Seaton: The Brawl For All

The “Brawl For All” is arguably the worst idea in wrestling history. A Toughman style tournament between WWF wrestlers for bragging rights and a cash prize, the Brawl For All would end two careers, shelve several men with injuries and cost the WWF five million dollars in one night.

Vince Russo, a New Yorker who caught the WWF brass’ attention with his “Jerry Springer” style of television writing, sold the “Brawl For All” as a way of injecting much needed realism into WWF shows. If audiences were tuning in for the moments the show seemed real, why not make the in-ring action real?

Truthfully Russo wanted the Brawl For All to happen because he wanted to watch John “Bradshaw” Layfield, a Texan who regularly boasted of his fighting prowess, get his ass kicked. When Vince McMahon green-lit the idea and offered a $75,000 prize to the winner, several legit tough guys stepped up.

There was Dan “The Beast” Severn, a former UFC Superfight Champion and amateur wrestling legend. Charles “The Godfather” Wright, a strip club bouncer in another life, threw in for the event. Steve Blackman, a decorated martial artist, filled out the bracket of real life badasses.

As the tournament start date approached, participants began questioning what exactly they signed up for. The brackets were matched as names on paper drawn from a paper bag. The rules weren’t clear–something about three one-minute rounds. And takedowns were going to be hard since fighters had to wear twelve-ounce boxing gloves.

Go watch the first round fights on YouTube. It’s pretty amazing to see old school wrestling legends start heaving for breath after a minute of legitimate fighting. The crowd reception to the first round fights was so bad that Dan Severn dropped out of the tournament after winning his first round fight because he didn’t want it to damage his credibility as a professional fighter.

John “Bradshaw” Layfield sailed through his three fights to the finals. At the other end of the bracket, a guy named Mike Polchlopeck, wrestling under the name “Bart Gunn,” knocked out his tag team partner to win his first fight.

Even though this tournament was supposed to be completely legitimate, Russo couldn’t help but monkey with the brackets. Gunn was now set to face “Dr. Death” Steve Williams in round two.

Gunn went to WWF brass the night of his fight with “Dr. Death” and offered to “work the fight” if someone “smartened him up to the business.” That’s the carny way of saying if the office just told him who needed to win he’d play along as needed. “No need to worry, Bart,” he was told. “We have all our confidence in Dr. Death.”

This wasn’t what Gunn expected to hear. From what he and the rest of the boys understood, the Brawl For All was Dr. Death’s first class ticket to mainstream US stardom. Winning the tournament would put Steve Williams in a main event program. And the TV writer just told him it was okay if he knocked “Dr. Death” out?

Gunn put “Dr. Death” to sleep in short order. The win stunned the entire locker room, save for Jim Cornette, who asked Vince Russo post-fight, “are you happy now, you dumb fuck? “Do you realize you just cost this company five million dollars in one night?”

Russo didn’t care about potentially lost money from Dr. Death’s career suddenly plaguing his good TV mojo. He had a knockout artist in Bart Gunn, and Gunn would kick Layfield’s ass in the finals.

After the Brawl For All, Bart Gunn was in an odd career spot. He made a name for himself the last few months hurting his co-workers in a business where keeping them healthy means more money for everyone. No wrestler seemed excited to work with Gunn.

None of this bothered Russo, who had a money idea: Bart Gunn will box Butterbean at Wrestlemania.

Eric “Butterbean” Esch was a super heavyweight boxer that made up for what he lacked in agility with raw punching power. He would claim years later he took this fight with the “unspoken understanding” Bart Gunn was to be punished.

Butterbean knocked Gunn out in thirty five seconds. The WWF released Bart Gunn shortly thereafter.

There will never be another Brawl For All. Injuries set the company back weeks. Bart Gunn and “Dr. Death” Steve Williams didn’t draw any kind of a crowd after the tournament in any capacity.

Vince Russo will dismiss any of the Brawl For All’s negative effects as “just wrestling” if asked about it to this day. It’s his way of coping with the nickname Russo was given around 2000: “The Arch Bishop of TalentBury.”