking back on it now, I should have done things a little bit differently. It was really different, because everything I did was wrong. When you look at the Brawl for All, I was a sloppy fighter. I look at it now and know what I did wrong"

Years later, Gunn would claim that he'd actually been offered a re-match against Butterbean, which he accepted. However, the brakes were pumped when he was told on a Monday that the fight would be just four days later.

In the grand scheme of things, the Brawl for All was largely inconsequential to the company's history. Bradshaw would go on to become a WWE Champion, The Godfather a Hall of Famer, and the level of success the rest of the field had varied greatly. It affected the WWE's ability to market some of their talents as bona-fide badasses, but it was a time before MMA had reached it's peak and people really knew any better. The tournament was as unsuccessful as it was inconsequential, averaging a net loss of .5 in the ratings, with the finale going even lower. No stars were made, a few fans were alienated, and time wasted on television. It strained relationships, bruised egos and damaged the camaraderie backstage.

"You put alpha males in an arena they're not proficient in, and they're made to look bad, and they're going to react a certain way," Ross explained. "Nobody is just going to walk away and say 'Oh well, it's another day at the office.' It's not another day at the office. You're on live, global television and you look like Ned in the First Reader. Nobody's going to react to that well. Nothing about it made sense to me."

Ross' probably also wasn't too thrilled that the medical bills associated with the tournament came out of his talent relations budget.

Yes, pro wrestling, MMA and boxing have long been married concepts, but the WWF Brawl For All may have very well divorced the three on the main stage for quite some time. The politics of a worked sport, combined with the unpredictability of a shoot, added in to the inability or unwillingness to capitalize on those who were successful was ultimately not a winning formula, but the tournament's creator has no regrets.

"It's difficult to do things different in wrestling, and we did that with the WWF Brawl For All," Vince Russo said. "We see the same angles regurgitated in wrestling. It's hard to think outside the box. I would 100 percent do it over again."

Those who worked with Russo don't agree. Bruce Prichard closed by telling me that the tournament wasted time and resources.

"It's one thing to get hurt in the ring doing what you do to draw money. This didn't draw money. It didn't draw eyeballs," Prichard said. "It just hurt people. It made people scratch their head and wonder why people aren't taking crisp bumps. It's like Superman taking his cape off mid-movie and saying 'Sorry folks, I can't really fly."

Jim Ross, who saw his friend Steve Williams suffer a career altering injuries summed up the Brawl For All when asked about it.

"We had a lot of guys raised their hands and wanted to do it, couldn't wait," Ross said, "The rules were loose and lax, we kind of figured things out as we went along. The medical bill for the injuries was ridiculous. The ongoing innuendo that we paid Dr. Death to be the winner before the match. Ridiculous wives' tale, which is crazy. I didn't like a lot of the things about the Brawl For All. I didn't like the injuries, I didn't like the lax rules, I didn't like the way it was laid out. I thought it was a knee-jerk creative decision. I wish we'd have never done it."

I'd like to thank Vince Russo, Eric Esch, Bruce Prichard, Jim Ross, Sean Waltman, Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock for participating in this feature.