Boardroom breaks down how the Buffalo multi-hyphenate fell out with the favored wrestling promotion.
Throughout Adam Web page’s profitable protection of the All Elite Wrestling World Championship towards “Powerhouse” Will Hobbs on the “Blood & Guts” version of AEW Dynamite final Wednesday, two homies , having fun with the extraordinary “Falls Rely Wherever” battle that spilled exterior the ring. The homies in query, Westside Gunn and Smoke DZA, have expressed their love and appreciation for professional wrestling on wax, referencing legendary superstars or creating initiatives impressed by wrestling luminaries. This connection has helped bridge the hole between wrestling and rap. Their ardour for wrestling, together with their success within the hip-hop business, has made scenes like Wednesday evening’s widespread: professional wrestling followers buying entrance row seats to witness their favourite pastime. However Gunn’s current social media submit, the place he introduced that he would not promote something associated to WWE, turned these 34 seconds of tv right into a daring assertion.
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Hailing from the East facet of Buffalo, New York, the 43-year-old Gunn has been infusing his music with professional wrestling references since . He has named tracks after everybody from Rob Van Dam and Tito Santana to WWE’s new resident GOAT, John Cena (who he’s paid homage to with two tracks, and ). The supergroup Gunn has together with his half-brother Conway the Machine is known as (after Scott Corridor and Kevin Nash, aka the of the famed ‘90s faction, the nWo). Gunn has additionally ventured into the professional wrestling business, initially earlier than linking with DZA and turning his wrestling model—which started because the model Gunn launched wrestling-inspired merch and threw occasions underneath—right into a full-fledged professional wrestling promotion in November of 2024. (They not too long ago held their ninth Heels Have Eyes present at Six Flags, Nice Journey in New Jersey, which featured the legendary Hardy Boyz, who at the moment maintain the 4th Rope World Tag Crew Championship in addition to being the World Tag Crew Champions at TNA.)
In the identical month, Gunn and DZA weekly on AEW tv each time Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin (together with their supervisor MVP, who additionally additionally holds a task at 4th Rope) would hit the ring, as their report “We Harm Folks” turned the official theme for Lashley, Benjamin and MVP’s crew, the Harm Syndicate. (Gunn’s infectious hook, which is basically simply him chanting “yo, we harm individuals,” .) In 2023, Gunn he needed to retire from the rap recreation, however continued his prolific run of releases whereas specializing in his professional wrestling goals. “This has at all times been my retirement plan,” Gunn The Punchline Academy again in Could.
One of many keys to all of that is that Westside Gunn strikes at his personal tempo. Gunn boasted on 2022’s “Derrick Boleman” that he’s “skipped the Grammys two years straight to look at wrestling,” and actually meant it. He made positive to hit as many marquee occasions, from weekly AEW tv to episodes of WWE’s Monday evening Uncooked, as he may. Even going as far as to attempt to make their main pay-per-view occasions, as properly. This was earlier than artists like and may very well be noticed on WWE programming, proper earlier than WWE to Endeavor and have become part of the TKO Group, which has helped develop , moved its weekly Uncooked sequence to Netflix, and, within the close to future, plans to convey its largest occasion, WrestleMania, . Again then, rappers in attendance weren’t being shouted out in the course of the broadcast, however the timeline knew, and the timeline at all times confirmed Westside Gunn love for the way he confirmed professional wrestling love. That’s why it’s been bizarre when professional wrestling hasn’t beloved him again.
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In January 2022, Gunn’s Griselda Data shared they obtained from WWE ordering the elimination of a number of of his songs from YouTube. This was because of sampled audio from WWE exhibits that may have been featured on these information. (In October 2021, then-WWE announcer Greg Hamilton posted comparable accusations, though on whether or not that state of affairs was why Hamilton .)
The January 2022 incident was fascinating as a result of —which included a backstage interview—has additionally been . On the time, Gunn saved transferring at his dynamic tempo. This included dropping his fifteenth mixtape, Nonetheless Praying, on November 1, 2024, that includes Sid Vicious (the larger-than-life former WWE Champion the August earlier than this tape’s launch) on the quilt.
Months later, as detailed in his November eighth, social media submit, Gunn paid $5,000 (“for a seat plus journey, resort and so on.”) to attend the March 3, 2025 version of WWE Uncooked in his hometown of Buffalo. Shortly after letting the world know the place he was at (aka ), of Gunn being thrown out of the KeyBank Heart began circulating. To at the present time, no actual cause has been given for his elimination from Uncooked, however in keeping with Gunn, this incident was a big think about his determination to not affiliate with WWE.
Another excuse, as detailed in his submit, is tied to his 2025 Heels Have Eyes trilogy, every that includes a picture of WWF heels (the villains of a specific storyline) “The Million Greenback Man” Ted DiBiase and/or his manservant, . Every launch now options a picture of Joshua Bishop, a 4th Rope-signed wrestler with a penchant for violence. Gunn tweeted the brand new cowl photographs alongside together with his message, indicating that he obtained a cease-and-desist over the quilt artwork.
In his message, Gunn mentions he received for Heels Have Eyes 3 put up in Instances Sq., with DiBiase and Virgil featured in an iconic pose on the quilt. This picture was later . (It was later that the billboard was one of many important points WWE had with Gunn.) “I put the billboard up that MILLION DOLLAR MAN billboard up which he loves,” Gunn wrote, “and I needed to push him within the tradition bc [sic] he deserves it and to SHOW VIRGIL love for the tradition I get a letter.” What he does plan to do isn’t “pushing that product over there once more,” which he admits saddens him as a result of he clearly loves wrestling worldwide. Gunn, the unbiased underdog, has no challenge transferring with those that perceive him and his imaginative and prescient.
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(For the report, the quilt for Gunn’s Nonetheless Praying mixtape has additionally been modified to a picture of Jeff Hardy together with his TNA and 4th Rope tag workforce title belts draped over his shoulders.)
Since sharing his reality, the continued dialogue about WWE’s present state has resurfaced. Is that this one other occasion of WWE trying to silence an unbiased voice within the business? Some imagine so, considering Gunn turned a goal after creating a preferred theme for WWE’s competitors whereas managing his personal wrestling promotion. Others view it as a daring demonstration of how Endeavor/TKO operates with an organization like WWE, which feels much like after its acquisition by Endeavor. Given the necessity to promote tickets and defend mental property, it’s not stunning that WWE took these sorts of actions. One can solely hope for a world the place Westside Gunn, a passionate professional wrestling fan, doesn’t should cope with this sort of backlash, as his aim has at all times been to place professional wrestling within the highlight.
Finally, the actual lesson lies in why it pays to have your personal. With 4th Rope exhibits in North Carolina, Miami alongside Artwork Basel, and Los Angeles within the close to future, Gunn could actually be on the trail to really carving his personal lane within the sport.
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