Vince Russo recently recalled a confrontation he had with JBL at WrestleCon and suggested JBL is still carrying frustration over his infamous Brawl For All loss to Bart Gunn.
Russo explained that he approached JBL in an attempt to clear the air after years of criticism.
“I said, ‘Listen, man. I saw the cowboy hat. I was hoping it’s you. I’m glad it’s you. I just want to let you know, bro, I don’t have any heat with you whatsoever.'”
According to Russo, JBL immediately accused him of being a liar.
“He goes, ‘Well, yeah, well, I got heat with you. You’re a liar. Everything you say is a lie. You’ve been lying for years.'”
Russo said the conversation eventually turned to Brawl For All and JBL’s long-standing belief that Russo was responsible for the tournament.
“I said, ‘JBL, all I did was I pitched the idea to Vince. That’s it. After that, I was completely out of it. JR, Bruce, they booked this thing. They got the judges. I had nothing to do with it.'”
Later in the discussion, Russo addressed speculation that JBL’s issues with him stem from his loss to Bart Gunn during the tournament.
“He’s not mad at me because he lost.”
Russo then shared what he believes is the real reason JBL remains upset.
“He’s still embarrassed with being knocked out cold on national television.”
Russo argued that there should be no shame in losing to Bart Gunn, whom he described as one of the toughest competitors in the tournament.
“Getting knocked out by Bart Gunn was nothing to be ashamed of, bro.”
“The guy, like, he was a monster during that thing.”
Russo also recalled how seriously wrestlers backstage began taking the tournament once the knockout victories started piling up.
“As we were getting towards the later rounds, Kevin, it was standing room only around the monitors in the back.”
“The boys love a shoot.”
He specifically pointed to Bart Gunn’s knockout power as a major reason he emerged victorious.
“Bart’s winning this whole thing.”
“He got hot and that lethal punch of his and there we go. Everybody’s knocked out.”
Despite the disagreement, Russo said he ultimately chose to walk away from the conversation and leave the issue unresolved.
“At this point, we’re going to have to agree to disagree.”
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to WrestlingHeadlines.com for the transcription.
