Anatomy of a Disaster: The WWF Brawl For All Tournament

Blows to the back of the head, called “Rabbit Punches”, are illegal in boxing, UFC, most MMA, etc., because of the potential for permanent damage. They’re considered dirty tactics and will result in reprimands, points deductions and bans. Except to see a lot of them in this tournament.

THE WWF BRAWL FOR ALL TOURNAMENT:
(June 29th through August 24th, 1998)
* Oh yes, it’s time. The WWF was at its most popular ever during this point, yet also has some of the worst ideas in wrestling history thrown in, just to keep things interesting. And none may be more stupid than using a real-life combat tournament to push the next big World Title contender, expecting new hire “Dr. Death” Steve Williams to run the field and then be a challenge for WWF Champion “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. This has been talked about for more than a quarter-century by this point, standing out even among all the other stupid stuff the WWF did at this point. And I figured I’d actually go through it match by match and detail what’s going on, compare guys’ abilities, and point out the NUMEROUS flaws with just such a concept.

My Martial Arts Observation Experience: Well, uh… I haven’t exactly trained in martial arts or anything, but I was on the wrestling team in high school! And I’ve watched a LOT of W.M.A.C. Masters!

Explanations abound for what the real plan here was. Vince Russo takes credit for the idea, and various people back that up. It’s accepted by many that it was to allow Williams to build instant credibility (via his vaunted real-life toughness) and let him challenge Austin. Jim Ross, a close friend of Williams, was definitely the type to be supportive of that, and there are lots of wrestlers to back this up. Bob Holly says Steve was already given $100,000 in prize money before it even started. Vince Russo, in a Dark Side of the Ring interview, states that he came up with the tournament to humiliate John “Bradshaw” Layfield, whom he saw as a braggart who talked about how tough he was without having anything to back it up. This is obvious bullshit, of course- just Russo trying to bask in some “Bradshaw is a bad person in real life” heat. Bradshaw does, however, say he came to Russo with the idea for a “Hardcore wrestling” division and that this was the impetus for the tournament.

The Rules:
* 3 one-minute rounds.
* The most punches per round = 5 points.
* Each takedown = 5 points.
* Each knockdown = 10 points.
* Knockout (10-count) ends match.
Extra Note: Marc Mero says everyone got five or ten thousand dollars per match.

Perceived Benefits:
* The winner would presumably be guaranteed some kind of push on TV, as real-life toughness often translates to instant credibility you can’t get just from badass looks or lots of fake wins (Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn and others had instant credibility coming in, for instance). Jim Cornette says this was “always the plan”.
* The fans get to see REAL FIGHTS featuring pro wrestlers! Cool, right?
* Legitimate MMA star Dan Severn was entered, as was former Golden Gloves boxer Marc Mero and a bunch of dudes said to be tough by locker room scuttlebutt. Now we get to see just how amazing all these tough guys are!
* Guys could box OR wrestle, so people like Severn could do stuff and maybe out-grapple the strikers.

Problem #1: Booking a real-life fighting tournament while assuming the winner, expecting him to main event out of it. And having biases about who they want moving forward (in one particularly egregious case).
Problem #2: Booking all the fights super close together, not allowing for recovery time.
Problem #3: It’s not just a Toughman Boxing Contest, but includes WRESTLING in it… while everyone is wearing giant boxing gloves. And the only wrestling are “takedowns”.
Problem #4: Most of the guys aren’t trained, professional fighters. Almost nobody knows how to put up a guard (ie. lower your chin, guard it with your hand to prevent knockouts from occurring if your jaw gets hit), the punches come from all over the place instead of with precision aiming, and most guys aren’t used to boxing gloves either. You should move your head at all times, as this will hopefully deflect some of the impact of the blow and prevent an easy target. Half the guys don’t even know how punches WORK, throwing “arm punches” and not using their hips or their legs (ideally you step into a punch and turn your hips- this gives the hook, uppercut and other signature punches their power). This leaves almost the entire field looking clumsy and stupid.
Problem #5: The scoring system is super weird, with punches and takedowns awarded points, but the 3-round fights meant you could win on points pretty easily with a lucky round.
Problem #6: Most of the field are on MANY, MANY STEROIDS and wrestle in 3-minute matches on TV. Boxing & wrestling are some of the most physically exhausting tasks a person could ever undertake, taking up all your muscles and stamina. This… will have an effect.
Problem #7: Having it be “Takedowns Only” is an issue because… takedowns aren’t inherently interesting. You knock a guy down and then you’re both stood up again to start over. What’s the fun in that? The interesting part of wrestling is the attempts to pin (amateur wrestling) or submit (MMA) the other guy- not just push them over. So some matches just become guys trying to shove each other over in double-legs.
Problem #8: The referee for 80% of the matches is Jack Doane. Who is like… a WRESTLING referee. ie. a pretend referee. And now he has to follow actual rules and determine the validity of takedowns and shit. And refs aren’t separate from the wrestlers in the locker-room and have to travel with the boys and stuff. Watch Bradshaw give him the staredown a couple times and figure out why that’s a problem.

The field of wrestlers are a bunch of the vaunted “Real-Life Tough Guys” (*snrk*) of the company at the time. Now, which wrestlers are tough and which aren’t tends to be the kind of tall-tale B.S. common to shoot interviews, with guys boasting of all the asses they’ve seen guys kick. That wrestling is about pretend-fighting makes a lot of wrestlers self-conscious about how tough they’re perceived to be, so it’s very common to see them crow about how “Yeah this is predetermined, but such-and-such IRL tough guy would TOTALLY beat all manner of asses in real life”. Note that most real-life badasses are typically pretty soft-spoken and don’t bray about how tough they are.

Bob Holly’s book is a big source for a lot of this, as he’s gone on and on about it. Apparently Jim Ross was a huge pain in the ass to the boys backstage, braying again and again that Williams was gonna kick all their asses and be a huge star. This did not engender Williams to his coworkers, to say the least. But the matches were SUPER over with the boys, who were all obsessed over who was the toughest dude.

But it’s like Mark Twain says: “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Shoot Interviews.” Take anything a wrestler says with a mountain of salt.

THE FIELD:
* They were at least smart enough not to put any main eventers into this. It’s mostly tag team guys, midcarders and Severn.

STEVE BLACKMAN:
Billed Height & Weight: 6’2″ 245 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Studied Escrima & Taekwondo
-Blackman is purported by Bob Holly to be the legit toughest guy in the company, and Ken Shamrock vouches for him. I can find precisely zero evidence of him actually winning any fights in a martial arts setting, though. Like, did he just do sporting? He opened an MMA gym in 2003 despite never actually doing any MMA.

MARC MERO:
Billed Height & Weight: 6’1″ 235 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Won a New York Golden Gloves boxing tournament. Notably the ONLY TRAINED BOXER HERE.
-To his credit, Mero is very clear that his boxing history wouldn’t have meant much here- in an interview, he points out that all his training would have helped him do was prevent knockouts as he’d be able to watch his angles and peripheral vision better than untrained tough-guys. He admits he boxed at 178 lbs. (he was a LOT heavier now), and was by this point beaten up by years of pro wrestling (“fourteen surgeries”) and was 38 years old. Butterbean, allegedly a very nice dude in real life, actually gives him more credibility, hyping him up for his background.

BRADSHAW:
Billed Height & Weight: 6’6″ 290 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Is big. Has won fights against or picked on people afraid or unwilling to fight back. Other wrestlers bray about how tough he is.
-Bradshaw, an infamous backstage bully and “enforcer”, was notoriously stiff but pals with all the right people, who admired him. At this point he was a singles wrestler & midcarder after the dissolution of the New Blackjacks.

MARK CANTERBURY:
Billed Height & Weight: 6’4″ 305 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Is big.
-Canterbury is one of the lowest-level guys here, as the Godwinns were largely done as an act by this point (they were ALL OVER WWF television from 1996-97). Not long after this, he’d be released and retire after re-injuring his neck.

DARREN DROZDOV:
Billed Height & Weight: 6’4″ 270 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Is big. Played football at the NFL level (briefly).
-Droz was VERY new, and oddly fighting his future LOD stable-mate.

HAWK:
Billed Height & Weight: 6’3″ 275 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Is big. Said to have won a lot of fights growing up, probably by being bigger and crazier than most people.

BRAKUS:
Billed Height & Weight: 5’11” 303 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Is big. On very many steroids, even compared to the usual wrestler.
-Brakus was the major outlier in this tournament, as he had ZERO tough-guy credentials and hadn’t even properly debuted at all- he was merely hyped as a potential new star. His body no doubt twitterpated Vince McMahon, but he was so bad in the ring that he was only around a short time before being let go (I only remember a single TV match). This tournament appears to maybe be just an idea to get him on TV. He would wrestle his last WWF match in a month’s time.

SAVIO VEGA:
Billed Height & Weight: 5’11” 260 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Grew up in Puerto Rico. Trained in Taekwondo for a bit.
-Vega’s star was rapidly fading after being on the midcard for years.

BODACIOUS BART GUNN:
Billed Height & Weight: 6’4″ 256 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Is big. Toughman boxing competitor. Southpaw.
-Bart & Bob were at this point the New Midnight Express, an infamous pairing that was part of the disastrous “NWA Invasion” angle that was quickly dropped. He’s the only prominent left-handed (“southpaw” in boxing parlance) guy here- this can give trouble to weak amateur fighters, who are used to seeing punches come in a certain way and might not be ready for a mirror image.

BOMBASTIC BOB HOLLY:
Billed Height & Weight: 6’0″ 245 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Famously ornery. Low-level toughman boxing competitor (ie. he fought in bars for money). Has won many fights against people too afraid or unwilling to fight back, several times in the commencement of fake fighting.
-Bob is a now-infamous locker room grump and bully (said to be an office stooge by many), but will freely admit to there being a ton of guys who could kick his ass.

STEVE WILLIAMS:
Billed Height & Weight: 6’1″ 285 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Is big. Legitimate amateur wrestler- four-time All-American in the Top Five most of his collegiate life. Played football at the near-professional level.
-He’s 38 years old here, with his prime being the 1990-94 years. He’s a good friend of Jim Ross, and it’s suggested by many that he was the “expected winner” who would then go on to wrestle Steve Austin.

Jim Ross: “Many of my detractors thought that I had loaded the tournament so ‘Doctor Death’ Steve Williams could win it. That’s total bullshit. I had nothing to do with the bracketing or who fought who or whatever. It’s a good story, but it’s just not accurate.”

QUEBECER PIERRE:
Billed Height & Weight: 6’1″ 300 lbs.
Badass Credentials: … uhh…
-The Quebecers had rejoined the WWF for a very short period of time at the company’s hottest, but were not pushed and mostly filled TV time. Pierre notably has ONE FREAKING EYE, a huge handicap in a tournament where being able to see punches heading your way is of vital importance.

THE GODFATHER:
Billed Height & Weight: 6’6″ 330 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Is big. Owned a strip club and has probably had to toss unruly patrons a lot.

DAN SEVERN:
Billed Height & Weight: 6’2″ 253 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Legitimate top-tier star of the early Ultimate Fighting Championships, being one of the few guys who could stymie Royce Gracie (whom the tournament was made to put over). Fantastic Greco-Roman wrestler and strong as hell.
-Severn was the highest-rated guy here in real life, being a big UFC star, though the giant boxing gloves would be an impediment. He was the oldest fighter here, already 40 years old. Dan says in a shoot interview he was never supposed to be in it in the first place– him and Shamrock were “not going to be allowed” to be in it from the get-go. But the night of, he’s asked if he wants to fight the Godfather. Dan asks to not have the gloves on (“I promise you I will never throw a single punch- I will show you what a REAL wrestler can do”) but this is refused.

2 COLD SCORPIO:
Billed Height & Weight: 5’11” 243 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Beat up Hawk in Korea a couple of times when they fought- stated by him and backed up by Scott Norton, who made excuses for his buddy Hawk.

8-BALL:
Billed Height & Weight: 6’5″ 290 lbs.
Badass Credentials: Is big.
-This is Ron Harris.

-Danny Hodge of all people (using his own “real-life tough-guy” status and likely JR the historian making that call) is the referee for the first handful of fights, but Jack Doane (an actual WWF ref) does the rest.

MARC MERO vs. STEVE BLACKMAN:
* Mero & Blackman were in kind of similar positions on the card- Mero feuding with his wife and Blackman just in the midcard morass from which he’d never escape. Both guys have similar height and body shapes, though Blackman is on IMMENSELY more steroids.

Blackman easily takes Marc down to start, and once Mero’s up you see his experience with boxing as he actually has a proper guard up. But of course you can just dive under and take out the legs in the BFA and so Blackman keeps doing so while the fans just absolutely shit all over this right from the get-go, booing LOUDLY. JR blows this off as “they have nothing to compare this to” and “the atmosphere will be a little bit different”. Blackman scores an overhand right and then a double-leg. Second round is more of the same- Steve attempts some stand-up but quickly resorts to diving in, taking Mero down at will. Blackman, who has no guard, walks right into an uppercut but recovers, and defaults to takedowns again and again.

Winner: Steve Blackman (easily wins on points)

Blackman was clearly superior, but knew he couldn’t mix it up with Mero’s standup game. You could see him TRY it, but Marc wasn’t giving him any openings there and was leaving his lower body so exposed it was easy to take him down. Blackman obviously had wrestling training as he was able to execute great double-legs on an opponent with no training to avoid them (you’re supposed to splay out forward a bit- guys will do this later on in the tournament). It ended up being pretty boring, as Blackman had no issue racking up points in takedowns.

Blackman is forced to withdraw due to knee injury (apparently during training), and thus Mero moves on anyways.

How this fight between “Real-Life Tough Guys” looks.

BRADSHAW vs. MARK CANTERBURY:
* Canterbury is a weird outlier and Bradshaw a favorite. Mark can’t even be bothered to dress up for this, showing up in a shirt with no sleeves and SWEATPANTS- the official uniform of giving up on life.

Both guys commence to have the ugliest, least professional looking fight ever, boxing like kangaroos as they swing their arms wildly and keep bouncing back and forth and pulling their heads away to prevent being punched in return- the rookiest of rookie fighting moves. Bradshaw’s shots at least look like real punches- Canterbury’s ability seems to be an “overhand swat” and seems to not know how to actually fight. He attempts one takedown but Bradshaw knows how to stuff them. In round 2, Bradshaw catches him with a REAL shot and Mark stumbles and takes a few more before throwing on a clinch to save himself. A “BORING!” chant breaks out during the next break as JR & King call out the rabbit punches they’re throwing (those weak punches to the back of the head- these are MASSIVELY illegal in all professional fighting leagues due to their ability to cause catastrophic injury to the brain stem). Bradshaw bleeds a bit as they show Mark’s defensive flurry caught him in the mouth. Mark actually gets a takedown at the start of round 3, Bradshaw hopping up but losing his balance. Bradshaw stuffs two more takedowns (both guys are clearly bagged from all the punches earlier) and it’s over.

Winner: Bradshaw (wins 2/3 rounds)

Mark gets some points for weathering the storm (though only two punches were any good), but he looked bad here. Just floppy punches and only connects with borderline flurries. Bradshaw is big and has reach and can throw some punches, but is clearly a dirty fighter who just grabs clinches and punches the back of the head a lot, or throws punches while leaning back to protect his head- which are the least-effective punches possible.

BRAKUS vs. SAVIO VEGA:
* The two loseriest guys in the tournament go at it. Brakus, I must point out, is COMPLETELY unknown to the fans at this point. They’d probably only have seen him in WWF Magazine hype pieces. These are the two shortest guys in the thing (with Scorpio).

Savio is way quicker than his bulky opponent, actually pushing him into the corner despite no real power behind him- Brakus can only kinda stand there stiffly. Brakus maybe gets a takedown and they throw a big flurry at each other, only Savio really getting in a decent one, but then Brakus starts to falter and Savio just pounds away at him until the round’s end, Brakus looking really in trouble. Brakus tries a takedown but the rest of the round is weak as he’s blown up. Brakus is bleeding from the nose due to a good left hand to the face and stares intently, but can’t get anything going and stumbles forward, counting as a knockdown. Savio wins handily.

Winner: Savio Vega (wins 3 rounds)

Savio actually looked decent, here- no great shakes but he has a guard up, moves quickly, and is aggressive and pretty accurate. Brakus just looked pretty slow and clumsy, but durable.

HAWK vs. DARREN DROZDOV:
* Hawk has no goatee here, which looks weird.

Hawk nearly slips trying some punches right away, and they spend the rest of the time kangaroo-fighting with their heads leaning away (HAWK! The supposed crazy badass!). In round 2, both guys score rights and Hawk stumbles back after a shot grazes his nose, but Droz appears to have hurt his own hand. He lands a bit more, but is noticeably staggering and is in pain. They’re tied going into round 3, Hawk losing his mouthguard and Droz spitting out his to even them up to Hawk’s amusement, and they throw one more flurry and end up in the ropes.

Winner: None (it’s a draw!)

Wait, you can have draws in this? Match seemed like a basic toughman contest, but they were non-commital to start, then got blown up trading punches in the 2nd round, and were mostly doing ineffectual stuff in the 3rd. Droz moves on later, Because Reasons.

BODACIOUS BART vs. BOMBASTIC BOB:
* The tag partners fight each other. Bart has clearly bathed himself in vaseline beforehand (this makes punches “slide” off you and can deflect a lot of the damage). Bob actually shoves Bart from behind before the bell, which is weird and must be a planned thing.

Both guys seem to know what they’re doing, putting up a proper guard, Bart throwing some decent combos that occasionally tag Holly, who keeps ducking down and leaving the top of his head exposed for sweeping combos. Holly scores a bunch of body punches (Bart holding both arms up by his head), but it ain’t doing shit. Holly now keeps getting staggered by the big hooks Bart’s throwing at him, bouncing around the ring with every shot, but he’s at least got his arms up so he’s not being KO’d. Weirdly, after the winner’s announced, Holly throws a shot and Bart and they have to be pulled away from each other- this writes off the New Midnight Express. Like why are they writing angles for their real-life tournament?

Winner: Bodacious Bart (handily winning 3/3)

The fight was probably the best so far, in that they both seemed to know what they were doing. But Bart was so much better that Holly had no chance- he had no answer for the left hand, couldn’t deal with Bart’s reach advantage, and just got battered around the ring. All he could do was survive, while Bart just stood there easily throwing shots and never looking tired. Props for not being KO’d, as we’ll see in the remainder…

Heralded bad-ass Steve Williams throwing punches using only his shoulders, with his feet flat, splayed apart and while walking backwards. You know, like a bad-ass who knows how to fight would throw them.

“DR. DEATH” STEVE WILLIAMS vs. PIERRE:
* So the guy they want to win takes on one of the lowest-ranked guys in the company. Who has ONE FREAKING EYE.

Doc effortlessly takes down Pierre twice while the Quebecer keeps throwing wild shots in the mid-region to try and fend him off. Doc tries some punches of his own and batters Pierre around, but his last takedown attempt is reversed so it’ll count for Pierre (JR comments “he did not maintain control”). Round 2 is mostly Doc taking him down once and battering him around- Pierre spins around and around against the ropes trying to escape as Doc demands he come on, but blows to the side and back of his head (there’s more rabbit punches) leaving him getting a standing-eight count in the corner. Jim Ross could not possibly be more slobbering Steve’s knob at this point, going on and on about his football & wrestling history, and how he’s an “animal” to loves to fight. Pierre is COMPLETELY fucked up and tired at the start of round 3 and just weakly covers himself, obviously gasping for air and having no energy left. He slumps against the corner after a big rabbit punch and the ref calls for the bell with six seconds left. Probably for the best.

Winner: Doctor Death (via TKO- ref decision)

Pierre at least kept fighting, but mostly got behind on takedowns and then Steve battered him around at will. Tons of rabbit punches (which, as stated, is pretty dangerous) and guys who have no boxing experience repeatedly turning away from their opponents and leaving their heads exposed. Doc’s punches are actually quite horrible, in that he’s often got his feet way apart and he’s throwing entirely with his shoulder instead of his whole body, often while walking BACKWARDS instead of leaning into it- he’s big and strong enough to make that hurt regardless, but the technique is awful.

THE GODFATHER/KAMA vs. DAN SEVERN:
* Dan allegedly got told right before the show they wanted him to fight.

Severn keeps diving way low to avoid Godfather’s punches, but the man still called “Kama” sometimes is capable enough at avoiding takedowns, splaying out on top of Dan on each attempt. Dan kinda gets one takedown by the end of round 1 for 5 points, but takes a shot after getting backed into the corner and has to stuff Godfather- finally Dan’s able to get around him and haul him down. He won’t relinquish the hold, however, and the ref ultimately penalizes him! A loud “We Want Wrestling!” chant breaks down during the break as this tournament just gets worse and worse reactions. The third round is just ugly, as they keep getting tangled up- they assume Godfather is ahead on points because he throws the most punches per round and Dan often can’t fully take him down, but…

Winner: Dan Severn (they don’t show us the scores, lol)

Arguably the ugliest match so far- Dan’s hands were hampered by the 18-ounce gloves and Godfather had enough takedown defense (plus his huge height advantage) to make every “takedown” more a tangle of limbs, and Dan didn’t like having to relinquish the hold once he’s got his man down. He obviously dominated and Godfather never took the punches to him, so he probably deserves the win. Dan says he walked behind the curtain and was told he wasn’t gonna be in the rest of the thing, haha. I think the excuse made on TV was that “he felt he had nothing to prove” (I also heard once that “he didn’t want to hurt his friend Steve Blackman” but they’re on other sides in this thing and Steve got hurt anyways).

8-BALL vs. 2 COLD SCORPIO:
* LOL of course they’d book the fucking racist against the black guy half his size. Nice one, Vinces! This one’s just got the highlights up on YouTube for whatever reason. You’d think 8-Ball would be able to muster up some hatred for his opponent, because, y’know.

8-Ball controls the first round with a flurry of punches, Scorpio just turtling to avoid any damage- he only eats a single shot to the face. Second round sees them both get takedowns and Scorpio gets more punches. 8-Ball, being a shitty wrestler who mostly does short matches, is then entirely blown up and loses on points, as he can’t even mount any kind of offense and Scorpio just gets the most punches. I laugh at the big proponent of the white race being unable to defeat a black midcarder six inches shorter than him and 50 lbs. lighter.

Winner: Scorpio (2/3 rounds)

ROUND TWO:
BRADSHAW vs. MARC MERO:
* Bradshaw does his big “ooooooh I’m so scary” bullying thing, looming over Mero, who of course isn’t going to back down. Mero is only here because Blackman got hurt (he misses about a month in July), so Mero’s back in. He admits he hated Bradshaw and Bradshaw hated him, so he was glad to take the match.

Bradshaw has more reach, but can’t get any good shots, only managing a takedown or two. Round 2 just sees Bradshaw use his size and weight, stuffing Mero and refusing to let go of a front facelock (aka not a takedown) while throwing clumsy rabbit punches. Even in the ropes! He manages an actual takedown, but later just pushes Mero against the ropes. Mero again TOTALLY outclasses him in round 3 but Bradshaw keeps clinching and shoving, pushing him against the ropes and after being told to break, hits a belly-to-belly takedown instead. Jack Doane: “Okay, that’s five” Mero (LOUDLY): “That’s five?! GIMME A FUCKING BREAK!” and I think Doane takes it back, haha.

Bradshaw gets peppered by a ton of body shots but just pushes Mero down. Bradshaw looks wiped out afterwards, leaning against the ropes. It’s said to be a DRAW, so they have to go to round 4! Hey wait, what about Hawk/Droz being a draw? It’s almost like… NAHHHHH- they couldn’t be doing this just hoping Bradshaw can win! Round 4 starts with Bradshaw pushing him against the ropes, eating body-shots but the clinch being broken up. Bradshaw takes him down once, but the clinches keep happening and we’re out.

Winner: Bradshaw (on points)

This one is maybe the most controversial, as Marc wins each round on punches in a walk, while Bradshaw gets an iffy number of takedowns (okay, 3-4?) for a draw, and then they fight more, which is CLEARLY a draw (1 takedown vs. most punches), but the winner is arbitrarily Bradshaw (aka the guy they want going to the finals- that’s right, WWF! J’ACCUSE!).

There are barely even any legible clips of this online. Almost like they want to hide it!

“DR. DEATH” STEVE WILLIAMS vs. BART GUNN:
* So Steve’s run to the finals is met by SURELY another tomato can in Bart Gunn.

Steve ducks in and tries to bull Gunn back, but Bart’s leverage and height work to his advantage, and Williams can’t get anything. Shockingly, BART actually scores a takedown! He gets ANOTHER one as Doc looks absolutely blown up (and he injures his hamstring here), which is a bad sign against a heavy-hitter. And sure enough, Doc is reduced to flailing shit-punches and is leaving his panting head exposed and his legs anchored to the mat, and so Bart batters him back and forth, stuns him with a good shot, and then BLAMMO! Steve crumples in the corner totally dead from a rising left hand and Bart wins by Knockout! Our first KO of the Brawl For All! And JR dies inside.

Winner: Bart Gunn (KO)

The boys in the back apparently popped HUGE for this- everyone resented Williams for JR talking about how much he was going to beat on all of them. Bob Holly says that Terry Funk was super-offended “because of what Steve meant in Japan”, which is a totally bullshit reason (like, why would a bunch of WWF guys give a fuck about someone’s rep from elsewhere in a shoot-fighting tournament?). But, y’know, that’s Bob saying it. In any case, Williams misses like eight months of ring time, and his WWF run ends the next year in March with minimal fanfare and he ends up in WCW.

SAVIO VEGA vs. DARREN DROZDOV:
* The fans are already booing this one, the match between an un-over midcarder and a newbie.

Droz keeps leaning back and throwing punches, hoping reach will carry the day, and manages a few good shots. Savio’s takedown is called off (he didn’t maintain control) and Droz’s knockdown isn’t counted because it was a slip. Droz gets a few more good punches and then the fans POP for a full “dive in, take the legs and slam down” takedown! Haha, they actually won them over! They keep clinching in round 3 (Droz is pretty tired), but Droz gets another shove-over takedown- they both throw one final big flurry as the time ticks down, hoping for a win, but nobody gets anything concrete.

Winner: Darren Drozdov (all 3 rounds)

Droz clearly wins this one, as he’s bigger, stronger, scores more punches, and Savio’s takedowns all fail to maintain control while Droz gets a few football-style takedowns. Savio injures his neck here and misses a TON of time- I don’t see him on Cagematch again until the end of 1999! Props to Droz for looking like he’s having the time of his life out there, like “Yeah! I’m FIGHTING!”.

Savio: “I was one of the first ones [to compete] with Brakkus. And after that they took me out, that’s when I injured my neck again. I mean I didn’t see action in wow, a long time… I can’t remember, it was one or two [Brawl For All] matches per per show. The deal was that I didn’t even wrestle in almost three months. So that helped my neck a little bit. Second match, I did with Droz, and I lost that match. And then I stayed in the back watching, enjoying the rest of the the matches. But I enjoyed it, man. I loved it.”

THE GODFATHER vs. 2 COLD SCORPIO:
* Only the last minute is up on YouTube. Scorpio’s giving up like eight inches to his opponent at least, so this is a big mismatch.

They keep talking about how Scorpio “needs the knockout” so he’s apparently not done well. Scorpio moves from side to side and tries to get in, but can’t deal with the Godfather’s reach and fails a takedown.

Winner: Godfather (all 3 rounds)

SEMI-FINALS:
THE GODFATHER vs. BART GUNN:
* Bart, having ruined WWF’s plans by knocking Doctor Death the FUCK OUT, now takes on another favorite to win. Funnily enough, Sunday Night Heat aired an angle the night before with Godfather attacking Bart from behind and having him splashed off the second rope by Vader so that he’s “softened up”. I just find it amusing the shoot fight tournament has pretend angles mixed into it. Godfather is doing a HILARIOUS “I’m CRAAAAAAAAAZY” shaking-angry face at Bart, who is vaselined up to shit and clearly not going to be intimidated. It’s such an amateur thing to do, trying shit like that (Bradshaw did it earlier against Mero).

Godfather does okay to start, repeatedly firing off a long left jab, but it’s slow as hell and Bart easily avoids it. But he’s got his glove up over the right side of his head, knowing that prevents Bart’s signature left punch. Bart keeps pre-dodging shots, probably wise as it makes him a harder target, but notably doesn’t punch at the same time (like the amateur-hour guys have been doing in the tournament). Bart gets a good left and Godfather gets a good right, as shown in replay. Godfather might actually win that round, as Bart can’t deal with his 3-inch reach advantage yet.

Round 2 sees Bart throw a combination, but loses his balance and goes into the corner, and CUE GODFATHER, he starts throwing everything he can muster into Gunn’s gloves and body, despite the ref telling him to stop. He gets winded to the point that Bart’s effortlessly able to make a comeback, firing left after left into his head, staggering him and dropping him at the end of the round. Like, Bart just casually throws Popeye punches from behind his waist into Godfather’s head and he can’t even do anything. Round 3 starts and poor Godfather is trying his jab tactics again, but he’s rubber-legged and his arms are down by his chest instead of protecting his head- he’s fucked. And sure enough, they throw combinations at each other, but it’s not the left but a RIGHT that completely murders him, and Godfather is flat-faced on the mat with his arms in the shape of a Times New Roman “T”.

Winner: Bart Gunn (by KNOCKOUT MOTHERFUCKERSSSSSSSSSSSSSS)

“I like how in Dark Side of the Ring Droz just laughs off having his neck broke and never walking again but is shaking with rage at the decision in the Bradshaw fight.”
-the BOD’s own Fax, about this one

BRADSHAW vs. DARREN DROZDOV:
* Droz is a kind of sleeper dude in there, as he wasn’t really marketed as the crazy tough guy everyone else was. This isn’t on YouTube, but Road Dogg’s review of it IS, which helpfully shows the thing in its entirety.

Droz starts off hot, just swinging WILDLY, head straight- dude’s just going for a KO right away. Bradshaw eats some of it, but falls to his default- the “grab with one arm and punch with the other”. Droz is like “come on” with his arms down but Bradshaw gets nothing. They start a-swingin’ but nobody gets much- Bradshaw gets some through just due to his 3-inch reach advantage but that’s it- a few clear shots connected but only pushed Droz back a bit- Bart Gunn he ain’t. Round 2 sees them throw a bunch (Bradshaw huffing & puffing), Droz connecting with a few but Bradshaw soon doing the grab & punch again, pounding on the back of Droz’s head. But Bradshaw lunges at him and Droz catches him with a takedown! And BULL SHIT their unofficial scorecard gives Bradshaw the most punches in the round- he barely hit him with shit! Droz popped him in the face twice! Round 3 has Droz puffing but he manages a few hooks to the face and Bradshaw again bullrushes him, failing on a takedown. And they’re both exhausted and can’t get much going, but Droz attempts a flurry of punches before they grapple and that’s it.

Winner: Bradshaw (via A DEN OF LIES!)

Bradshaw MIGHT have had the first round, but Rounds 2 and 3 were all Drozdov and any other result is balderdash and poppycock, if you’ll excuse my language. He got a takedown for 5 points, but should have won both on points. This was straight-up “no we want Bradshaw in the finals”. Bradshaw looked pretty bad save for his two punches that connected, but they didn’t do any damage. What seems to be happening here is Bradshaw can’t punch worth a hill of beans and is a lumbering oaf, but has reach and can at least stuff the other guy if he gets in trouble, while Droz can stick and move pretty well (bouncing back off Bradshaw’s punches so he doesn’t absorb them).

FINAL MATCH:
BRADSHAW vs. BART GUNN:
* The final match, Bradshaw being given an easy time by the judges, now has to take on the man with the deadly left. Bradshaw again with the “scary guy staredown”.

Bradshaw is sloppy as shit, throwing the usual wild stuff with his feet splayed out and flat-footed, and sure enough Bart’s effortlessly able to fire off a right and two lefts to send him reeling- he stumbles and rolls back onto the mat, but is up quickly. The ref is like “okay, go” and he walks straight into another left that stuns him and leaves him open for a right- BLAMMO! He hits the same pose Godfather did, complete with convulsing, and I’m a horrible person for laughing at his misfortune aren’t I? *re-reads above matches* Nah, fuck Bradshaw- his misfortune is hilarious.

Winner: Bart Gunn (by a mother of a knockout)

Bradshaw, “Legit Backstage Enforcer”, face-down on the mat twitching and convulsing with a brain injury after 40 seconds of real fighting because he fights with his chin up and has no guard.

Bradshaw looked HORRIBLE here, giving the worst performance of the entire tournament. Like at least the other guys who lost got to last three rounds. Godfather managed to last to round 3 against Gunn and even gave a lot of good shots and held his own. He protected his head and threw jabs to hold him off. Bradshaw was just like “a-HYUK- I’m gonna throw random punches with my guard down- this will work” and Bart just ate him alive.

Jim Cornette: “It was always the plan whoever won the Brawl For All would get a big promotional push. When it was Bart Gunn, the wind came out of those sails. I’m not knocking Bart Gunn – great athlete, good wrestler, good guy – but the way he’d been presented for the last five years was at a [lower level].”

WRESTLEMANIA XV
(March 28th 1999)
BART GUNN vs. BUTTERBEAN:
* And it all comes to this. Bart takes like 7 months off here and there (I think I remember one thing he did on TV in between- he does a single Hardcore match against Bob Holly in Feb. 1999 following his B4A win) to “train” and they end up coming up with this deal. Him fighting a legitimate Toughman Boxing superstar in Butterbean. This was said to be the idea of Vince McMahon, and Bart says he agreed to it because he was just tired of sitting at home and doing nothing, and was given “boxing training”. Bean, a short fat guy with no neck, looks ridiculous but is every bit tough and experienced. Gorilla Monsoon is one of the judges here, and I’ll never forget my friend Jordan and I watching this at 17 years old and seeing what he looked like. I was lucky enough to have never seen a dying person before this. Looking at him and how gaunt and weak he was, we were both stunned. It’s always stuck with me.

Butterbean says that you never want to write a guy off in a fight, and that Bart had a great left and a “puncher’s chance” (ie. just throwing punches into the sky and MAYBE you can connect with a lucky one, regardless of technique or experience), but once he saw Bart come out in the “traditional boxer’s stance” with one arm up and the other near his chin, he knew he’d knock him out in less than a minute. And sure enough, Bart has a sloppy guard, his head is bolt-upright, and throws weak left jabs instead of hooks while Bean has his head down throwing body shots, throws a left in Butterbean’s general direction, and leaves his head open for a right to stun him while he’s flat-footed, and a follow up combo from the rapidly-shifting-position Butterbean knocks him to the ground. And poor Bart looks like he’s about to cry even as he looks otherwise physically okay (Bean says he was glassy-eyed and “out on his feet here”), but comes up with his guard-fist WAY away from his chin, which is pointed up and out and BLAMMO! Butterbean knocks his head clean off (Bart’s head bobbling around has remained in my mind ever since- not a boxing fan, I’d never seen someone knocked the FUCK out like that before) and the fight is over in 46 seconds. RIP Bart Gunn’s career in America.

Butterbean says after the show the boys got high with him and said “YOU WERE HERE AS PUNISHMENT!”, laughing their asses off. It’s generally accepted that this fight was Bart’s “punishment” for winning the Brawl For All and ruining Steve Williams. A bitter Jim Ross couldn’t stand his buddy being humiliated and decided to humiliate Bart in turn, so the story goes. This is the wrestlers’ takes, of course, and Ross completely denies it (which, OF COURSE he would- even if it was true he has nothing to gain by admitting that).

So yeah, this tournament was a COMPLETE mess. A midcard tag guy spiraling down the drain on the card, with zero charisma, effortlessly won the entire thing and made a bunch of guys, one of whom they wanted to push to the main event, look like fools in the process. Bradshaw “making the finals” at least helps along his midcard “this is a legit tough-guy” push, though he clearly did it by holding headlocks, throwing rabbit punches, and generally fighting dirty with no referee opposition, and was given judge scores to the finals. Adding to things, a bunch of guys got hurt, and it actively stalled out some pushes. Blackman & Severn won their matches but missed the next round anyways so losers got to move on, looking even dumber.

And worse still, Bart Gunn NEVER GOT A PUSH out of it. He disappeared from TV for ages, and they didn’t make him a thing until WrestleMania (which is in Spring the next year, mind you) pitted him against Butterbean, who is every bit a legitimate Toughman Boxing competitor while Bart was an amateur. Butterbean is a real mensch in interviews, putting over everyone involved and saying Bart “had a puncher’s chance”. And thus Bart’s career in the West was ruined, with wrestlers openly telling anyone who would listen that he was set up to make an example of Bart (probably by Jim Ross) for humiliating Steve Williams. Like, they could have at least booked him as this midcard “Toughman” or made him a temporary challenger to another guy they ACTUALLY wanted to put over. Instead they just dumped him and the end result of all this TV time wasted and guys getting hurt was nothing- a guy who beat up all the WWF wrestlers legit himself got humiliated by an actual fighter.

Poor guy… at least he got a job in Japan out of it, as All Japan Pro Wrestling was super interested in the guy who KTFO’d Steve Williams (who had meant a lot over there and was a former Triple Crown Champion in 1994) and he got a long run out of it (including feuding and teaming with Dr. Death).

The Fallout: Steve Williams had his career ruined. Hawk, Savio, Williams, Blackman and god knows who else were injured. Several guys were exposed as barely being able to fight. Two segments of every RAW were devoted to awful matches that usually got booed out of the building. And the guy who WON the thing didn’t get dick out of the deal, and was instead humiliated and had his own career ruined. Nowadays you’ll never hear a wrestler cheer about this, save maybe Bob Holly & Billy Gunn, who made money off of Bart murdering the others.

Could It Have Been Saved?: … NO! No it couldn’t have! This was a stupid idea from the get-go! If you’re trying to have “he’s a real-life badass” stuff get someone over, then just have him squash some guys or show some vignettes of him winning stuff! Just assuming someone was gonna win a tournament of real fights is asinine in the first place, never mind booking real fights on weekly television where guys were gonna get blown up, hurt, and more. There’s a reason UFC went away from “one-night tournaments” in the first place. Also the rules in this were stupid from the get-go. Assuming you had a ton of legit fighters (which they didn’t) then they could have run a regular UFC-type MMA event, but instead it was a lot of glorified toughman matches that revealed most of the guys didn’t even know how to spar properly or defend themselves, and all relied on their size to just push people around (especially Bradshaw).

Conclusion: There’s a good reason nobody tried THIS ever again. A lot of “legit tough guys” in the locker room looked like incompetent idiots out there, tons of guys were throwing rabbit punches (again, illegal in real combat sports) or throwing bad takedowns, the actual wrestling takedowns were awful because of the gloves, and more. I think the “best” result was Bradshaw getting the judges shoving him through every round to thus put him over as a “legit badass” even though if you know anything about real fighting you can see he’s just a big goof who smothered people and coasted because he can’t punch for shit.

To this day, this stands as one of the most moronic things a wrestling company ever tried. It speaks to the success of the Attitude Era that this didn’t even come CLOSE to hurting the company’s bottom line.