10 Worst Booking Decisions in WrestleMania History
By Tim Sherry
credit: wwe.com
10. Bart Gunn Fights Butterbean: WrestleMania XV
Wow. Where to even start with this. In the summer of 1998, creative “genius” Vince Russo decided that professional wrestling needed some more reality among its ranks and devised this deluded idea of a tough man contest named the “Brawl For All”. Here’s the gist: 16 wrestlers on the WWE roster entered a tournament to decide who was the baddest man in the company by engaging in legitimate boxing matches with take-downs as an option as well. That’s right, a bunch of untrained guys who’ve been competing in scripted wrestling matches for their entire pro career are now being thrown in the ring to beat each other mercilessly with $75,000 as the ultimate prize. What could go wrong?
Well first off a bunch of the competitors got hurt. Brakkus, Road Warrior Hawk, The Godfather, Savio Vega, Steve Blackman, and Steve Williams all suffered injuries that derailed their careers. Also, this nonsense caused Williams to not only suffer that injury but it destroyed the chances of him moving into a main event program with Steve Austin which would’ve been massive.
But the biggest travesty to this entire debacle was the fate of tournament winner, Bart Gunn. Gunn’s prize for winning? A fight with five-time World Toughman winner, professional boxer, professional kick-boxer, and professional mixed martial artist, Eric “Butterbean” Esche. What once looked a career defining moment for Gunn quickly turned into a nightmare as he got savagely knocked out in a whopping 35 seconds at WrestleMania XV and subsequently released from the WWE. The tournament was a terrible idea that destroyed careers and put wrestlers health in jeopardy and this Mania massacre was the microcosm of an idea that should have never made it out of a creative meeting.