The Brawl for All/”Brawl to Settle it All 2″ should be Jim Cornette vs. Vince Russo

The Brawl for All, from the WWE/WWF back in 1998 featured 16 WWF superstars going at it for real, in the squared circle and this turned out to be a very much talked about event over the years and this week, “The Brawl for All” was spotlighted on the Dark Side of the Ring, which airs on Viceland TV…

When the WWF wrestlers went at it for real, they had a number of favorites to enter the ring, but none was more expected to win than Dr. Death Steve Williams…He was the true favorite to win the Brawl, and nobody thought the other wrestlers would even come close to knocking off Dr. Death Steve Williams, but everybody in the event, plus all of those watching at home were in for a big-time shock…

The whole “Brawl for All” concept was cooked up by WWF story writer/producer Vince Russo…Russo had heard about all of the bragging that JBL/John Bradshaw Layfield had been doing in the wrestling locker room, and JBL had put out the word, that nobody and JBL meant nobody, could beat him in a real fight…

But good old JBL, along with millions of others that were glued to their TV sets over the weeks of the “Brawl for All” contest/event, were in for the surprise of their lives…

Good old JBL was about to get shocked, good old JR/Jim Ross was about to be blown away, and Jim Cornette was ready to blow a gasket…

You had names in the ring for the “Brawl for All” including Dr. Death Steve Williams, John Bradshaw Layfield, Dan Severn, Steve Blackman, “The Godfather” Charles Wright, Darren Drozdov, “Hardcore” Bob Holly, Brackus, Mark Cantebury, Savio Vega, Too Cold Scorpio, Ron Harris, Road Warrior Hawk and we had some others, but let’s don’t leave out the eventual Winner, Bart Gunn

Bart Gunn destroyed Dr. Death Steve Williams, and Williams was an All-American college football and wrestler, at Oklahoma…Dr. Death blew out a hamstring in that battle with Bart Gunn and Williams had to be carried from the ring, at the end of his fight with Bart Gunn…

Jim Ross, good old JR called the whole idea of the “Brawl For All” a train wreck…JR was very tight with Dr. Death, from Steve Williams days at Oklahoma U, and JR had signed Williams to his WWF contract, and when Williams was walloped by Bart Gunn, Ross saw all of that going down the drain….

Jim Cornette, like Ross and Russo, was on the WWF booking committee and Cornette called the “Brawl for All” the worst idea in the history of the World Wrestling Federation….

In his first fight, Bart Gunn stood toe-toe-toe with his then tag-team partner Bob Holly, and Gunn took care of Holly and then proceeded to wipe out Dr. Death Steve Williams, then he flattened The Godfather in the semifinals, and Gunn knocked out John Bradshaw Layfield in the final/championship bout…

Bart Gunn knocked down JBL one time and JBL got up and then Bart Gunn, gunned him down again and this time JBL’s eye were rolling back in his head…

Before they could reach the finals, Dan Severn and Steve Blackman dropped out of the event, and both Severn and Blackman had extensive MMA backgrounds, The Godfather got his tail kicked, Dr. Death was headed to the hospital, JBL was counting the lights, and Bart Gunn had another fight on his hands, as he would meet Eric “Butterbean” Esch, at WrestleMania….

Bart Gunn was the so-far one-and-only Champion of the “Brawl For All”….

Gunn would go on to lose in less than a minute to Eric “Butterbean” Esch at WrestleMania, and “Butterbean” said Bart Gunn should have tried to brawl ‘Bean, instead of trying to box him…’Bean was the better boxer, and Bart Gunn was the better brawler….

The two, “Butterbean” and Gunn, could have met years later for a re-match, and that fight would have happened in Japan, but Bart said they gave him four days notice and then he would have to face “Butterbean”, and Gunn wanted to have at least 12 weeks to prepare for a second meeting with ‘Bean…Gunn knew he needed time, and he was not allowed the time he would need to properly get ready to face “Butterbean”, for a second time….

To me, I thought this was some of the best WWE/WWF action I have ever seen…I loved the “Brawl For All”

It pulled back the curtain, and let us see what things were like for REAL!!!

This was the real deal, but the WWF/WWE officials were too concerned over the fact that their talents/actors would get hurt…But, when you are doing things for REAL, that is part of what you sign up for…This was the REAL Deal and it was very entertaining..That is why the UFC has become so popular…It is the REAL Deal…

The WWF/WWE producers and the booking committee wanted to shut the “Brawl For All” down after the first week of the show…The top officials, including both Jims, Jim Cornette and Jim Ross, wanted it all to just go away…

But, Vince listened to Vince, and the show went on/continued….Vince McMahon listened the ideas of Vince Russo, and they let it roll…

Jim Ross said, “The Brawl For All” was a train wreck….Jim Cornette said, “The Brawl For All” was the worst idea in WWF history….

Vince Russo said we need to let it roll on, mainly because he was trying to teach JBL/John Bradshaw Layfield a lesson…And to a certain degree, Russo’s plan worked…

From almost out of nowhere, Bart Gunn came in destroyed the “Brawl For All” field and he left JBL laying….

Bart Gunn was supposed to get a wrestling match with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin after he was declared the “Brawl For All” champion….

That match with Gunn vs. Austin never happened and Bart Gunn was buried, and his time remaining in the WWF was limited…Gunn ended up working out the last days of his career in Japan…

One certain change, or addition would have helped in the “Brawl For All”, and that would have maybe slowed down the pace of the overall destruction, but it would have uplifted the purpose of safety, and that would have been the addition of boxing headgear…

If you outfit the wrestlers with the boxing headgear, that would insure their safety around their “control center”, in essence their brains would be protected and much safer, and the concussion issues would be addressed and covered more securely, with the boxing headgears…

But for the overall interest of the event, I thought it was some of the most entertaining WWF/WWE action ever…We got to see who the real tough guys were, and who could stand in there and take a shot, or give a shot…Bart Gunn proved his mettle and was always moving forward toward his opponent, and the wrestlers he was facing, they for the most part, were going/moving backwards…

Bart Gunn got it done and although we will unfortunately never see the “Brawl For All” again, maybe we could see the “Brawl For All 2”….

Jim Cornette vs. Vince Russo and put it on the next LIVE WWE Pay-per-View…Vince Russo vs. Jim Cornette, in the “Brawl For All 2″…These two hate each other and they could give us a good fight, if they came out slow early and did not blow up and lose all of their oxygen early in the bout…This could part be one of the biggest events in WWE history…

Vince Russo vs. Jim Cornette in the “Brawl For All 2”….

Get personal trainers for both of these guys and get them in decent shape…Have it set for a Three-Round Fight, with each round lasting two minutes….They might go the distance, but I think you have to check both combatants closely prior to the fight, and make sure that they don’t have any underlying health conditions, and to make sure that Jim Cornette does not bring a gun to the ring…

And as always, I have a great idea for the referee…Make the man in charge of this bout/fight Bart Gunn

Jim Cornette vs. Vince Russo for the “Brawl For All 2”, with Bart Gunn as your referee…

And to this would settle this feud between Cornette and Russo that has been going on for years….

So you say and ask the question again….”Why am I such a BIG fan of these “Brawls For All”????

I will tell you time and time again, if they are run right, they are for REAL, and that is what Real Live People want to see….

It should be, but is always not this way in sports and entertainment…The strongest and best-trained athlete should be the Winner, and the last man standing….But, that is not the way it always turns out…

But, you still need to think about what I am telling you…The strongest and best-trained athletes should be your Winners, and since they worked the hardest and longest, they should walk away with the spoils….

And as we move on, not many of you will remember the name Bart Gunn…But this week, Bart Gunn is standing tall again, Bart Gunn is the last man standing, and he is your once-in-a-lifetime WINNER of the “Brawl For All”….

Now, let’s get on to current business…The “Brawl For All 2”, with Jim Cornette vs. Vince Russo, with Bart Gunn as your special referee….

“LET’S GET IT ON”

**********Just a bit for you from Wikipedia on Bart Gunn:**********
Michael Polchlopek (born December 27, 1963) is an American former professional wrestler, and mixed martial artist. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1993 to 1999 under the ring names Bart Gunn and Bodacious Bart, as well as his appearances with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) from 1998 to 2002 and with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) from 2002 to 2004 as Mike Barton.

After retiring from wrestling, Polchlopek started working as an electrician.