Unpopular Opinion: Billy Gunn should have been a main eventer

Billy Gunn is a WWE legend likely to find himself in the Hall of Fame before too long. In addition to respectable work as a mid-card performer, Gunn is generally best remembered for his tag team efforts. Whether he was functioning as half of The Smoking Gunns or Billy and Chuck, less remembered teams like Show-Gunns and his pairing with Bob Holly or his most iconic tandem as The New Age Outlaws with The Road Dogg, Gunn’s size, agility, and skill made him the foundation for teams working a variety of styles across different eras.

There was a brief period in time when WWE seemed invested in pushing Gunn to the next level. He won the King of the Ring tournament and was positioned in a feud with The Rock that suggested he might tip over to main event status. In the end, The Brahma Bull outclassed Gunn both in the ring and on the mic, and WWE scrapped any intentions of pushing The Badass as a solo star at the top of the card.

Today, very few pundits really champion Gunn’s cause. It’s true he wasn’t a sensational worker or all that remarkable on the mic. However, he did have the unique physical tools and look to have accomplished more as a singles wrestler.

If given a longer window to find himself, and if set up for success by working his way up the ladder, Gunn could have been a bona fide main event guy for WWE. Maybe he couldn’t ever compete with The Rock or Steve Austin, but he might have been a worthy rival for Triple H. Moreover, he might have used his Attitude Era credibility to work on top during the Ruthless Aggression era before passing the torch to John Cena, Randy Orton, et al. Think of him as a performer in the style of a JBL or Mark Henry, burning bright as a main event level talent for a shorter window of time, but nonetheless succeeding at the highest level of WWE.