WWE Hall Of Famer Warned Bosses Infamous Angle Was A Dumb Idea
One famous WWE storyline wasn’t popular backstage.
As well as taking pro wrestling to incredible heights, WWE has produced some of the worst segments and storylines in the history of the industry. But very few have been as universally panned by both fans and former wrestlers as 1998’s Brawl For All.
The idea is usually credited to Vince Russo and revolved around a “real” fighting tournament built into WWE’s usual scripted programming. The tournament was meant to be a platform to launch the WWE career of Dr Death. Steve Williams, but the famous wrestling tough guy suffered a hamstring injury while being legitimately knocked out in the quarter-finals.
Several other stars suffered injuries during the tournament, and each bout was greeted by boos from the crowd. To top it off, eventual winner Bart Gunn gained little traction as a result, aside from a nice payday.
Gunn later fought Butterbean at WrestleMania XV and he was knocked out in 35 seconds.
WWE’s Brawl For All Was “The Dumbest Idea Ever”
JBL– then known as Bradshaw made the finals of the initial tournament where he lost to Gunn. Despite his relative success, the WWE Hall of Famer thought the tournament was a bad idea, long before he made it to the ring.
On a recent episode of Something To Wrestle, JBL recalled telling Bruce Prichard the tournament was the dumbest idea he’d ever heard.
“Bruce called me on a Thursday morning, and he goes, ‘You wanna be in a shoot fight on Monday?’ I said, ‘Why would I be in a shoot fight on Monday?’ He goes, ‘We’re having a shoot tournament.’ I said, ‘Why are you having a shoot tournament?’ I said, ‘Why are you having a shoot tournament?’ He goes, ‘Well, we think it’s kind of a fun idea to put this shoot tournament together.’ I said, ‘Legit shoot?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’
I said, ‘You understand we have two UFC champions in our dressing room?’ I said, ‘Are they in it?’ He said, ‘Yeah, they’re in it.’ I said, ‘Can you do me at least a favor? Put me in a different bracket so I have a chance of winning one fight at least before I get to those guys?’ He goes, ‘Will you do it?’ I go, ‘I’ll do it, but this is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.’
Nobody knew Bart Gunn could hit like George Foreman. Nobody had any idea. I told Bruce this. I said, ‘Hey, you’re gonna find somebody, you’re gonna find somebody like Bob Holly, that’s what heavyweight champs look like nowadays. A guy like Bob Holly’s gonna win this thing.
Doctor Death aint gonna win it.’ You knew right away they put it together for Doc. I said, ‘Doc is not gonna win it. Doc is not the same guy he was 10 years ago. This is not the same Doctor Death.’ He’s had concussions, he’s had problems. He’s had problems. He’s not gonna win it.’ Bruce said, ‘Well, that’s okay, we’ll come up with somebody else.’ I said, ‘Bruce, this is possibly the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard,'”
JBL then broke down how much he got paid, which helped soften the blow of taking part in the tournament he remained adamant was dumb.
“I said, ‘Yeah, I’m happy to do it.’ He told me the pay, which was great. It was five grand a fight, and if you got to the next fight, you got another five grand, and in the finals, you got 100 grand split 75 to the winner, 25 to the loser. I said, ‘Bruce, the pay’s awesome. I’m happy to do it. I’ve never done anything like this, this will be a lot of fun.’ I said, ‘But this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,'”
Back in September, Ken Shamrock confirmed he turned down the chance to be part of the tournament, feeling it would hurt his wrestling career. Shamrock, who already had a significant reputation as an MMA fighter, said he was only just getting wrestlers to trust him in the ring, so trying to hurt them in a “shoot” tournament made little sense.
H/t to Fightful