Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo’s pairing in WWE is commonly remembered for his or her “commitment ceremony” and the constant teases that the 2 were together in an on-screen romantic relationship. While the initial run received praise from organizations like GLAAD, once the “commitment ceremony” revealed that the 2 were never romantically linked, the angle then received criticism from the identical organizations.
In an interview with Denise Salcedo, Gunn commented on the angle and admitted that it was probably the most difficult runs of his profession.
“It actually wasn’t alleged to be that initially. It was just alleged to be me, and Chuck thought we were probably the most gorgeous people, probably the most gorgeous guys in WWE on the time,” he explained.
Gunn then added that they initially would’ve criticized how much time and a focus women get backstage before things pivoted to romantic suggestions.
“So, now you would like me to propose to Chuck on live TV? Alrighty then! Let’s try that?” he recalled. “By the point that got here around, I had been doing – you realize – I went from being a cowboy, to a rockabilly guy, to a Bad Ass, to ‘hey, can we actually pull this off?’ ‘Cause, it’s like, playing – being straight and playing a gay character, I might say, to me, can be certainly one of the toughest things to do.”
The veteran further expressed that portraying a believable character requires not only the fans buying it, however the actor themselves, and for that you simply’d must go all-in with something, which WWE simply didn’t with “Billy & Chuck.”
“We all the time were suggestive, right? It was all the time the stretching and the funny suggestive stuff; we never went that far,” he recalled.
‘It’s two really straight, married guys, that must pretend that they are married!’
Despite WWE’s hesitance to completely lean into the angle, Billy Gunn noted that it might’ve been tougher to portray an angle like that on television on the time, but he and Chuck Palumbo agreed to completely devote themselves to the role.
“I do not think there is a handful of folks that are in wrestling, period, that may pull this off when you’re not truly gay, right?” he admitted. “It’s two really straight, married guys, that must pretend that they are married!”
“After we first did it, they were like, everybody got to breathe, because finally there are some people coming out on TV that are not afraid to do whatever,” he recalled. “And I believe the largest problem was it was just characters, and we were playing a job, so after we finally did the reveal and stuff, it was a little bit of a kickback.”
Unfortunately for each Gunn and Palumbo, the angle was short-lived as he suffered one other injury. In AEW, Gunn was paired with openly-gay pro wrestler, Anthony Bowens, for a very long time which has naturally brought up many questions on his “Billy & Chuck” run. “I’ve never been, like, homophobic or whatever you should call – whatever political name that’s – I just, so long as you do not push it on me, we’re good! You do me, and I’ll do me!” he stated. “Look, I used to be with Anthony Bowens eternally, and I really like that child to death, you realize? (…) So, none of that ever phases me! (…) I didn’t ever wish to hurt anybody’s feelings in that genre.”
If you happen to use any quotes from this text, please credit Denise Salcedo and supply a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.