Billy Gunn did a Q&A with Sports Illustrated where he discussed a wide range of topics. Here are some of the highlights:
His career:
“I’ve had a great career, and now I’m working for a company that makes me feel young. As long as I can still do this at a level that I’m happy with, I’ll keep doing it. It takes a lot of work to stay in the right condition, but it’s all worth it. I owe a lot of it to my kids, too—they keep me young. I still enjoy what I do.”
His role in AEW in addition to wrestling:
“I’m the head coach. I watch all the matches and critique them. When I teach, it’s important that I follow through on everything I say and stand by what I do.”
How has wrestling evolved over the past three decades:
“Wrestling continues to evolve. If I were stuck with the mindset I had in the ’90s, then I’d lose what’s happening now. You have to evolve with wrestling. My background and experience are important, too. This isn’t just about doing moves. It’s putting some psychology behind it and letting the people follow around. You can’t just go out there and do stuff just for yourself. People have to be invested in you if they’re going to care about the things you do in the ring.”
Can a group like DX ever be re-created:
“I don’t want to say it can’t happen, because anything can happen in the wrestling business, but it would take a special dynamic. There were only five of us, and we never washed it down. NWO ruined themselves by letting everyone join. I think there were something like 350 members, right? There were five members of DX, and we all clicked and we all knew our positioning. We all worked together to make something special, and we knew how to feed off each other to make it work.
It was almost too good to be true. Look at the way it happened. Shawn [Michaels] dropped out. Hunter needed some other guys. Me and Road Dogg were never supposed to be together, but then we were put together and we clicked. Then you have Chyna, who is in a league by herself, and Kid [Sean Waltman] added a special dynamic that no one else could. Everybody gelled, everything came together. And let’s look at the landscape. You had [Steve] Austin and [Vince] McMahon, who were red hot. You had The Rock, Undertaker. It was a time that was so special.”