Former WWE and TNA superstar Billy Gunn recently appeared in an interview with Sports Illustrated where he was asked about his thoughts on a WWE return and the reason for him joining New Japan Pro Wrestling among a number of other things.
On whether he would be willing to head back to the WWE, Gunn said that he would be more than happy to do it as he loved the coaching job a lot. He revealed how Triple H had said while hiring him that he will have to undergo a trial run to determine if he was fit enough for the job as it is a very different role compared to being a wrestler.
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This is what the multiple-time WWE tag team champion had to say:
“Of course I would. I loved coaching. That is my thing – I love teaching people that want to learn this business. I would go back in a minute if asked. Coaching was such a different avenue for me, and I didn’t think that I had it in me. When Paul [Levesque] hired me, he goes, ‘You can’t be one the boys, and we’ve got to trial run to see if you’ll be a good coach. Just because you’re good in the ring doesn’t mean you’ll be a good coach’.”
Talking about the essentials for being a good coach, Gunn said that it was highly important for him and the students to trust each other. He also added that he had to have a relationship with each of his students when he was coaching and he is looking forward to doing that again. He stated:
“For me, a big part of coaching is having a trust for the students that are in your class. If they trust you, and you don’t talk beneath them, you can create an even playing field. Yes, what I say goes, but there has to be an open discussion. As long as they trust me, then they’re going to listen to me and then they’ll learn. If they don’t trust me, then what I say goes on deaf ears and they go out there and do whatever. As a coach, I had to have a relationship with every one of my students. I would love to go back.”
Billy Gunn was also asked how he ended up joining New Japan Pro Wrestling and his experience in the company so far. He said he was informed by former NJPW star Lance Hoyt that the promotion wanted him to be a part of their World Tag League and since he had always wanted to work there, he agreed to go.
In the league, Gunn partnered another former WWE performer, Yoshi Tatsu, as part of the latter’s Hunter Club. The 53-year old was quoted as saying:
After I was let go by the Performance Center, I was out working indies. I liked doing some indie stuff for a year, then Lance Hoyt called me and said that the New Japan office was looking for me to go over to Japan and do this tag tournament. If it’s a tag tournament and you have room, why not have me? My partner was Yoshi and he’s trying to do this Hunter Club thing, so they figured I could help him a little bit. That’s something I’ve always wanted to do, so I jumped on it.
Speaking of his future engagements with New Japan Pro Wrestling, Billy confirmed that he has been roped in for a couple of shows and he will be heading back on 1 January.
“I actually go back January 1st. I’m doing the Tokyo Dome and one other show. As soon as I agreed to do the tag tournament, they asked if I’d come back January 1st through the sixth, which is awesome. I just had a scope on my knee, but I’ll be good to go,” the former WWE Intercontinental Champion said.
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