WWE’s Top 10 Most Controversial Storylines
By Tim Sherry
10. Billy and Chuck
Most people remember Billy Gunn as the ultra-athletically gifted member of Degeneration-X. Together with his equally confident partner, The Road Dogg, The New Age Outlaws went on to win 6 tag team championships and be one of the most dominant teams of the late 90’s.
Gunn went through a series of different characters through his WWE tenure. He began as the gun-slinging brother of Bart as The Smoking Gunns, he was the Honky Tonk’s man protegé as Rockabilly, he was “Mr. Ass”, and he was also “The One”. However, the one angle that Gunn may be remembered most for was his 2001-2002 partnership with Chuck Palumbo.
The duo, affectionately known as Billy and Chuck, immediately elicited heel heat as they dressed alike, bleached their hair blonde, brought on a hairstylist as their manager, and showed a heavy level of affection towards each other. They weren’t trying to be subtle about it, they were very clearly insinuating a homosexual relationship. And if that fact wasn’t apparent to everyone at that point, it became crystal clear what they were doing in September of 2002 when Chuck proposed to Billy and the two decided to air their ceremony on Smackdown.
The part that takes this angle from somewhat risqué to an absolute, full-on controversy was the scam the WWE pulled on numerous media outlets, not to mention The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation by telling them that this ceremony was legit. WWE officials told The New York Times and The Today Show the same thing and it brought a ton of hype to the episode when it aired.
The problem? Halfway through the ceremony Chuck and Billy stopped the proceedings to reveal that it was all just a publicity stunt. The WWE clearly knew this in advance as Gunn was still technically married to his first wife and Palumbo was still in a relationship with a woman that he bore a child within 1996. But hey ratings are ratings, right?
The backlash and outcry from this controversy were massive and the mainstream media were all over it. The WWE, looking to extract some damage control, quickly dissolved the angle by making the duo turn baby, face and dye their hair brown. The partnership ended shortly after that and both men were out of the company completely in just a couple of years. A Decent idea that brought in a lot of hype, but at the end of the day effectively ruined 2 careers and made the company look like paranoid, homophobic children.