10 Wrestlers Who Had Their Careers Stolen From Them
3. ‘Dr Death’ Steve Williams & Bart Gunn
This one is a twofer because WWE’s Brawl for All tournament was really good at ruining the promise of multiple young stars.
For whatever reason, in 1998 Vince and his merry gang of Yes Men decided to put together a shoot fight tournament for their roster of tough guys to duke it out for real. Despite being an actual fighting tournament without predetermined booking, WWF already had their sights set on “Dr Death” Steve Williams. Bob Holly even claims that Williams was given the event’s prize money before he was totally battered in the second round.
Unexpectedly, Bart Gunn came out on top of not just this match but the whole thing. And what did he get? Creative had nothing for the guy and he sat at home for months. He returned to eventually face legitimate boxer Butterbean at WrestleMania, wherein he would get knocked out 35 seconds and was later released by the company.
As for the planned victor, Williams was originally being eyed as an opponent for Stone Cold Steve Austin, and he had a lot of work to do to recover from his loss at Brawl for All. So what did the WWE do? Release him a year later.
The two continued to wrestle elsewhere, but Brawl for All and its ensuing fallout is no doubt responsible for ruining their careers.