The Rock and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin may have been rivals on-screen but behind the scenes, they were the punching bags for Austin and Colten Gunn!
Austin and Colten Gunn, sons of the legendary Billy Gunn, currently compete for AEW alongside their Hall of Famer father as Gunn Club. However, it seems their training inadvertantly began years before they were of the appropriate age.
The Gunn sons were recently guests on Chris Van Vliet’s podcast, where they jokingly recalled being allowed to beat up Attitude Era stalwarts The Rock and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. Austin Gunn recalled performing the other’s signature manoeuvre whenever he saw them:
“They used to let us beat them up backstage. I would give Rock a Stunner every time I saw him. And Stone Cold, give him the Rock Bottom or whatever you wanted. They were so cool and so welcoming.”
The youngest Gunn Club member continued, mentioning how their backstage routine would involve eating push pops, spending time with Too Cool, attacking the two aforementioned WWE legends, and receiving free merchandise:
“Every time we went to a show it was, ‘Where’s Rikishi?’ Get Push Pops, go to Scotty 2 Hotty and Brian Christopher and let them style our hair. Go and stun The Rock real quick, go talk trash to Stone Cold and then we go to the merchandise stand and we got three things. He [the merchandise seller] would say, ‘Whatever you want, three things.’ Those were little things that we look back on and like, that’s cool.”
Austin Gunn made his debut with AEW in January 2020, having previously been contracted to Ring Of Honor, with Colten Gunn following close behind later that winter. Together, Austin and Colten have faced some of the best on offer in AEW, including FTR, Blackpool Combat Club, and The Jurassic Express, who they challenged for the AEW World Tag Team Championships in February.
November 2021 would also see the Gunn brothers begin an online feud with Danhausen, who referred to Austin and Colten as ‘Ass Boys’. Done in reference to Billy Gunn’s ‘Mr Ass’ persona from the Attitude Era, the phrase has since stuck, much to Austin and Colten’s chagrin, with Billy Gunn having teased mooning live audiences again.
If you use any quotes from this article, please provide a link back and h/t to Inside the Ropes.