Billy Gunn Shares His Feelings On Billy & Chuck Tag Team

WWE Hall Of Famer Billy Gunn has opened up on his time as part of a controversial tag team with Chuck Palumbo.

Gunn had already enjoyed a number of successful years in WWE by the time the pair came together having won tag team gold as part of The Smoking Gunns and the New Age Outlaws.

The Orlando-born Superstar would go on to be crowned the 1999 WWE King Of The Ring as well as lifting both the Intercontinental and Hardcore Championship as a singles competitor but Vince McMahon decided to pair him with former WCW Tag Team Champion after the ill-fated Invasion angle came to an abrupt halt in late 2001.

Gunn and Palumbo, who won the WWE Tag Team Championship on two occasions, were depicted on screen as a same sex couple, even enlisting the services of flamboyant stylist Rico before Chuck proposed to Billy on the 5th September 2002 edition of SmackDown.

The pair were set to tie the knot a week later but stopped proceedings during the ceremony to deny they were lovers, claiming the whole plans had been for publicity only. The angle received significant media coverage at the time and was heavily criticised by many in the LBGTQ community upon it’s conclusion.

Gunn, however, reflected fondly on the partnership with Palumbo during a recent appearance on The A2theK Wrestling Show:

“I get asked about the Billy and Chuck thing,. I loved doing it. [It was] probably one of the hardest and best things that I’ve done, including The Outlaws stuff, The Acclaimed, [etc] because one, it was satisfying, and two, it was kind of to see if I was capable of pulling off a character.”

Billy Gunn Heaps Praise On Openly Gay AEW Star

Gunn joined AEW in 2019 and has featured prominently alongside The Acclaimed duo Anthony Bowens and Max Caster in recent times, even lifting the AEW World Trios Championship with the pair at AEW All In 2023 at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Bowens is an openly gay wrestler who has previously stated his desire to be the first gay World Champion in AEW and Billy Gunn has nothing but praise for the 32 year-old:

“I love everybody, actually. I don’t discriminate. I work with Anthony, who has come out. He’s amazing. He’s not any different because of [his sexual orientation]. He’s an amazing kid and an amazing person.”

H/T: WrestlingInc for the above transcription.