All Elite Wrestling first launched in 2019, and Billy Gunn has been with the company since the early days. In April of 2019, D-Generation X was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, which created an interesting situation as Billy attended the Hall of Fame induction ceremony while he was under contract with AEW.
During the DX Hall of Fame induction speech the fans started to chant for AEW. Triple H responded by telling the fans that Vince McMahon would buy that “p***ant company” just to fire Billy again. The line got quite the reaction from wrestling fans and Billy Gunn was asked during a recent interview with Kenny McIntosh of Inside The Ropes if they had a conversation about it when they got backstage.
“No, because I knew it was coming. I kind of knew they were going to do something about AEW because it was hot at the time, and I was there. They were all wondering how I got to go there, and that was because Tony Khan was super cool. They were going to stick us in, so I went and asked him, and he said, ‘100%.’ He said, ‘Of course you can. I would never hold you back from that.’
I didn’t know what they were going to do, but I knew they were going to do something. I also knew that Hunter was going to have something to say about it. Once I prepared myself for that, I just let it go. The only one who got hurt out of that whole deal was him. I don’t want to say it, but it was a d*ck move. It was kind of an attempt to save face, and you didn’t need to because it was going to happen. That’s the wrestling business. That’s what we do, and that’s what they like to stir up.
When you have somebody in another company, and I’m not trying to be egotistical, but I’m sure a lot of people didn’t think I was going to make it because I worked for another company. Then, when you see me, they have to do something. It’s like an unwritten rule in a book, if another guy is in another company, we have to say something and do something.”