Billy Gunn

When Sopp first arrived in the World Wrestling Federation, he used the name Billy Gunn and teamed with his on-screen brother, Bart Gunn, as The Smoking Gunns. In early 1995, they won their first WWF Tag Team Championship by defeating the makeshift team of Bob Holly and The 1-2-3 Kid. They held the titles until WrestleMania XI when they were defeated by the team of Owen Hart and Yokozuna. They won the titles again in September 1995.
On February 15, 1996, the Gunns vacated the titles because Billy was in need of neck surgery. After Billy returned from hiatus, The Smoking Gunns won the Tag Titles for the third time by defeating The Godwinns in May. After the match, The Godwinns' manager Sunny turned on her team in favor of the Gunns. She and Sopp went on to have an onscreen relationship. In September, the Gunns lost their titles to the team of Owen Hart and The British Bulldog. After the match, Sunny abandoned The Gunns, saying that she would only manage title holders. Billy, frustrated with both losing the titles and Sunny, walked out on Bart and broke up The Smoking Gunns.
After briefly feuding with his brother, Billy adopted a new gimmick, Rockabilly, and became the protégé of The Honky Tonk Man. During this time, he had a short lived feud with "The Real Double J" Jesse James. On Shotgun Saturday Night, James realized both of their were going nowhere and suggested that they became a tag team. Sopp agreed and smashed a guitar over the Honky Tonk Man's head.
James and Gunn, rechristened "The Road Dogg" Jesse James and "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn became The New Age Outlaws. This new team was in the spirit of the new Attitude Era: brash, vulgar, egotistical, and loud-mouthed. They quickly rose to the top of the tag team ranks and won the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Legion Of Doom on November 24. They also defeated the LOD in a rematch at In Your House: D-Generation X.
The Outlaws slowly began to align themselves with D-Generation X, who were impressed with their new attitude. At the Royal Rumble, The New Age Outlaws interfered in a Casket match to help Shawn Michaels defeat The Undertaker. At No Way Out Of Texas, The Outlaws teamed up with Triple H and Savio Vega (who replaced the injured Shawn Michaels) to face Chainsaw Charlie, Cactus Jack, Owen Hart, and Stone Cold Steve Austin. They were, however, defeated. On February 2, The Outlaws locked Cactus and Chainsaw in a dumpster and pushed it off the stage. This led to a Dumpster match at WrestleMania XIV where Cactus and Chainsaw defeated The Outlaws for the Tag Titles. The next night on Raw, The New Age Outlaws won the Tag Team Championship for a second time by defeating Chainsaw and Cactus in a Steel cage match, but only after interference from Triple H, Chyna, and X-Pac. After the match, The Outlaws officially became members of D-Generation X (DX).
After joining DX, the Outlaws successfully defended their Tag Titles against the Legion Of Doom 2000 at Unforgiven. DX began to feud with Owen Hart, and his new stablemates, The Nation. At Over The Edge, The Outlaws and Triple H were defeated by Nation members Owen, Kama Mustafa, and D'Lo Brown in a Six Man Tag Match. The Outlaws would also successfully defend their titles against The New Midnight Express (Bombastic Bob and Bodacious Bart) at King of the Ring.
During this time, The Outlaws began a feud with Kane and Mankind. Although Kane and Mankind won the Tag Team championship, they could not get along. At SummerSlam, Mankind faced The Outlaws in a Handicap match after Kane no-showed the title defense. The Outlaws defeated Mankind to win the titles for the third time. The Outlaws then helped X-Pac in his feud with Jeff Jarrett and Southern Justice. In December, The Outlaws lost their titles to The Big Boss Man and Ken Shamrock from The Corporation.
The Outlaws then began to focus more on singles competition. The Road Dogg won the Hardcore Championship in December 1998,[14] and Gunn set his sights on the Intercontinental Championship. At the 1999 Royal Rumble, Gunn unsuccessfully challenged Ken Shamrock for the Intercontinental Title.[15] The next month at St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Gunn was the special guest referee for the Intercontinental Championship match between Val Venis and champion Ken Shamrock, where Gunn made a fast count and declared Venis the new champion before attacking both men.[15]In March, Gunn won the Hardcore Championship from Hardcore Holly.[14] At WrestleMania XV, Gunn lost the title to Holly in a Triple Threat match which also included Al Snow.[16] The New Age Outlaws then reunited to defeat Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart at Backlash.[16] After Backlash, Gunn left D-Generation X, aligned himself with Triple H and Chyna, and became known as Mr. Ass. He defeated his former partner, Road Dogg, in a match at Over the Edge.[16] Gunn then won the King of the Ring Tournament by defeating Ken Shamrock, Kane, and his former ally, X-Pac.[16] After King of the Ring, Gunn, Triple H, and Chyna went on to feud with X-Pac and Road Dogg over the rights to the D-Generation X name. This feud culminated at Fully Loaded when X-Pac and Road Dogg defeated Gunn and Chyna.[16]
Gunn then briefly feuded with Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental Title before reuniting with Road Dogg to reform The New Age Outlaws. The Outlaws won their fourth tag team championship by defeating The Rock 'n' Sock Connection in September 1999. After defeating teams such as Edge and Christian, Hardcore Holly and Crash Holly, and The Acolytes, the Outlaws reunited with X-Pac and Triple H to reform D-Generation X. The group then feuded with the likes of Steve Austin, The Rock, Kane, Mankind, Shane McMahon, and Vince McMahon. During this time, The Outlaws won their fifth and final WWF Tag Team Championship after defeating Mankind and Al Snow.
At the 2000 Royal Rumble, The New Age Outlaws retained their titles against The Acolytes after interference from X-Pac. The Outlaws then had a heated feud with The Dudley Boyz, who won the WWF Tag Team Championships from The Outlaws at No Way Out. After suffering a torn rotator cuff in the match with The Dudley Boyz, Gunn was kicked out of D-Generation X for "losing his cool" therefore costing them the tag team titles. He then took time off to tend to his arm injury, before returning later in the year.
Gunn made his return in October and immediately teamed with Chyna to feud with The Right to Censor, who wanted to "censor" his Mr. Ass gimmick. At No Mercy, Right to Censor members Steven Richards and Val Venis defeated Chyna and Sopp. Due to a stipulation, Gunn could no longer use the Mr. Ass gimmick, so he renamed himself Billy G. for a few weeks before settling on "The One" Billy Gunn. Gunn then feuded with Eddie Guerrero and the rest of The Radicalz. At Survivor Series, Gunn teamed with Road Dogg, Chyna, and K-Kwik in a losing effort against The Radicalz. A few weeks later on SmackDown!, Gunn won the Intercontinental Championship from Guerrero. The title reign was short lived, however, as Chris Benoit defeated him two weeks later at Armageddon.
After feuding with Benoit, Gunn interfered in the WWF Hardcore Championship Match at No Way Out, and taking advantage of the 24/7 Rule, pinned Raven for the title. The reign was short lived, as Raven won it back a few minutes later. Gunn competed in the Hardcore Division until June, when he turned heel and had a short feud with the 2001 King of the Ring, Edge. After the feud, Gunn quietly turned face again and formed a short lived tag team with The Big Show. At Show's request, the team was called "The Show Gunns", a pun on the word shogun. At InVasion, The Show Gunns and Albert lost to the team of Shawn Stasiak, Hugh Morrus, and Chris Kanyon. The Show Gunns quietly disbanded and Sopp feuded with The Alliance midcarders.
In a 2001 match on Sunday Night Heat, Gunn was defeated by Chuck Palumbo, who recently left The Alliance to join the WWF. After the match, Gunn suggested that they form a tag team. Palumbo agreed and Billy and Chuck quickly rose to the top of the tag team division. Initially they were a generic face tandem but soon turned heel when they were given a gimmick where they grew increasingly affectionate toward each other, showing evidence of a storyline homosexual relationship.
In February 2002, Billy and Chuck defeated Spike Dudley and Tazz to win the Tag Titles for the first time as a team. After winning the titles, Billy and Chuck found a "Personal Stylist" in the ambiguously flamboyant Rico. After defeating The APA, The Dudley Boyz, and The Hardy Boyz in a Four Corners Elimination Match at WrestleMania X8, and Al Snow and Maven at Backlash, Billy and Chuck feuded with Rikishi. At Judgment Day, Rikishi and Rico (Rikishi's mystery partner of Mr. McMahon's choosing) defeated Billy and Chuck for the Tag Titles after Rico accidentally hit Chuck with a roundhouse kick. Billy and Chuck quickly won the titles back two weeks later on SmackDown! with Rico's help. They held the championship for about a month before losing it to the team of Edge and Hulk Hogan.
Later that summer, after Gunn lost a match to Rey Mysterio, Chuck proposed to Billy asking him to be his "partner for life" and gave him a wedding ring. Gunn agreed, and on the September 12 episode of SmackDown!, Billy and Chuck had their wedding ceremony. However, just before they tied the knot, they revealed that entire ordeal was a publicity stunt and disavowed their on-screen homosexuality, admitting that they were just friends. The "preacher" revealed himself to be Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff (who was wearing a skin mask), who then summoned 3-Minute Warning to beat up Billy and Chuck. Rico, furious that Billy and Chuck gave up their gimmick, became the manager of Three Minute Warning and defected to Raw which effectively turned Billy and Chuck face in the process. At Unforgiven, Three Minute Warning defeated Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo. Their final match together occurred on SmackDown! in the first round of a tournament for the newly created WWE Tag Team Championship. They lost the match to the team of Ron Simmons and Reverend D-Von. Afterwards, Sopp took a few months off because of a shoulder injury and the team of Billy and Chuck quietly disbanded.
After returning in the summer of 2003, Gunn reprised the "Mr. Ass" gimmick and Torrie Wilson became his new manager. He started a feud with Jamie Noble which led to an "Indecent Proposal" Match at Vengeance, which Noble won and due to a stipulation, won a night with Torrie. On SmackDown!, it looked as if Torrie was going to have a Ménage à trois with Noble and Nidia until Sopp broke into the hotel room ready to brawl with Noble. Sopp then started a short lived tag team with Noble before taking time off again because of a shoulder injury.
Gunn returned to action at the 2004 Royal Rumble but was eliminated by Goldberg. He also got a chance for a WWE Championship match at No Way Out against then Champion Brock Lesnar in a SmackDown style Royal Rumble, but was eliminated by the winner of the match Eddie Guerrero. Afterward, he wrestled mainly on WWE Velocity before forming a tag team with Hardcore Holly, which quickly rose to the top of SmackDown!'s tag team division. At Judgment Day, they unsuccessfully challenged Charlie Haas and Rico for the WWE Tag Team Championship. Sopp then had a short feud with Kenzo Suzuki before challenging for the WWE United States Championship.
On November 1, 2004, Sopp was released from his WWE contract. At the time of his release, he was one of the most tenured wrestlers with the company, behind only The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. In June 2005, Sopp gave an interview in which he was heavily critical of WWE and the events that led to his release. Many of the negative comments were directed towards Triple H, who Sopp claimed "runs the show up there".