Sometimes people get buried. For whatever reason, at this time last year Billy Gunn and Double J Jesse James felt the wrath of the front office�s shovel. While they always had tremendous talent, each was missing something and, as a result were �curtain-jerking� their way into oblivion. What they were missing was each other. Once the team was born, the rest is... You know the rest and the New Age Outlaws are rewriting history.

KK: How is it that two guys, who a year ago couldn�t get booked on Shotgun, now have achieved the level of success you have achieved?

BILLY: Because it started out as a great big rib. As everybody knows, me and Jesse used to wrestle each other every night. But then, they tried to pull the old switch-a-roo and stick us together because they were trying to punish us for something. And as soon as we got our first match together, whammo, instant success! So, they smelled nothing but money.

KK: So, the chemistry was there instantly. Was that something you guys knew you had all along, or was it a surprise to you guys as well?

BILLY: Of course, I can�t speak for Jesse, but he�s probably one of the top five talents in this business along with myself. You know, I don�t only want to put myself over here. C�mon, Jesse, chime in here.

JESSE: Yeah, yeah, he�s also in the top five. [with sarcasm]

BILLY: You know, eventually you have to do something with guys that talented, and when me and Jesse got together, it was instant. The first time they saw us in a tag team match, they said, �Oh, my God, look at this!�

JESSE: We worked well together. When we worked against each other it was like a dance. And then they put us together against each other against the Boricuas in kind of a punishment situation, the last thing of the night on Shotgun Saturday Night. And it was magic, it really was. I�m not trying to sound like some hopeless romantic or nothing, but when it�s there, it�s there, and it was definitely there. It couldn�t be harnessed.

Billy: And it shows today. I mean, I think we�ll go down as one of the best tag teams ever.

KK: Do you think that tag team wrestling today is a lost art?

BILLY: You know, I think it is, because they don�t put enough effort and time into tags. Look at what me and Jesse have done since we got together. We brought back the tag team belts, which in the World Wrestling Federation used to mean nothing. I mean, they were like, �Here�s two guys, okay they�re good, let�s have them be champs.� But ever since me and Jesse beat the L.O.D. for the Tag Team Title, the belts mean something. The people are excited about seeing tag matches now. You know, I still don�t think they put enough emphasis on it, and it�s exciting. If you get four guys in there that can go, you�re going to see a lot more excitement than watching singles matches.

KK: What did you think about Rockabilly?

JESSE: I wanted to be Rockabilly. I thought I was going to be Rockabilly, and then they gave the spot to him! [with sarcasm]

BILLY: Everyone knows that was such a GREAT spot, the best spot of my whole career! [with sarcasm]

KK: When you walked out at that In Your House, you must have been...

JESSE: Oh, he was wrestling me! Don�t act like I didn�t sing that song down to the ring. Double-au-gratin on the Free-For-All!

BILLY: Rockabilly was the worst time of my whole career. I mean, I thought it was just a big rib.

JESSE: It�s a humiliation process that you must go through.

BILLY: Right, that just goes to show you... look at how Jesse was at the top one time, and then right back down to the bottom right where I was at. We were talking about this last night. I was medium, then went to the bottom. That�s why when we did our DX mission and he called me Rockabilly, we can laugh about that. Because look at the status we have now. We�re probably the most over guys in the World Wrestling Federation besides Stone Cold Steve Austin. I mean people will tune in their television when they hear �Oh, you didn�t know?...� You�ll never have anyone switching the channel when they hear that.

KK: When you do that ring announce and the crowd chants right along with you, how does that make you feel?

JESSE: It�s a rush. And in the big cities it�s a definite rush because they deafen me. They do it so loud that I have to scream to hear myself say it. Something that catches on like that, and then people watch it on television, on RAW IS WAR, then when we go to their town they think �Well. we�re supposed to say that, too.� It�s caught on like a damn bushfire.

BILLY: There�s nothing better than if they people can get involved in it. I think that�s what a lot of these guys miss. They don�t get the people in it. They�re not here to wrestle for themselves - they�re here to entertain the people. You�re here to entertain the 20-25,000 people that paid to see you. Me and Jesse are great at it. We love to get the people in it. And if you�re a good guy or a bad guy and you get the people involved in it your match is going to be so much better, because other people can get into it and interact with it. It�s great. Plus, he�s got a great voice when he does that, and people love to hear it. When he does the �Worrrrrrrld� everyone tries to hold it.

KK: Certainly what the Outlaws are doing - while both of you guys are very talented physically - some of your best work is done without wrestling. As two guys who have made their careers as wrestlers, does it feel good or does it feel strange to be able to make money and not have to work so hard physically?

JESSE: I for one never considered myself to be a great worker. I make people look better than I can look, you know what I mean. But I thrive on that and the people interact with it. It�s not all I got, but it�s a lot of what I got that�s helping me achieve and getting to where I�m at right now. It�s not just competing. So, I don�t look at it as �they don�t want to see me wrestle.� I�d rather just mess around. I think the people would rather see us mess around in New York City then go in and have a match. Because if they just want to see some �rasslin�, they can watch that anywhere. I think they want to be entertained.

BILLY: Oh, yeah, because I thought all I ever had to do was go down there and wrestle and do my thing, you know, look good and do all that. But now so much of it is �on the stick� [microphone]. I can cut an okay interview, but I can�t zing it off the top of my head like [Road Dog]. But that�s where we click, though. I do things different than he does, and he�s good on the stick, and I�m good at whatever I do that people like.

JESSE: [Federation official] Tony Garea said that one of us like to look good and one of us likes to feel good. [laughing] That�s Outlaws personified!

KK: Funny, because that was one of my questions, let�s expound on that if we can...

JESSE: Expound or expand?

KK: Well, either one. Billy, I know you�ve spent a lot of time in the gym, and Jesse, well, you might take an alternative method to training. But certainly that�s one of the unique things about you guys is that you�re so different, and yet the chemistry is still there.

BILLY: I mean, everyone thinks they�re going to be all jacked up and big, but believe me, if you�re all jacked up and you�ve got big muscles and nothing else, it ain�t gonna do anything for ya. That�s what makes us different. Maybe half the people tune in to see what Mr. Ass is wearing this week on television. Of course, the other half are waiting to see what Jesse is going to come say down the aisle. He�s gonna bury our own Shotgun show! [laughing] Or, you know, when you hear Jesse rappin� with the people and starting to do his thing. You know, nobody says it when you�re in a tag team that both of you have to look the same. You don�t both have to be 280 pounds and ripped to shreds.

JESSE: To be quite honest, Billy�s one of the few who�s 270 or 280 and can work like that. All the other people in the business that are in that weight... it�s like wrestling three broomsticks tied together.

KK: What does being in D-Generation X mean to the New Age Outlaws?

BILLY: I think that it�s turned us up just a notch. Of course, what Shawn and Hunter did was great, because people got into it right off the bat. But, now, when you look at DX, you can�t say �Oh, Hunter�s the leader, and these guys are just the B team� because that�s not true. I mean, I can assure you that every one of the guys and the woman that are in DX are all equally as talented. You can�t say �Oh, Hunter�s the leader so he�s the A team and whatever he does is good, and whatever these guys do is B.� That�s not the kind of thing we wanted to get into. Because, of course, Shawn and Hunter were the first ones to start it, so when you add people it always gives people the notion that �Oh, well they�re bringing them in because the top guy in there doesn�t have to get beat.� Well, I don�t think that�s really happened.

KK: I know there was a concern for you going into DX and possibly losing your individual identity. I don�t think that has happened.

JESSE: I don�t think so either, but we stayed on top of that. If it was a tag team situation, we would come out with our own music, and we�d still wear whatever we want to wear and we would do whatever we wanted to do. We�re just part of a faction of young athletes that are damn good wrestlers, and all very talented, and that�s all there is to it. And that includes Chyna, X-Pac and Hunter. Chyna is a great wrestler, you know. I�ve taken her clothesline on the floor and stuff like that. I consider ourselves lucky to be in DX.

BILLY: And that�s the thing. If all of a sudden everybody�s D-Generation X, does that mean when me and Jesse have to come down to the DX music? Does X-Pac have to come down to the DX music? When Hunter comes down do they have to play the DX music? That loses the whole thing. Once you hear that four or five times in one night, people start saying, �Oh, my God.�

JESSE: It�s like listening to a radio station and hearing the same music over and over. And nobody knows who is going to come out.

BILLY: And when you come out to the same music all the time, you lose some of the cheering aspect because they don�t know who the hell is coming out of the curtain. They don�t know if it�s the main guy in the group or it�s like the little jabronis they have in the NWO thing. In our case, if you hear the DX music, you don�t know if we�re all coming out. But once you hear �Oh, you didn�t know...?� you know who�s coming out of the curtain. Then the fans can get into it more.

KK: When you guys invaded WCW there in Virginia, I know Jesse that you had to be thinking about your brother Brad (Armstrong) and the way your family has been handled by WCW.

BILLY: The whole way over there Jesse was saying �Oh, I wonder if I�ll see Brad?� [laughing]

JESSE: I was more concerned about them, because everyone knows Bischoff is a @#$%! idiot, and I was more concerned with him @#$%@! with my brothers more than he already does because I did something like that. Print this, too! And he challenged my boss [Vince McMahon], and I�d step to the plate for my boss and fight him, but not in a @#$%! ring. Anywhere he wants to fight, I�ll beat his @#$%! ass. You can print that verbatim! I don�t give a @#$%!

KK: You guys, DX, tell people to �Suck It�...

JESSE: And they love it!

KK: You are textbook heels, and yet you are babyfaces.

JESSE: I talked about this the other day. You know who [director] James Cameron is, right? Terminator 2 - Judgment Day? He started all this crap! I just watched the movie the other night while I was in my hotel room, and I started thinking a little more than I needed to. He turned the heel in the first movie - which was the shit heel of the world - and turned him �stone cold� babyface, and you loved him. He was protector of the youth and the good, and all of a sudden you loved him. And I think that right around the time of the bad ass on the Harley fat boy started getting cool. He wasn�t going to take shit from anyone, and I think that�s part of the reasons why people like DX and us telling them to �Suck It�.

KK: What does you dad, the Bullet [Bob Armstrong], think of your role in DX and the things that you say and do on television?

JESSE: I�m sure he has pretty much the same feelings I have. I have children, and I know there�s certain things I do that I don�t want my children to see or hear or say. But I raised my children right, and they know right from wrong. I think the Bullet would have the same exact feelings. And if you know the Bullet and you know my family, he�s just proud as hell that I am where I�m at. He loves watching it. Sometimes I feel like he�s doing it all over again through me. He was over for a long time in Atlanta. So, he�s had all this already. So, he knows what I�m going through. I think he�s just proud. He backs me 100 percent. But, like I said, he�s got morals, you know. We all do. I think the fans say that because they don�t want to say to their bosses, they�d all just love to say �Suck It!�, and they can�t do that. But you know what? We can.

KK: And both of you guys being dads, is there some kind of moral responsibility for what you guys do?

BILLY: Yeah, my kids won�t do the things we do, like their hands at their crotch. But it comes time when a parent has to step up. If you see things on the show that are offensive to you or you don�t feel it�s morally right, but just because you see it on television doesn�t mean your kids have to go run and do it. Sure, my kids catch it every once in awhile when we do it, but they don�t do it because they know right from wrong. They are not old enough to go running around the house saying �Suck It!� or �Oh, Hell, Yeah� or whatever and shooting their hands down at their crotch. They know better. But there are alternatives to what you can do. Just like Jesse mentioned, what he was going to start doing was crossing his hands and start putting them over his head just so the kids have something to do. To me, there�s nothing more upsetting than looking out and seeing a four-or five-year-old kid and their parents are letting them say, �Suck It! Suck It!� To me, that�s uncool. Jesse said, while we were driving one time, �Well, at least I can do it for my kids, crossing my hands and putting them over my head.�

JESSE: It�s just an alternative. You shouldn�t be chopping at your crotch when you�re in elementary school.

(To be continued in the September 1998 issue of RAW Magazine)

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