Co_Town_Michael
New member
now I know why he became J B L
T. Sanford
New member
was this real or was it scripted?
PSN-Canibuss
New member
T. Sanford;7983362 said:
It was all real
Idiopathic Joker
Moderator
Max.;7983543 said:
Both were black belts
Anti_matter
New member
Max.;7983543 said:
wrestlezone.com/news/507351-dan-severn-shoots-on-wwe-brawl-for-all-and-discusses-why-he-was-removed-last-minute-also-talks-steroids-in-wrestlingmma
When this event took place, it was announced as a meeting where they wanted all the talent to gather around and then they basically threw out the name of this event. It was gonna be called the Brawl for All and it was gonna be using these 20 ounce boxing gloves and the only two people that were not allowed to be in it was gonna be Ken Shamrock and myself. And so I didn’t pay any more attention to it because I wouldn’t be allowed to do it in the first place. Well several weeks into this Brawl for All taking place I happened to be in the locker room. I was just laying down using my duffle bag probably as a pillow or something like that, and I had one of the road agents that comes up and says ‘hey Dan’. He said ‘we’ve got an opportunity for you to be in the Brawl for All tonight and what do you think?’ I simply said ‘who’s the opponent and how much?’ They said ‘Godfather’ and they threw out a price tag, and I go ‘ok done’. Now the ironic part is, once the match was done, they pulled me out and said ‘we’re taking you back out now’. So I don’t know all the behind the scenes, there’s a lot more than what meets the eye on that particular situation. Now, I did not want to wear the 20-ounce gloves, I was gonna simply going to go out there, bare knuckle bout, I was not going to throw a single punch. I wanted to just prove – well a couple points – I wanted to prove to all the Professional ‘Rasslers, but then also prove to most of the people in attendance that I will not throw a single strike, and this guy can throw all the strikes he wants and I will twist him up into knots and I will submit him and never have to throw a single strike.”
Peezy_Jenkins
New member
lol @ not puttin ken or dan in there, niggas knew they had no FUCKIN bidness settin up a real tournament like that
dalyricalbandit
Moderator
JokerKing;7982825 said:I remember this shit lol. Vince was desperate.
THAT ETHER
afro thunder
New member
Someone should tweet that video to JBL
Juttythe3rd
New member
holy shit i forgot this actually happened
I_fap_twohanded
New member
I remember watching Raw as a kid and this shit just appeared there was no hype no buildup lol
Recaptimus_Prime360
New member
Max.;530330 said:
Definitely a...BLACK EYE...during that time in WWE
It Has Begun
The tournament got off to an inauspicious start, with fans chanting “we want wrestling” during the Blackman vs. Marc Mero match. In an interview years after the BFA, Blackman told WWE.com that he “didn’t like the concept of it, because [he didn’t] think the crowd knew what the rules were or what they were doing.” The martial artist continued that he originally believed the tournament was a rib (practical joke), so he didn’t train for it.
The opening round was filled with amateur level boxing and sloppy takedowns, interspersed with quality action from a few standout performers. The tournament turned tough guys into fools: When Bradshaw fought Mark Canterbury, they immediately went from looking like guys you wouldn’t want to mess with at a bar, to big lugs, as they flailed about throwing punches reminiscent of boys on the playground. Williams did his part and destroyed the one-eyed Pierre, who for some reason told his friends he was on his way to victory — he was actually down 35-5 on the unofficial scorecards after two rounds and took more of a beating in the third — before the ref intervened when the Frenchman refused to engage.
Dan "The Beast" Severn
Dan “The Beast” Severn
In one of the stranger first round matches, The Godfather was narrowly defeated by Severn, a top MMA fighter at the time. “The Beast” failed to adjust well to takedowns with 20 ounce gloves, and Godfather showed surprisingly proficient defense to Severn’s ceaseless attacks and unwillingness to break takedown attempts even when the ref admonished him, but couldn’t avoid the ground long enough to score the points needed to win. After the poor performance, Severn withdrew from the tournament, stating in an interview on Raw that “a man of my stature, I have nothing to prove. When I have a score to settle, I will do it when my hands are not bound.” The speech didn’t really make any sense, but then again, neither did the Brawl for All. The one good thing the Severn withdrawal did however, was allow the well rounded Godfather back into the mix.
Failure to Deliver
The television ratings confirmed what the fans in the arena expressed: They liked the comforts of scripted wrestling more than the chaos of legitimate fights. The BFA ratings were underwhelming, but not as big of a disaster as the tournament was in other ways. The shoots scored around a 4.0 rating at a time when 4.5 was the average. The finals of the tournament in particular failed to deliver in their quarter-hour, and brought in a 3.8.
Steve Williams with his good friend Jim Ross
Steve Williams with his good friend Jim Ross
They may not have been a big hit with the fans, but the wrestlers huddled around the monitors to see exactly who the toughest guy in the business was. While Williams was well liked by the other performers, there was resentment growing against him for perceived favoritism by the front office. “Dr. Death’s” BFA run was hyped with promotional videos featuring the likes of Barry Switzer, his college football coach, talking about what a great athlete he was; the other combatants didn’t receive the same star treatment. Ross, who was instrumental in bringing his old friend into WWE, was accused of being particularly biased in Williams’ favor. (JR has gone on record numerous times saying that he never liked the BFA concept and that he showed no special treatment towards Williams. Holly and Gunn have made statements to the contrary.)
A Star Is Born
One of the more impressive displays in the first round, amongst a bunch of bad boxing and sloppy amateur wrestling, was Blackman controlling former NY State Golden Gloves Champion Mero with an impressive combination of striking and takedowns. Blackman injured himself training for his second round match, putting Mero back in the tournament, but would have gone far in the BFA otherwise, and possibly won it. At least two wrestlers, Bradshaw and Holly, said that the “Lethal Weapon” would have been the likely winner had he not gotten hurt. Other highlights included Gunn outmuscling his tag team partner Holly, in a well fought bout that would be the only one of the tournament that he didn’t win by stoppage, and Hawk battling Droz, an underrated BFA participant, to a respectable draw, with Droz advancing due to Hawk breaking his nose.
The second round action wasn’t much better, but it did feature the most well remembered and best match of the BFA, when Williams squared off against Gunn, who literally threw a punch so hard in the match he completely spun around. The back and forth battle was arguably going either way until midway through the third when Williams injured his knee and hamstring after being taken down. When “Doc” got up there was obviously something wrong, as the announcers noted, and the southpaw Gunn pounced and knocked him cold with a big left. It was the first knockout of the tournament, and Gunn was the only competitor in the BFA to accomplish that feat. As Holly describes it in his book, the locker room popped big for the KO, resenting WWE’s perceived favoritism for Williams. Bart Gunn was “their guy,” a hard worker who never complained despite his low status with the company, and who always had a smile on his face. Ross was said to be in a foul mood backstage after the defeat of his close friend, but did a great job of building up Gunn’s win after the match on commentary.
The tournament got off to an inauspicious start, with fans chanting “we want wrestling” during the Blackman vs. Marc Mero match. In an interview years after the BFA, Blackman told WWE.com that he “didn’t like the concept of it, because [he didn’t] think the crowd knew what the rules were or what they were doing.” The martial artist continued that he originally believed the tournament was a rib (practical joke), so he didn’t train for it.
The opening round was filled with amateur level boxing and sloppy takedowns, interspersed with quality action from a few standout performers. The tournament turned tough guys into fools: When Bradshaw fought Mark Canterbury, they immediately went from looking like guys you wouldn’t want to mess with at a bar, to big lugs, as they flailed about throwing punches reminiscent of boys on the playground. Williams did his part and destroyed the one-eyed Pierre, who for some reason told his friends he was on his way to victory — he was actually down 35-5 on the unofficial scorecards after two rounds and took more of a beating in the third — before the ref intervened when the Frenchman refused to engage.
Dan "The Beast" Severn
Dan “The Beast” Severn
In one of the stranger first round matches, The Godfather was narrowly defeated by Severn, a top MMA fighter at the time. “The Beast” failed to adjust well to takedowns with 20 ounce gloves, and Godfather showed surprisingly proficient defense to Severn’s ceaseless attacks and unwillingness to break takedown attempts even when the ref admonished him, but couldn’t avoid the ground long enough to score the points needed to win. After the poor performance, Severn withdrew from the tournament, stating in an interview on Raw that “a man of my stature, I have nothing to prove. When I have a score to settle, I will do it when my hands are not bound.” The speech didn’t really make any sense, but then again, neither did the Brawl for All. The one good thing the Severn withdrawal did however, was allow the well rounded Godfather back into the mix.
Failure to Deliver
The television ratings confirmed what the fans in the arena expressed: They liked the comforts of scripted wrestling more than the chaos of legitimate fights. The BFA ratings were underwhelming, but not as big of a disaster as the tournament was in other ways. The shoots scored around a 4.0 rating at a time when 4.5 was the average. The finals of the tournament in particular failed to deliver in their quarter-hour, and brought in a 3.8.
Steve Williams with his good friend Jim Ross
Steve Williams with his good friend Jim Ross
They may not have been a big hit with the fans, but the wrestlers huddled around the monitors to see exactly who the toughest guy in the business was. While Williams was well liked by the other performers, there was resentment growing against him for perceived favoritism by the front office. “Dr. Death’s” BFA run was hyped with promotional videos featuring the likes of Barry Switzer, his college football coach, talking about what a great athlete he was; the other combatants didn’t receive the same star treatment. Ross, who was instrumental in bringing his old friend into WWE, was accused of being particularly biased in Williams’ favor. (JR has gone on record numerous times saying that he never liked the BFA concept and that he showed no special treatment towards Williams. Holly and Gunn have made statements to the contrary.)
A Star Is Born
One of the more impressive displays in the first round, amongst a bunch of bad boxing and sloppy amateur wrestling, was Blackman controlling former NY State Golden Gloves Champion Mero with an impressive combination of striking and takedowns. Blackman injured himself training for his second round match, putting Mero back in the tournament, but would have gone far in the BFA otherwise, and possibly won it. At least two wrestlers, Bradshaw and Holly, said that the “Lethal Weapon” would have been the likely winner had he not gotten hurt. Other highlights included Gunn outmuscling his tag team partner Holly, in a well fought bout that would be the only one of the tournament that he didn’t win by stoppage, and Hawk battling Droz, an underrated BFA participant, to a respectable draw, with Droz advancing due to Hawk breaking his nose.
The second round action wasn’t much better, but it did feature the most well remembered and best match of the BFA, when Williams squared off against Gunn, who literally threw a punch so hard in the match he completely spun around. The back and forth battle was arguably going either way until midway through the third when Williams injured his knee and hamstring after being taken down. When “Doc” got up there was obviously something wrong, as the announcers noted, and the southpaw Gunn pounced and knocked him cold with a big left. It was the first knockout of the tournament, and Gunn was the only competitor in the BFA to accomplish that feat. As Holly describes it in his book, the locker room popped big for the KO, resenting WWE’s perceived favoritism for Williams. Bart Gunn was “their guy,” a hard worker who never complained despite his low status with the company, and who always had a smile on his face. Ross was said to be in a foul mood backstage after the defeat of his close friend, but did a great job of building up Gunn’s win after the match on commentary.
Bart Gunn defeats "Death"
Bart Gunn defeats “Death”
Owen Hart was sent out to the ring while WWE officials were still attempting to revive Williams. The highlight reel knockout put a stop to the BFA favorite’s push, and in some ways was the beginning of the end for Gunn’s career with the company as well. The journeyman wrestler had previously told officials, including Ross, that he was willing to work the match and let Williams win, but was told by them to perform to the best of his abilities, with a belief amongst them that he had no chance. (In particular, Gunn singled out Bruce Prichard in a RF shoot, as a member of management who derided him for having the audacity to think he could beat Williams.) The WWE higher-ups also deserve blame for setting up the Williams vs. Gunn match at all, because there were no official brackets displayed after the first round, and the company could have chosen a less impressive performer to put against their Golden Boy. Gunn was actually a late entrant into the tournament, and said as soon as they offered him a spot, he knew he would win — he added that he did no training in preparation for the BFA.
The semifinals featured a close fight between Droz and Bradshaw, who flouted the ref’s numerous warnings to stop holding in clinches. Bradshaw somehow won the deciding third round despite it looking objectively like the fight was tied. The big Texan is the only BFA contestant who went on to become WWE champion and also one of the few who remained employed by the company in the years following the ill-fated tournament. Bradshaw deserves a special mention as one of the dirtiest fighters in the BFA, and the contestant who advanced the furthest without displaying much skill other than being aggressive, large and willing to break the rules.
Godfather and Gunn, two of the most well rounded contestants, provided a far more enjoyable match. Their bout went back and forth, with a moderate display of skill applied by both combatants, and it was still close until late in the second when Gunn landed a big knockdown. In the final round, the heavy hitter bulled in, and just like in the Williams’ fight, he delivered a brutal right crippling the former Papa Shango in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out like fashion. After the match, Gunn got in the face of JR, and in a worked shoot went off about defeating his friend Williams. The post-fight wrestling angle did nothing but take away from a very impressive performance by BFA standards, and confuse fans more about the validity of the tournament.
The finals were originally scheduled for SummerSlam, but ended up taking place on Raw, nearly two months after the BFA started, on Aug. 24, 1998. The bout was a shoot version of a glorified wrestling squash match. The future WWE main eventer Bradshaw showed his best technique of the tournament early on, landing some good jabs before being completely outmatched and first knocked down and then knocked senseless with a combo in the first round. There was no post-fight interview or celebration for the victor, and the cameras focused on Bradshaw regaining his senses before cutting to commercial. This would be the height of Gunn’s WWE career: He had managed to get himself over, but sometimes in wrestling that isn’t a good thing…
Bart Gunn defeats “Death”
Owen Hart was sent out to the ring while WWE officials were still attempting to revive Williams. The highlight reel knockout put a stop to the BFA favorite’s push, and in some ways was the beginning of the end for Gunn’s career with the company as well. The journeyman wrestler had previously told officials, including Ross, that he was willing to work the match and let Williams win, but was told by them to perform to the best of his abilities, with a belief amongst them that he had no chance. (In particular, Gunn singled out Bruce Prichard in a RF shoot, as a member of management who derided him for having the audacity to think he could beat Williams.) The WWE higher-ups also deserve blame for setting up the Williams vs. Gunn match at all, because there were no official brackets displayed after the first round, and the company could have chosen a less impressive performer to put against their Golden Boy. Gunn was actually a late entrant into the tournament, and said as soon as they offered him a spot, he knew he would win — he added that he did no training in preparation for the BFA.
The semifinals featured a close fight between Droz and Bradshaw, who flouted the ref’s numerous warnings to stop holding in clinches. Bradshaw somehow won the deciding third round despite it looking objectively like the fight was tied. The big Texan is the only BFA contestant who went on to become WWE champion and also one of the few who remained employed by the company in the years following the ill-fated tournament. Bradshaw deserves a special mention as one of the dirtiest fighters in the BFA, and the contestant who advanced the furthest without displaying much skill other than being aggressive, large and willing to break the rules.
Godfather and Gunn, two of the most well rounded contestants, provided a far more enjoyable match. Their bout went back and forth, with a moderate display of skill applied by both combatants, and it was still close until late in the second when Gunn landed a big knockdown. In the final round, the heavy hitter bulled in, and just like in the Williams’ fight, he delivered a brutal right crippling the former Papa Shango in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out like fashion. After the match, Gunn got in the face of JR, and in a worked shoot went off about defeating his friend Williams. The post-fight wrestling angle did nothing but take away from a very impressive performance by BFA standards, and confuse fans more about the validity of the tournament.
The finals were originally scheduled for SummerSlam, but ended up taking place on Raw, nearly two months after the BFA started, on Aug. 24, 1998. The bout was a shoot version of a glorified wrestling squash match. The future WWE main eventer Bradshaw showed his best technique of the tournament early on, landing some good jabs before being completely outmatched and first knocked down and then knocked senseless with a combo in the first round. There was no post-fight interview or celebration for the victor, and the cameras focused on Bradshaw regaining his senses before cutting to commercial. This would be the height of Gunn’s WWE career: He had managed to get himself over, but sometimes in wrestling that isn’t a good thing…
Panegyric Victory
WWE officials were confident Williams would win the tournament to set up a showdown with Austin, but had no plans for Gunn following his victory. The BFA winner appeared sporadically on WWE TV in the months that followed, feuding with his former tag team partner Holly, and the man he famously knocked out in the tournament, Williams, in poorly developed storylines with little payoff. Pro Wrestling Torch’s Wade Keller wrote numerous times in their newsletter about how WWE was wasting Gunn’s talent, and that with Austin having few top tier opponents at the time, Gunn could have made for a good challenger for “The Rattlesnake.”
Gunn Faces Enormous Odds
After months of floundering in WWE, while working tours in Japan when the office allowed him to, a BFA match wasbooked between Gunn and Butterbean. Known as the “King of the 4 Rounders,” ‘Bean was a 400 pound super heavyweight boxing champion and multi-time Tough Man contest winner; he had previously defeated Mero in a worked match for WWE in 1997, but this time the fight was going to be real.
The plus-sized puncher was a gimmick boxer, and he looked like shit, but he was still a legitimately trained pugilist with over 40 fight to his name when he squared off against Gunn, who WWE gave weeks to prepare. At the time, many within WWE believed the wrestler had a good chance of winning; after all, they thought, he had mowed through the other BFA contestants. The deck was certainly stacked against Gunn, however, with takedowns, the one skill he likely had over Butterbean being disallowed in this match, he said in an interview. (Technically BFA matches allowed takedowns, and Michael Cole made reference to them being legal before the match, but neither fighter attempted one, and this may have been part of an undisclosed agreement with Butterbean.)
Butterbean
Butterbean
There’s been plenty of speculation that WWE set Gunn up to fail as punishment for ruining their planned Austin vs. Williams match, and anyone who understands the company’s culture knows that’s possible. Regardless of whether or not the bout was intended to humiliate him, it was certainly bad business to put the guy who was seen as the toughest in WWE against a boxer fans didn’t know or care much about, that also happened to fight much better than his appearance would suggest. The best case scenario was Gunn beats up someone who aesthetically looked half as good as anyone in the BFA, and the small percentage of fans who knew who Butterbean was were impressed by that. (It’s also likely WWE officials were ignorant to the talent necessary to box, and really didn’t care if Gunn lost, so they put together the match as a special attraction ignoring what defeat meant for Gunn’s career.)
Bradshaw said in a blog he wrote on the tournament that Butterbean was willing to lose a worked match, according to what the wrestlers had been told, and Meltzer clarified the boxer had originally signed with WWE to do pro wrestling matches, not shoot fights. WWE, however, wanted to make it a shoot. The company seemed insistent on putting together real fights, even though their fans didn’t want to see them, and they threw a monkey wrench in building up storylines, the lifeblood of pro wrestling. The BFA gave the fans real fights, but failed to deliver the same drama and showmanship as the predetermined ones had.
Bart Gunn biting off more than he can chew
Bart Gunn biting off more than he can chew
The wrestler versus boxer showdown took place at WWE’s biggest annual event of the year, WrestleMania, on Mar. 28, 1999. A well put together promotional package aired before the fight, and polled Gunn’s trainers and others on who they thought would win. The consensus was a victory for the wrestler, who came out in a traditional boxing robe looking like a star. The judges for the bout were former boxer and real life inspiration for Rocky, Chuck Wepner, Mike Tyson’s old trainer, Kevin Rooney, and WWE Hall of Famer, Gorilla Monsoon. Reffing the bout was active boxer at the time, Vinny Pazienza.
The doughy ‘Bean looked like the antithesis of a wrestling star coming to the squared-circle, but performed like the trained boxer he was in it. The enormous striker immediately tee’d off on the overmatched Gunn, knocking him down in the first 30 seconds. The stunned wrestler told the ref he was ready to continue after wobbling to his feet, and was then hit with a devastating combo before being felled for good. It was a fitting end to one of the most ill-conceived ideas in the history of pro wrestling, a business that had spent decades presenting simulated fights as real.
WWE officials were confident Williams would win the tournament to set up a showdown with Austin, but had no plans for Gunn following his victory. The BFA winner appeared sporadically on WWE TV in the months that followed, feuding with his former tag team partner Holly, and the man he famously knocked out in the tournament, Williams, in poorly developed storylines with little payoff. Pro Wrestling Torch’s Wade Keller wrote numerous times in their newsletter about how WWE was wasting Gunn’s talent, and that with Austin having few top tier opponents at the time, Gunn could have made for a good challenger for “The Rattlesnake.”
Gunn Faces Enormous Odds
After months of floundering in WWE, while working tours in Japan when the office allowed him to, a BFA match wasbooked between Gunn and Butterbean. Known as the “King of the 4 Rounders,” ‘Bean was a 400 pound super heavyweight boxing champion and multi-time Tough Man contest winner; he had previously defeated Mero in a worked match for WWE in 1997, but this time the fight was going to be real.
The plus-sized puncher was a gimmick boxer, and he looked like shit, but he was still a legitimately trained pugilist with over 40 fight to his name when he squared off against Gunn, who WWE gave weeks to prepare. At the time, many within WWE believed the wrestler had a good chance of winning; after all, they thought, he had mowed through the other BFA contestants. The deck was certainly stacked against Gunn, however, with takedowns, the one skill he likely had over Butterbean being disallowed in this match, he said in an interview. (Technically BFA matches allowed takedowns, and Michael Cole made reference to them being legal before the match, but neither fighter attempted one, and this may have been part of an undisclosed agreement with Butterbean.)
Butterbean
Butterbean
There’s been plenty of speculation that WWE set Gunn up to fail as punishment for ruining their planned Austin vs. Williams match, and anyone who understands the company’s culture knows that’s possible. Regardless of whether or not the bout was intended to humiliate him, it was certainly bad business to put the guy who was seen as the toughest in WWE against a boxer fans didn’t know or care much about, that also happened to fight much better than his appearance would suggest. The best case scenario was Gunn beats up someone who aesthetically looked half as good as anyone in the BFA, and the small percentage of fans who knew who Butterbean was were impressed by that. (It’s also likely WWE officials were ignorant to the talent necessary to box, and really didn’t care if Gunn lost, so they put together the match as a special attraction ignoring what defeat meant for Gunn’s career.)
Bradshaw said in a blog he wrote on the tournament that Butterbean was willing to lose a worked match, according to what the wrestlers had been told, and Meltzer clarified the boxer had originally signed with WWE to do pro wrestling matches, not shoot fights. WWE, however, wanted to make it a shoot. The company seemed insistent on putting together real fights, even though their fans didn’t want to see them, and they threw a monkey wrench in building up storylines, the lifeblood of pro wrestling. The BFA gave the fans real fights, but failed to deliver the same drama and showmanship as the predetermined ones had.
Bart Gunn biting off more than he can chew
Bart Gunn biting off more than he can chew
The wrestler versus boxer showdown took place at WWE’s biggest annual event of the year, WrestleMania, on Mar. 28, 1999. A well put together promotional package aired before the fight, and polled Gunn’s trainers and others on who they thought would win. The consensus was a victory for the wrestler, who came out in a traditional boxing robe looking like a star. The judges for the bout were former boxer and real life inspiration for Rocky, Chuck Wepner, Mike Tyson’s old trainer, Kevin Rooney, and WWE Hall of Famer, Gorilla Monsoon. Reffing the bout was active boxer at the time, Vinny Pazienza.
The doughy ‘Bean looked like the antithesis of a wrestling star coming to the squared-circle, but performed like the trained boxer he was in it. The enormous striker immediately tee’d off on the overmatched Gunn, knocking him down in the first 30 seconds. The stunned wrestler told the ref he was ready to continue after wobbling to his feet, and was then hit with a devastating combo before being felled for good. It was a fitting end to one of the most ill-conceived ideas in the history of pro wrestling, a business that had spent decades presenting simulated fights as real.
Peezy_Jenkins
New member
rofl bruh they did bart gunn so bad
i was a young fan byke then but
would anyone really have wanted to see scsa vs dr death?
i was a young fan byke then but
would anyone really have wanted to see scsa vs dr death?
DOPEdweebz
New member
Peezy_Jenkins;8000468 said:
Dr Death was basically The Warrior without facepaint in his prime outside the WWE. Especially in AWA and in Japan. It was no different then WWE attempting to get Vader over as a comparison.
