The WWE Brawl For All tournament was a classic example of how overconfidence could lead to terrible decisions. For a very long time, Jim Ross wanted to bring Steve Williams into WWE. Steve was quite popular in wrestling, especially in Japan, and he was a good friend of Ross too.

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The company wanted to use Brawl For All to give Williams a huge push in WWE from the get-go. But they failed in doing so, because of their own stupidity.

Vince Russo Created It To Watch JBL Get Knocked Out

Vince Russo

Brawl For All was created to introduce Steve Williams, also known as Dr. Death, in front of the WWE fans. It was a shootfighting competition and anyone with a brain figured immediately it was a bad idea, but WWE still went ahead with it.

But the whole thing was actually Vince Russo's idea. He pitched the idea to WWE only because he wanted JBL to get beaten up by other wrestlers in a real fight. Apparently, he once bragged about taking down guys easily in a shoot fight and Russo wanted him to get embarrassed in front of millions of fans.

Many wrestlers were against the idea. Even those who claimed to be tough guys backed down when the tournament was confirmed. But the money was huge and so many did end up facing competing in this shoot-fight.

Bart Gunn Won The Tournament, Lost His WWE Career

bart gunn steve williams wwe

Jim Ross wholeheartedly believed that Steve Williams would win the tournament. According to Bob Holly in his book The Hardcore Truth, WWE management was so sure about it that they allegedly paid Williams the $100,000 prize money in advance because there was no way anyone else would've won. The company had plans to create a storyline between him and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin for a later pay-per-view.

But Bart Gunn ruined their plans when he knocked Williams out of the match and won the fight. In the process, Steve injured his hamstring and it took a long time to recover. Several other wrestlers ended up getting injured in the match and a few of them couldn't even function properly for a long time.

Gunn was an underdog in WWE's eyes before the tournament. Nobody believed he could win the contest, but he did. Although it ended up hurting him more because Gunn's victory came at a cost.

WWE could no longer to Steve Williams vs Steve Austin and they were furious about it. His reputation was also ruined after the defeat and there was no way the company could book a storyline between them now, and Bart Gunn vs Austin just didn't make sense.

WWE Punished Bart Gunn For Winning The Tournament

butterbean bart gunn

Following the victory, WWE didn't book Gunn and told him that they didn't have anything for him in mind until Vince McMahon got another idea. He brought in Butterbean - a man with an impressive boxing record - to fight Bart at WrestleMania XV under the Brawl For All rules.

It acted as a punishment for Gunn for ruining WWE's big plans for Steve Williams. Bart believed he could beat Butterbean in a boxing fight, but that was his ego. Even Butterbean admitted on Dark Side Of The Ring that Bart would've had a better chance of winning over him if he had "tried to brawl like he did the rest of them."

It Embarrassed Everyone In WWE

steve williams bart gunn

The tournament received a ton of criticism from many wrestlers and fans from all over the world. Even though the shoot-fight looked interesting at first. when people learned more about the injuries wrestlers suffered during the tournament they weren't a fan of it anymore.

WWE wanted Steve Williams to win, but he didn't. Bart Gunn who actually won wasn't a winner in WWE's eyes and didn't take a chance to utilize him. It's also safe to say that the whole tournament was a massive failure. It was supposed to bring in more ratings but with all the injuries and other issues, it just wasn't worth it.

Russo also claims that he now regrets pitching the idea for Brawl For All. Because of his desire to inflict trouble for JBL, many other wrestlers got seriously injured and many careers ended prematurely.

WWE learned from their mistake and never did another shoot-fight tournament ever. But still, looking back at it, Vince McMahon could've stopped the whole thing at the very moment he learned about the first person's injury. But he didn't and Brawl For All ended up being a disaster.

NEXT: 10 WWE Brawl For All Wrestlers: Where Are They Now?