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Billy Gunn Says 1998 Dumpster Incident Made the New Age Outlaws into Stars: ‘It Was Never About Our Wrestling’
Speaking with Jeffrey Harris for the 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast, Billy Gunn discussed the New Age Outlaws’ famous “dumpster toss” with Cactus Jack and Terry Funk as the moment that put the team on the map. The February 2nd, 1998 segment saw the Outlaws lock Cactus Jack and Funk (under his “Chainsaw Charlie” gimmick) in a dumpster and push it off the stage, sending it crashing to the arena floor. The feud eventually culminated at WrestleMania XIV, where the Outlaws lost the WWF Tag Team Championships in a dumpster match although they regained the straps in a steel cage match the next night on Raw, when they joined D-Generation X.
Asked whether he considered that a key moment for the team, Gunn said he did and that it was his favorite moment of his career.
“Yeah, I tell everybody that,” he said. “When people ask me, ‘Well, what’s your favorite match’ or ‘What’s your favorite moment,’ it’s that. Because that literally put us on the map. I don’t know what it was, it was a different feeling after that night. It was a different vibe to what we were doing. People were — like, it wasn’t the New Age dumpster match. We actually tossed them like twelve feet off of a stage. It was a long way, and I think people were amazed at how crazy that was. And that’s what it was. It literally made me and Brian.”
Asked whether he every thought there was a moment where the team really clicked as a unit outside of the dumpster incident, Gunn said, “Yeah, I think like I said, after that people were just goo-goo over us. Because we did different stuff. For me and Brian, it was never really the wrestling. It was about how involved or how interactive can we be with the people. Hence Brian’s whole little front monologue that he did, and saying stuff like that was amazing. And everybody in the building, even the people that worked the building and were working security and backstage, they were also doing the same thing. They were all saying the stuff. At the time, me and Brian were just having fun. I don’t know how to put it any other way, other than we were having a whole lot of fun. Because I would go out and try to make him laugh, he would try to make me laugh, he would try to make the entire building laugh and then he would try to make everybody in the back laugh. It was never about our wrestling. And I think that’s what attracted people to us, to understand that when we came out, they were about to have a whole lot of fun. We were having fun, and you can join along if you want to. If you don’t, that’s your bad. Not mine.”
In the full interview, Billy talks about his work with AEW, Triple H’s jokes about AEW during the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, his time in the New Age Outlaws and run in NJPW, Dustin Rhodes’ status with All Elite Wrestling, what we can expect from him at Double or Nothing and more. You can listen to the full interview below.
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Introduction (0:00)
On how it feels to be a WWE Hall of Famer and if it feels like closing a book on his career (0:39)
On Triple H’s jokes about AEW during the Hall of Fame speech (1:55)
On the status of AEW’s plans for a potential training facility (4:12)
On the need for more psychology, storytelling and selling in today’s era (4:55)
On his 2014 reunion with Road Dogg in WWE (9:00)
On his relationship with Cody and signing with AEW (10:47)
On WWE not using tag teams properly (11:48)
On the New Age Outlaws’ dumpster match with Cactus Jack and Terry Funk and other big moments (13:10)
On his appearances on Being the Elite (16:16)
On working for NJPW (17:30)
On whether fans online are getting overhyped or overly critical about AEW (21:03)
On what his role at Double or Nothing may be and Dustin Rhodes’ status with AEW (22:37)
On AEW providing an alternative for wrestling talent and being great for the industry (24:07)
On going into the Hall of Fame at the same time as Honky Tonk Man and Torrie Wilson (25:30)
On not being a wrestling fan growing up (28:21)
Where to find him online (30:16)
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