SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
After the last column took a look at the creative conundrum behind All In and All Out, normal service is resumed this week with a return to the All Elite Assessment format. “Guns up” as it’s a Bullet Club Gold special.
The Gunns
Background
Florida born Austin and Colten Sopp are second generation wrestlers initially brought into AEW under the mentorship of their tenured father, Billy Gunn. Despite their wrestling heritage, the Gunn brothers are relative newcomers to the professional wrestling scene.
Indeed it was younger brother Austin who would blaze the trail for the tandem by entering the independent circuit in 2017. It was a partnership with his father which laid the foundations for a promising tag team career. After a few bookings, Austin would then move into the singles ranks signing for Ring of Honor in 2019. A short stint in the companies Top Prospect tournament would follow before opting to join his father in All Elite.
Elder brother Colten traversed a shorter trail to All Elite seemingly skipping an independent education before making his AEW debut. A former Florida State alumni had previously worked in the construction industry before succumbing to the family trade in mid-2020.
Journey
Austin and Billy Gunn debuted as a tag team on a January 2020 episode of AEW Dark. Known as The Gunn Club, Austin and Billy would initially be presented as faces. The babyface role allowed AEW to capitalize on Billy Gunn’s popularity as well as presenting Austin as an earnest son eager for his father’s approval. Although the father-son duo predominately competed on Dark, an appearance on Dynamite followed in November teaming with then-EVP Cody Rhodes.
Colten would debut for AEW in the same month as the duo became a trio. Billy Gunn would often accompany his sons during an impressive tag team run as the Sopp siblings accrued an impressive winning record. This run would culminate in a title match against then-champions Jurassic Express on a February 2022 Rampage.
Both online and amongst the live crowd, the Gunn duo were perceived with scorn. An unfair scent of nepotism followed the brothers and meant their babyface personas would have an expiration date. The tipping point of an eventual heel turn would center on the affections of their father.
In a tale as old as time (and replayed in wrestling lore many times over), the Gunns would become bitter about their father’s perceived neglect. A tug of war for Billy would follow between the Gunns and The Acclaimed tag team, a rivalry which would unexpectedly elevate both teams. With Billy eventually siding with The Acclaimed, Austin and Colten would align with heel manager Stokely Hathaway and cement their villainous status.
The association with Hathaway would continue as the bitter brothers would join the short-lived Firm faction. Initially constructed to act as a backup to the heel MJF, the group would appear sporadically on AEW television and eventually go their separate ways. During this loose association, the Gunns would continuously antagonise FTR.
The feud worked due to the fan perception of both teams. FTR have long been considered workhorses who had traveled the road and honed their craft to tag-team perfection. The Gunns, on the other hand, had been perceived as entitled brats, handed their opportunities through their more famous father. Viewed by many as a transitional feud for FTR, there was shock when the Gunns upset the tenured team.
This success would rocket the team as they renewed their feud with the white-hot Acclaimed, claiming the tag titles in the process.
A near two month reign would follow. Coinciding with the siphoning of tag team talent to the newly formed trios division, the Gunns run would be viewed by some as a nadir to a once promising roster. FTR would gain revenge on their oft tormentors and relieve the Gunns of the titles in April of this year.
A new chapter now beckons for the team with the formation of new stable Bullet Club Gold.
Future
With their association with Bullet Club Gold, the Gunns have turned a corner. Accusations of nepotism have long drifted like pistol smoke as the brothers have settled into a seemingly perfect heel role. Importantly the duo have upped their on-screen presentation. The new entrance (with spotlight and water spray) gives the team a main event feel which matches their Shawn Michaels-inspired ring gear. The brothers’ brash and braggadocios personas make a nice fit with their Bullet Club stablemates and recall the combination of the attitude era agitating New Age Outlaws with the Triple H and X-Pac.
With AEW Collision seemingly the new home for the Gunns, a renewal of the feud with FTR is a possibility. A return to the Gunns career high point may have already been signposted as the two teams have clashed in multi-man battles on consecutive Collision episodes.
The Gunns could also act as proxies for de-facto group leader Jay White in his feuds with the Collision babyface fraternity. Colten and then Austin opposite C.M. Punk would provide fresh matches but wouldn’t be a sound use of the team’s undoubted potential.
With the tag team scene sparse on Collision, Dynamite could provide more fruitful opportunities for the duo. A narrative featuring another sibling team in the Young Bucks would provide an intriguing dynamic. Both teams have portrayed brash heels so a feud which spotlights the Gunn brothers as heirs apparent to the Jacksons could provide a compelling proposition.
Verdict
The Gunns are a homegrown act beginning to be noticed by a fan base that initially shunned them. AEW should take advantage whilst the iron is hot and continue to prominently feature the brothers and Bullet Club Gold by association as a centerpiece heel act for the embryonic Saturday night show.
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Juice Robinson
Background
Joseph Robinson is a rarity in modern day professional wrestling. Although an alumni of the beloved first incarnation of NXT, the former C.J. Parker built a reputation for himself once released and far from the bright lights of WWE.
The Joliet, Illinois native made his debut in 2008 and journeyed several independent promotions before landing in the then Florida Championship Wrestling (later NXT). During this developmental period, Robinson would be perhaps best known by his eco warrior gimmick. Conceived as a babyface, the act proved unsuccessful and was hastily switched to a complaining heel. Robinson would berate the live fans before a conquering babyface would appear and despatch the crusading C.J.
A release in 2015 was not wholly unexpected given his trajectory but brighter days would follow. After returning to the independent scene, Robinson would eventually find home in NJPW, initially as a young lion before ascending the card. A reputation renewed, Juice Robinson would compete with NJPW’s biggest stars and be the companies most decorated U.S. Champion to date.
With a growing transactional relationship between AEW, Impact, ROH, and NJPW, it was inevitable that Robinson would journey back across the Pacific.
Journey
Robinson would debut in AEW and renew an old rivalry when he faced Jon Moxley in a World Title eliminator match. Two months removed from that losing effort, Robinson would officially sign with All Elite and bring his free agent status to an end.
“Rock Hard” would initially set his sights on the talented Ricky Starks. This feud, though, would be but a prelude to the introduction of stablemate Jay White. With the two former friends reunited under a new company banner, the twosome announced the formation of a new branch of the hugely popular Bullet Club brand – Bullet Club Gold.
Starks and Robinson have been seemingly connected ever since. First clashing in a Blackjack Battle Royal at this year’s Double or Nothing before facing each other again in the Owen Hart Tournament quarter final. In both instances, Stark has gotten the better of his continuous foe.
Future
Akin to the Gunns, Robinson has been given a new lease of life through his association with Bullet Club Gold and a greater focus on Collision.
With an increasingly erratic and unhinged persona, Robinson is undeniably entertaining in comparison to his debut and has found his niche as an irritating second to the more composed White.
Bullet Club Gold is in its formative stages and should be left to sink or swim with Collision as the group’s home base. As for Robinson, he is clearly a competent worker in-ring and is now finding his persona outside it. It remains to be seen if the fan base at large latches onto his outlandish antics, but if so, a babyface turn could be on the horizon.
Verdict
“Rock Hard” Juice Robinson is an enigma. Loathed by some, enjoyed by others. A fine proxy against babyface foes is a sound spot for now.
CATCH UP ON LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: AEW ALL ELITE ASSESSMENT: The booking conundrum of All In and All Out being scheduled just days apart
OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s 7/12 AEW Dynamite Hit List
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