All Elite Wrestling returns to Fresno this Wednesday, but one of its veteran stars remains on the sidelines.

Billy Gunn — with more than 30 years’ ring experience — won’t be in Fresno, where he first wrestled with the WWF/WWE in 1994.

“I’m taking a hiatus, I think,” Gunn said in a phone call with Off the Top Rope from his home in suburban Atlanta.

One of AEW’s elder statesman, Gunn in recent years associated with a tag team The Acclaimed — Max Caster and Anthony Bowens. The group had a recent falling out, leaving Gunn at home and off TV.

“It seems like that’s always how it goes. You know, once you kind of get a little bit of notoriety, one thinks you’re better than the other,” Gunn said. “I’m always lurking around somewhere.”

Even at the age of 61, Gunn has an immaculate body for a man half, or even a third his age. He says it is about lifestyle and a love of bodybuilding.

“It’s just a state of mind,” Gunn said.

Returning to Fresno

The AEW show is at the Save Mart Center, with a 4:30 p.m. bell time. “AEW Dynamite” will air live on TBS and streaming on Max.

This is AEW’s second time in Fresno. It held a TV taping Jan. 18, 2023.

Gunn first wrestled in in Fresno with the WWF in 1994. The Smoking Gunns defeated the odd team of Tom Prichard & The Barbarian that night at Selland Arena. A year later, the Gunns beat Prichard and his regular partner, Jimmy Del Rey.

He has made several appearances since, the last in 2004.

“Fresno’s a great town, and it’s always been a great wrestling town,” Gunn said.

Gunn wrestled on Monday Night Raw from Selland Arena in 1998, when Steve Austin and Mike Tyson faced off.

“It’s always electric when you have the Baddest Man on the Planet around, doing stuff with you. It doesn’t get much better than Mike Tyson at the time. He was super hot. Wrestling was super hot. So you mix it all together and then you have some magic going on,” Gunn said.

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From Orlando to Around the World

Gunn grew up in Orlando, Florida, playing multiple sports in high school. Rodeo led to college at Sam Houston State in Texas.

He discovered wrestling “by accident.” While training at the gym back in Florida, Gunn ran into some childhood friends who were also wrestlers — twins Ron and Don Harris.

“They went over to this school and beat me up for a little while, and away we went. It was one of those things where I didn’t think it was what it was. And it turned out to be more than I thought it was,” Gunn said.

Gunn trained with Eddy Mansfield, who may have been best known for appearing on the ABC News program “20/20” spilling some of wrestling’s secrets in 1985.

While learning to be a pro wrestler, Billy met his future WWF partner, Bart Gunn.

“Bart amateur wrestled. I never did any of that. So, at least we had one that knew a little bit. And then we just watched and taught ourselves until some people showed up (at the training school) once in a while,” Billy Gunn said.

Hall of Famer Blackjack Mulligan discovered Billy & Bart Gunn wrestling the independent circuit around Orlando. He called WWF agent Dave Hebner, leading to a tryout match.

“It was all the weirdest thing because it was all by accident. I guess the stars aligned and it was supposed to be. They invited us up for a tryout and they happened to be looking for a new tag team that they want to do something with. We fit the bill. We were in the right place at the right time and bingo, there it is,” Gunn said.

The WWF was looking for a cowboy tag team. Gunn spent his entire life training horses and riding bulls, thus a perfect fit. The Smoking Gunns won the WWF tag team championship three times.

Gunn re-invented himself during the WWF “Attitude Era,” where the norms of wrestling — and perhaps good taste — changed. He took the nickname “Bad Ass” and later “Mr. Ass” for his fondness of showing his tush.

His work as part of the faction Degeneration X led Billy to the WWE Hall of Fame.

“We had no boundaries of what we could and couldn’t do,” Gunn said. “As we caught fire, there was no doing anything wrong. It was mixing entertainment and characters and good storylines all together to make it what it was. Amazing.”

With wrestling relying more on corporate sponsors, Gunn is not sure the same things can happen today.

His sons, Colten & Austin Gunn, also wrestle on the AEW roster.

“It just doesn’t really get any better than that. It’s amazing,” Gunn said.

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