Summary

Billy Gunn believes too much of modern wrestling is built around doing as many moves as possible instead of building a match with structure, pacing, and crowd control.

Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Gunn said too many wrestlers are taught sequences without learning how to put those moments together in a way that makes sense. He argued that the biggest reactions still come from timing, selling, and taking the audience up and down emotionally, not from cramming dangerous-looking spots into every stretch of a match.

The comments add another layer to Gunn's recent interview run, which also included him saying he does not want to wrestle into his 70s.

Quote from Billy Gunn

"Oh God, this is where I get laced. I feel it’s all about moves now. I feel it’s just moves. It’s just, you want to learn how to wrestle? Okay, I’m going to show you a bunch of moves. Okay, we have a show tonight. You want to go work it? Sure. What are you going to do? You’re going to do everything I taught you. There’s no structure to it. There’s no sense to it. There’s nothing, you’re just doing all the moves that I taught you how to do in however long we have."

Gunn later went on to say:

"So the problem is the people won’t know any different, other than it’s the first time that they see you. But you’re diving out of the ring, you’re landing on your head, you’re getting slammed on the apron for some ungodly reason, which seems to be a thing these days. If they took their time and did them in the middle of the ring where they’re supposed to, they’d get the same reaction if you do it right as they do when you get slammed on the hardest part of the ring. Because now it’s cool to be killed halfway through your match."

"But it’s just moves now, to where back then it was, yeah, there were no moves, because everything was structured so good and the storylines were so good that it’s where the people are at. Oh, The Rock comes out, or let’s say Stone Cold comes out, and the place goes absolutely ballistic, right? How do you get them out of the ceiling? Oh, you punch him right in his mouth and get him down. Get him to where the people don’t want him."

"Is he going to get there? No. Does he know that? Yes, because Steve’s probably not a good one, because he’s just such a butt-beater. I don’t want to cuss on your show. So let’s go with The Rock. I’ve worked him a couple times in singles. To get the people out of the ceiling so we can go somewhere to where you get a reaction, he’s already got a reaction because they’re already doing all the stuff."

"So you punch him in the mouth, right? You put him on the sell. Now the people are down here because they’re going, ‘Oh, now it’s come on.’ They’re just waiting. And the minute you spin him around and he pops me, and I flop around like that, the people lose their minds. So now we’ve done really nothing but gotten a monster reaction, because we’re just playing with the people. We’re just taking them where I want to take them."

"If we’re here, how much higher can they go? Nowhere. So they have to come here so I can get them back to here. So I just feel that it’s just a bunch of wrestling moves now."

Billy Gunn's argument about structure and reaction

Gunn's bigger point was not simply that modern wrestlers do more. It was that matches mean less when everything is treated like a peak moment. By using The Rock and Steve Austin as examples, he framed wrestling as a process of controlling the audience's energy, bringing it down at the right time so the next comeback or strike matters more.

That is the part of his criticism wrestling fans will probably recognize most. Gunn was arguing for rhythm, selling, and escalation over constant risk. Whether fans agree with him or not, his comments tap into a long-running debate about how much of wrestling's emotional payoff comes from the spaces between the big spots.

Sources

Billy Gunn while speaking with Chris Van Vliet