Inside AEW's ring, Billy Gunn has been involved in an ongoing feud between The Acclaimed and The Gunn Club, but outside of it, he's one of the company's most experienced and well-versed coaches. His role includes working with younger talent regarding mindset and match pacing. Not surprisingly, most in the All Elite locker room aren't all that interested in listening to at least one piece of advice the WWE Hall of Famer has tried to bestow on them.
No one will get Gunn confused with someone like Shawn Michaels or The Undertaker, but he's been adjacent to performers of that caliber for upwards of two decades. He's seen a lot of what does and doesn't work in front of wrestling audiences and, as such, ought to be considered an outstanding resource for AEW's roster. In a recent interview, Gunn confessed to trying to get many performers to slow down, to no avail.
Speaking on The Sessions with Renee Paquette podcast, Gunn talked at length about the advice he tries to give AEW wrestlers. "When you tell them, 'Okay, how about taking this out,' they hear, 'Hey, you don't want me to do my stuff.' I'm like, 'That's not true. It doesn't have to be a five-star match or a WrestleMania match every time you're out there.'" Gunn then spoke about the need to hold some stuff back every now and again. "They'll do that on Dark, and it's nothing against the Dark or Elevation show. Those are secondary shows. Even when you're on Dynamite and Rampage doesn't mean that you have to unload everything you have in seven minutes. That's crazy because now you're just going through stuff. You're just going through the motions, and you're not in it. So if you're not in it, how would you want me to be in it? But then they'll do some crazy thing that thinks that the people are in it, but they're just reacting because they can't do that, and it's pretty cool, but it's very forgettable." (h/t and a thank you to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
Gunn's issues echo the likes of Jim Cornette in that AEW wrestlers do things that are amazing at the moment but quickly fade from memory. That aspect of psychology seems lost on performers like Will Ospreay, who seems to wrestle more for Dave Meltzer more than any arena full of fans. It's not a knock on Billy G.O.A.T., as there's no denying that his bouts are entertaining. Gunn's point is that many of those repeated spots would have more of an emotional impact if they weren't rolled out each and every match.
There's a certain level of repetition involved in every wrestler's matches. It's not unique to AEW. However, the lack of a desire to learn from someone like Gunn might be. How much more well-rounded would performers like Hangman Adam Page and Kenny Omega be if they didn't tune out advice from veterans such as Gunn? Another point he made is that, by wrestling at such a high rate, bodies tend to break down quicker. Given AEW's rash of injuries over the last six months, there might be something to that.
Source: The Sessions with Renee Paquette