10 Memorably Punishing WWE Matches
7. Butterbean Vs. Bart Gunn - WrestleMania XV
The Brawl For All tournament was one of the WWE's least successful ideas. Facing the challenge of demonstrating the murderous toughness of 'Dr Death' Steve Williams, Vince McMahon decided to green-light a 'real' tournament where various undercard wrestlers engaged in extremely messy, tedious shoot fights. Unfortunately for everyone concerned, not only did the grim tournament actually take place, but Williams didn't win.
Bart Gunn did.
Gunn's reward for derailing the WWE's plans was a boxing match with Eric 'Butterbean' Esch. Butterbean was a professional boxer, unlike Gunn, and outweighed Gunn by well over a hundred pounds. Even the most hilariously corrupt boxing commission would never have sanctioned such a criminally one-sided match. But the WWE didn't care.
In front of the WrestleMania XV crowd, Gunn was knocked down in a matter of seconds. The referee should have called it then, but mindful of the event, let the match continue. Butterbean clubbed Gunn into unconsciousness, the referee called the match off, and Bart Gunn's WrestleMania moment was also the most mercilessly brutal in the history of the show.