Former WWE Superstar and NXT trainer Billy Gunn was recently interviewed by Sports Illustrated regarding his 2015 WWE firing for using PEDs at a powerlifting meet, the DX invasion of WCW and more. Here are some highlights:
On his WWE release: “The first thing I want to make clear is the powerlifting meet that I went to. I wasn’t on it to win that powerlifting contest because it was me against me anyway. I popped on their test, because I was over their test limit. Let’s face it: I’m 52 years old. I have my [prescription] from the doctor, but it was the way it all came out is what they had to do. I don’t blame them at all, and I’m going to take every single bit of it because it wasn’t fair to NXT for what Hunter had done for the company. What he’s done with that brand is amazing. [WWE] had to do what they had to do. They did it, and I’m perfectly fine with it, and hopefully one day they’ll hire me back because I feel I was a pretty good coach. It’s just the way it all came out. It wasn’t anything that WWE did; they [had] to do what they did, and I feel like I let the NXT kids down. I never, ever wanted to do that. Ever. So I’ll take that.”
On the DX/WCW invasion angle and whether there was a plan if they were let inside: “There wasn’t any. Just get on this tank, drive down there, see what you guys can do. And if you get arrested, I’m coming to get you. It wasn’t like go try to get arrested, but just go push the boundaries and do whatever you could do. If they would’ve opened the door, we would have went in. The smartest thing Eric Bischoff could have done was to open the door and let us in. He’s got both companies on his TV show! We weren’t looking for fights, we weren’t looking for trouble. We just went down there to go down there, because at the time, that’s what DX did.”
On DX and nWo being involved with Sting vs. Triple H at WrestleMania 31: “You’re really looking for moments. It is a Sting moment, because it’s the first WrestleMania he’s ever been in and he’s wrestling Hunter. But then again, from a company standpoint, how do we get the most out of this because our fanbase is not really a Sting fanbase? Sting being there is a big moment, but when you have DX and nWo behind that, it makes a little bigger in the majority of the people’s eyes. I’m not meaning to downplay Sting in any moment, but the way I look at it, it was just a bigger moment at a WrestleMania, rather than just that single moment.”
