Billy Gunn always looked like he should have been a massive star. However, throughout his career, Gunn never made it above the level of a top-tier tag team wrestler. Despite standing 6'3 and looking like a chiseled god, even at the age of 57, Gunn ended up as someone that everyone knew, but no one considered great.
Despite that, Gunn went through his career, winning numerous titles and always seeming to be on the cusp of something big. He is still going strong and has defied the gods when it comes to his physique, and now he is just having fun, helping his sons make it in the business. Through it all, Gunn went through several changes on his way to a Hall of Fame career.
10 Cute Kip
Like many wrestlers from WWE, Billy Gunn had a stint in TNA Impact Wrestling. While he had a decent run there with Road Dogg, the lowest point of his career came when he became Cute Kip.
This started in 2008, shortly after Gunn turned on Road Dogg and labeled himself "The Megastar," a gimmick similar to "The One" in WWE. It was over with before it had a chance to start, and then he returned as Cute Kip, the "image consultant" for The Beautiful People.
9 Rockabilly
Billy Gunn became a big star in WWE thanks to his tag team, The Smoking Gunns. When that team broke up, WWE tried for the first time to make Billy a singles star. Honky Tonk Man returned and took Billy under his wing as a protege and called him the Rockabilly.
This really went nowhere outside of a feud with "The Real Double J" Jesse James. This led to James mentioning that they should team up, so Billy smashed a guitar over Honky's head, and the New Age Outlaws was born.
8 The Outlaw
When Billy Gunn first appeared in TNA Impact Wrestling, he was named the New Age Outlaw, but it was shortened to The Outlaw to avoid WWE legally coming after them.
At this time, Gunn teamed up with Jeff Jarrett and took his place in the Planet Jarrett faction. He also started a feud with the 3Live Kru because he wanted to convince his old partner, now known as B.G. James to reform their team.
7 "The One" Billy Gunn
In 2000, Billy Gunn was in the midst of his attempted push into single's stardom, but he ended up losing the rights to use the "Mr. Ass" name in his matches. This came when he and Chyna lost to Val Venis and Steven Richards of Right to Censor. Due to the loss, he had to change gimmicks.
Gunn ended up using a cocky and arrogant gimmick and called himself "The One" Billy Gunn. He had some limited success, including beating Eddie Guerrero for the IC title during this time.
6 The James Gang / Voodoo Kin Mafia
Most of Billy Gunn's stint in TNA Impact Wrestling was forgetful. However, when he convinced B.G. James to leave the 3Live Cru and rejoin him as a tag team, things looked up. Gunn and James were always good as a tag team and had success as The James Gang and then the Voodoo Kin Mafia (VKM a reference to Vincent Kennedy McMahon).
The two mostly feuded with LAX and Team 3D but never won TNA tag team gold.
5 Mr. Ass
The most success that Billy Gunn had as a singles star came after the New Age Outlaws broke up and Gunn became Mr. Ass Billy Gunn.
At this time, WWE wanted to push him to the moon and had him win the 1999 King of the Ring tournament. However, when Gunn started his first big feud with The Rock, he ended up getting buried horribly during one promo and never recovered.
4 The Gunn Club
Billy Gunn in AEW looks to be having more fun than he has ever had in his career. He is working with his sons, Colten and Austin, and they are The Gunn Club. They aren't winning all the time, but they are innovative, and Gunn is working hard.
Not only that, but Billy Gunn turned 57 in 2020 and is in better shape than wrestlers half his age. The three members of the Gunn Club mostly work on AEW Dark, but they are always entertaining.
3 Billy and Chuck
While it was highly controversial, and many look back on it with distasteful memories, the tag team of Billy and Chuck was quite good. It was proof that Gunn could work any gimmick with success if it were as part of a tag team unit.
This was Gunn and Chuck Palumbo and had the undertones that they were more than just friends. They even hired a flamboyant stylist named Rico. The team won two tag team titles before admitting that their gimmick was fake and moved on.
2 Smoking Gunns
The first tag team that Billy Gunn found success in was his introduction to WWE. It was the Smoking Gunns, with Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn as cowboys, brothers managed by Sunny.
They weren't really related, and the entire relationship was kayfabe, but they found great success as one of the top babyface tag teams of the mid-90s. They won three tag team titles together before Billy Gunn walked out on Bart and tried to succeed on his own.
1 New Age Outlaws
Billy Gunn is in the WWE Hall of Fame, and he is there as part of Degeneration X. That was all because of his tag team with Road Dogg, known as the New Age Outlaws.
Considered to be the best tag team of the Attitude Era by many fans, the Outlaws went on to win the WWE tag team titles five different times and helped elevate the post-Shawn Michaels DX into the most dominant faction in WWE.