Career
Initially, Billy Gunn was a professional bull rider, in Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. However, he left it in his early 20s, in order to pursue a professional wrestling career. He was trained by Jerry Grey, and he wrestled for eight years, on the independent circuit. In 1993, he eventually signed a contract with the WWF.
He made his debut in WWF on May 17, 1993, in an episode of Raw, where he teamed up with his on-screen brother, Bart Gunn, to defeat Glenn Ruth and Tony Vadja. The duo became known by the name ‘The Smoking Gunns’, and soon, they made their pay-per-view debut at King of the Ring, and teamed up with The Steiner Brothers, to defeat Money Inc. and The Headshrinkers, in an eight-man tag team match.
They won the Tag Team Championship for the first time in early 1995, after defeating the team of Bob Holly, and Sean Waltman, aka the 1-2-3 Kid. Later at Wrestlemania XI, they defended the championships, but were beaten by Yokozuna and Owen Hart. The duo, however, won the title back again, in September 1995, and managed to hold it till February 1996, when Billy had to undergo a surgery, due to which, they had to relinquish the championships.
After his return, they managed to win the Championship one more time, but they lost it to Owen Hart, and The British Bulldog. After some time, Billy Gunn decided to team up with Jesse James. They became known as the New Age Outlaws, and eventually were able to rise to the top of the tag team ranks, and also won the Tag Team Championship after they defeated The Road Warriors, in November 1996.
In early 1997, The Outlaws also became friendly with D-Generation X. The Outlaws eventually joined the D-Generation X, alongside wrestlers such as Chyna, Triple H and X-Pac. In 1998, the SummerSlam, the Outlaws again proved their worth by winning the tag team gold.
By the end of the year, Billy Gunn went back to singles competition again. Shortly after, he was able to win the Hardcore Championship but lost it while attempting to defend it during WrestleMania XV. He soon decided to reunite with his former partner Jesse James, and won the Tag Team championship again. For some time, he also partnered with Chyna as ‘The One’. During this time, he was able to win the Intercontinental Championship, after defeating Eddie Guerrero. However, he lost it after a while.
In 2002, he returned to Tag Team competition and teamed up with Chuck Palumbo. The duo seemed to be quite affectionate towards each other. They won the Tag Team Gold twice, and also defended it successfully at WrestleMania X-8. They made national headlines, when Chuck proposed to Billy in September 2002. However, later it was claimed that it was just a publicity stunt.
On 1st November 2004, he was released from his WWE Contract. The following year, he also gave an interview, where he criticized the WWE, and also the events that caused him to be released. Most of his negative criticism was directed at Triple H.
Between 2005 and 2009, he played for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. In 2012, he made his comeback to the WWE, mostly as a trainer. He won the Tag Team Championship for the eleventh time, with three different partners (with Bart Gunn as The Smoking Gunns, with Road Dogg as The New Age Outlaws, and with Chuck Palumbo as Billy and Chuck).
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Other Works
Billy Gunn had a role in the sitcom ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’, in 2000. In 2010, he had an uncredited role in the action comedy film ‘The Other Guys’. In 2012, he played a role in the film ‘Double Fury’.
He has also appeared in several wrestling video games such as ‘WWF Attitude’, ‘WWF No Mercy’, ‘WWF Raw’ ‘WWE Raw 2’, and ‘WWE 2K17’.
