10 Times WWE Punished Success

7. Bart Gunn

Butterbean Knocks Out Bart Gunn
WWE.com

The 'Brawl For All' remains one of the most stupid, ill-conceived ideas in WWE history. Promoting genuine fights amongst worked ones was silly enough, but then the company failed to follow up on their tough man contest at all. You see, they'd hoped new hire 'Dr. Death' Steve Williams would blast through the competition.

Doc didn't. Bart Gunn, a nondescript, tough tag wrestler, did.

Gunn won all of his fights, beating Bob Holly, Williams, The Godfather and Bradshaw to become the first (and only) champion. Instead of using this sudden, accidental success to their advantage on the wrestling side of things, WWF chiefs elected to program Bart opposite Butterbean, a man who earned a living from knocking schmucks out, at WrestleMania XV; even if hopes were high that Gunn might do well in the fight and the WWF didn't consider this spot a punishment per sé, it was misplaced confidence.

Besides, this probably wouldn't have happened to Dr. Death had he won the tourney. Talk was that Williams would've gone on to receive a big push on the wrestling side of things, possibly against Steve Austin. Gunn didn't get that spot. He ate canvas in 35 seconds on the biggest show of the year instead.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.