12 Things We Learned From Vice’s Dark Side of the Ring: Brawl For All

9. WWF Had No Plans For Bart Gunn Winning

Jim Cornette argues, “It was always the plan whoever won the Brawl For All would get a big promotional push. When it was Bart Gunn, the wind came out of those sails. I’m not knocking Bart Gunn – great athlete, good wrestler, good guy – but the way he’d been presented for the last five years was at a [lower level].”

Bart Gunn did not get a program with Steve Austin. Instead, Gunn reveals that following the tournament he was just sent home with no follow up to his Brawl For All win. And at home Gunn sat, until Vince McMahon had an idea…

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10. Butterbean Was A Punishment For Bart Gunn

While some have argued that there was no backstage heat on Bart Gunn for knocking out “Dr. Death” Steve Williams or winning the tournament, Gunn believes there was.  “I had all the heat on me because I just knocked out JR’s boy,” he argues.

Cornette reveals that Vince McMahon came up with the idea for Bart Gunn to face Butterbean – a man with an impressive knockout record – at WrestleMania XV. In the documentary, Butterbean admits, “My understanding is when Bart Gunn knocked out Dr. Death, Vince [McMahon] was pissed. So they called me in for his punishment.”

Gunn says he only agreed to the match because he was tired of sitting at home, and WWE sent him to train how to be a boxer. The boxing training was a mistake. 

Vince Russo says when he saw Bart Gunn step into the ring at WrestleMania XV, it was not the same man who knocked out Godfather. Gunn himself says he was too wrapped up in trying to be a boxer in the match, and Butterbean knocked him out quite quickly. “He’d have had a 50/50 chance if he’d gone out and tried to brawl like he did the rest of them,” argues Butterbean. “But with me, he tried to box which was stupid.”

Gunn laments, “After WrestleMania, I knew there wasn’t a future for me there at all. That was the end for me.”

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11. There Was Nearly A Butterbean vs. Bart Gunn Rematch

Bart Gunn says he’s never re-watched the WrestleMania XV fight because he was disappointed and mad at himself, but admits there was nearly a rematch. 

He saw Butterbean doing MMA over in Japan so decided to give it a go himself. They both beat the same guy, and Gunn got a call challenging him to a Butterbean match in four days time. Gunn turned it down as he wanted 12 weeks to train – learning from the Brawl For All mistakes – and the match was called off. 

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12. Vince Russo Regrets Brawl For All

Jim Cornette argues that Vince Russo doesn’t see the damages the Brawl For All did, saying, “He didn’t understand even then what he had done. To this day the f**ing moron doesn’t understand what he’s done. I believe he sabotaged the talent, the integrity of the business, got people legitimately hurt, and killed a future superstar [in Dr. Death], and doesn’t realize he didn’t do anything wrong.”

Although during the documentary, Vince Russo says while watching Brawl For All, “I gotta be honest with you, as a pure television viewer, I’m totally entertained by this,” he does later admit the tournament was a mistake. “I really should have been thinking, ‘man, these guys are out of their element’,” he argues. “And with what we know about concussions today, just knowing all that today, which we didn’t know back then, no way would I ever propose it again.”

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