JoeDirt Posted April 11, 2004 Report Posted April 11, 2004 Okay, so the WWF decided to make Billy Gunn their 1999 King of the Ring. Sure, it wouldn't be my first choice, and probably not yours either, but they did. They needed another upper card heel, so this was supposed to be the start of a big push for Billy. Fine. Wouldn't have been my first choice, but that's what they decided. But then the booking got weird. The night after King of the Ring, on a night that should be all about getting Gunn over as the next big heel, he gets pinned...by BRADSHAW. He gets pinned cleanly by the Rock in a six man tag match in July. At the "rights to the DX name" match at Fully Loaded, he gets pinned by Road Dogg, and not Chyna. He jobs to Undertaker on an episode of Heat. He jobs cleanly to Rock at Summerslam. He turns face and jobs to new champion HHH in September. Road Dogg comes back, and the Outlaws return. My question is, why did they half ass his push so much? Did they realize right away he was a flop? Or did they never have confidence in him to be a major heel in the first place? Whether you think he deserved the push or not, you have to admit the way it was done was pretty weird.
Jebus Posted April 11, 2004 Report Posted April 11, 2004 I, personally, would've gone with Gunn. The guy was over and had a star look (yes...HAD). You're right, the WWE killed it with their half assed push. Don't blame Billy and his "wrestling ability" since it doesn't count for much in the world of sports entertainment. Gunn had the worst post-KOTR winner push up to that point
MillenniumMan831 Posted April 11, 2004 Report Posted April 11, 2004 I always thought they should have introduced him as "King Ass" instead of Mr. Ass.
Guest drdrainoscott Posted April 11, 2004 Report Posted April 11, 2004 Yeah, back at the time, I think that people hadn't really been clued in that Billy Gunn was talentless. He was a good talker that worked well in a tag team, and he seemed like the logical choice to win KOTR. Why he was depushed after his win, I have no idea. The only thing that I can think of is that HHH, who was beginning to get some pull with the company around this time, felt that Gunn's push might take away from HHH's initial main event push, so he got management to stall it. It was the fall of 99 when Gunn went from being a mid carder back to being in DX in order to support HHH. That's just my theory.
Papacita Posted April 11, 2004 Report Posted April 11, 2004 He was a good talker that worked well in a tag team, and he seemed like the logical choice to win KOTR. I disagree with that. Billy's always sucked on the mic. I didn't mind Billy as KOTR, but for whatever reason, I could never get behind his singles push. I'm not sure if you can attribute this more to bad writing (WWF really seemed to fall off around the time of Owen's death), but it seemed like the upper midcard died the moment they threw him into the Rock program. It was boring as hell and Billy seemed completely out of place against the Rock, no matter how strong he was made to look on shows. I can see why they gave up on his push, because once Jericho came onto the scene, they really didn't have too much of a need for Billy as a top heel.
HurriShane Posted April 12, 2004 Report Posted April 12, 2004 He jobs cleanly to Rock at Summerslam. Don't forget that after that match he was forced to "kiss" that fat woman's ass much to the amusement of JR and the King.
Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes Posted April 12, 2004 Report Posted April 12, 2004 He jobs cleanly to Rock at Summerslam. Don't forget that after that match he was forced to "kiss" that fat woman's ass much to the amusement of JR and the King. Actually it was near the end of the match and THANK YOU for making me remember that horrific moment. NO ONE DESSERVED THAT! "The Rock just shoved his (Billy) face in that large womans ass!!!"
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