The brainchild of Vince Russo, WWF ‘Brawl For All’ was a shootfighting tournament held in WWF that lasted from June 29, 1998 to August 24, 1998. The tournament resulted in several legitimate injuries for WWF performers and garnered huge criticism in the wrestling community.
On a recent edition of his “Tuesday with The Taskmaster,” podcast, former WCW booker Kevin Sullivan explained why ‘Brawl For All’ was among the “stupidest ideas” in the history of professional wrestling.
He said, “That thing was one of the stupidest ideas ever. These matches are gonna be real, and the rest of it is bulls**t? I mean… No one looked good…”
Fans at the time were in utter disapproval of the ‘Brawl For All’ tournament and those in attendance greeted the participants with “Boring!” and “We Want Wrestling!” chants.
Bart Gunn ultimately won the tournament. It was later documented on Season 2 of VICE TV’s “Dark Side of the Ring.”
