Former Writer Says Vince McMahon Wanted to Revive Brawl For All For Reality-Era NXT

Brawl For All is a hot topic today thanks to Dark Side of the Ring, which revisited the famously disastrous tournament in its most recent episode. It apparently wasn’t so bad that Vince McMahon didn’t try to bring it back, though, as a former WWE writer says McMahon wanted it revived back in the reality show era of NXT, which started in 2010.

John Piermarini, who was a writer for WWE in 2009 and 2010, posted to Twitter on Wednesday amid discussion of the Brawl For All to recall the situation. He said that McMahon wanted to use it with NXT stars from the reality competition era before it became its own brand. Piermarini said that McMahon “had to be talked out of it” and that the conversation didn’t make it past the production meeting.

The Brawl For All tournament was a shoot fight tournament that was suggested by Vince Russo because he was irritated by JBL saying he could beat everyone in the locker room up in real life. The sixteen-man tournament resulted in Bart Gunn unexpectedly winning, while also shortening the careers of several competitors due to injuries and derailing plans for a major push for “Dr. Death” Steve Williams.

Shad Gaspard also weighed in, saying that John Laurinaitis spoke with him about his history as a prize fighter, though it doesn’t appear as if this is the same situation as Gaspard was not a part of NXT.

@jasoneisener @evanhusney incredible job with both seasons of @DarkSideOfRing. Funny story – while on creative in either 2009 or 2010 Vince wanted to do another Brawl For All with the guys competing on NXT (in its original format). He had to be talked out of it.

— John Piermarini (@JohnAsHimself) April 8, 2020

I do remember Jonny sitting me down and going over my fight history, then asking if I would do a shoot MMA or Boxing match🤷🏾‍♂️

— Shad Gaspard (@Shadbeast) April 8, 2020