Austin and Colten Gunn, the AEW World Tag Team Champions, were recently guests on the “Wrestling Perspective Podcast” with Lars Frederiksen and Dennis Farrell. The Gunns discussed a variety of topics – if they were fast-tracked in AEW, winning the World Tag Team Titles, having to complete college before considering training as a pro wrestler, and more.
Colten and Austin Gunn also discussed training and working under the watchful eye of their father, WWE Hall of Famer Billy Gunn.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
Austin Gunn on training with his dad; why he likes to be yelled at: “I think me and Colten learn in different ways, as I came up in football and Lacrosse and I like to be yelled at. And I like to be — well, my dad used to yell at me in the ring and beat me up, it was more of like [a reaction from me of], ‘Okay, I’ll show you how to do it. I’ll show you that I’m capable of doing this. Oh, I made that mistake? Watch this, I’m not going to make it ever again.’ So, it’s more like me proving to him that I really wanted it. Because I came straight out of college, and he said that me and Colten had to get a degree first before we even tried this. So, when I went in the day after I graduated, it was kind of like, it was me proving to him that I really wanted to be there. So I think just yeah, that’s it. It’s just, I like to be yelled at.”
Colten Gunn on how his approach to wrestling and equation with Billy is different: “Yeah, when you ask if it’s hard to listen to my dad? It’s not, because he’s been there, done that. He’s a Hall of Famer. So, like, who better to listen to? And he knows exactly, like Austin said, how to push your buttons. So, Austin is like, ‘Yell at [me]’ whereas I’m just more of like, ‘Explain to me why that was wrong, and then I’ll go do it right the next time.”
Colten on Austin and himself working with their dad backstage: “And backstage, when we’re putting our matches together and everything like that, he helps, and we listen to him. I’m a big proponent of, if you’ve been there and done that, I’m gonna listen to what you say. And my dad has, and he’s our dad.”
Austin on when it’s hard to listen to Billy Gunn: “Sometimes, the funny thing was when we were working with him and me and Colten wanted to venture out our own and try our new ideas out there. It’s kind of hard to listen to him sometimes when he said, something won’t work. Because as young up and comers, we want to try new things. We want to see if something will work. And he usually explains why it won’t work, but he always gives us the freedom to do it. He goes, ‘Hey listen, I’m just going to show you or explain to you why this might not work, but you can go out and do whatever you want.’
“So sometimes, we would get upset with ourselves because like, ‘Man we really want to try that out there, but Dad says it’s not going to work.’ So, there were times where we went out there and failed and learned from it, and said, ‘Oh, Dad was right.’ And there’s times when we went out there, maybe it wasn’t the best choice but we’re all working together and trying to make the best products. So, it’s hard to listen to them sometimes in that aspect.”
