The Gunns aren’t looking in the rearview mirror.
Ahead of their title defense at AEW Revolution, The Gunns spoke with WrestleZone about their journey to tag team gold and what is in their future. Austin and Colten will make their first title defense at AEW Revolution against The Acclaimed, Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal, and a to-be-determined third team.
That final team won’t be decided until days before the pay-per-view, as AEW Dynamite will feature a Casino Tag Team Battle Royal for that spot. Asked how they are feeling going into the event, The Gunns said it doesn’t matter who the final team is because they will leave Revolution with their titles in hand.
Colten: “It’s just typical of how we get treated in AEW. We’re the best second-generation wrestlers. We’re the fastest growing, and we just get thrown into the deep end constantly. It’s sink or swim, and we always swim. We always come out on top, so you can put 20 teams in there, it does not matter. We’re gonna win. It’s just typical, like our first title defense, we can lose it without getting pinned. It just is ridiculous, but at the same time, I don’t care because we’re going to win. That’s just a spoiler alert. We’re going to keep the titles.”
Austin: “Yeah, to me, it’s the same mindset. Me and Colten have always been thrown in the deep end, whether it’s our first TV matches, our first in-ring live promo. Every time we’re thrown in the deep end, everybody wants us to fail. But then we turn it around and shove it right in their face when we succeed. And, like Colten said, it’s so typical of how we get treated. We’re not going against one tag team, we’re going against three. And we don’t even have to get pinned to lose them? Whatever. I don’t care. Add anybody into that third slot, it doesn’t matter. But when it comes to The Acclaimed and my dad, we already beat them once so we have that in the bag. When it comes to a legend like Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal, eh, I don’t know. We might have something there. If it just comes down to us two, I might be happy, but we just have to find out who that fourth team is.”
Colten: “It doesn’t matter. It really does not matter. We’ve gone against greats. We’ve gone toe to toe with your favorite wrestlers. It does not matter from our division who you put in that fourth slot, Justin Roberts is going to grab that mic and go, ‘And still, AEW Tag Team Champions of the World, The Gunns.'”
The Acclaimed and The Gunns had been intertwined for several months in AEW, sometimes getting along but mostly feuding. Asked about the benefits of getting the chance to be in a long-form angle like this, The Gunns said people need to understand that this isn’t some “story” to them.
Austin: “I think when you’re talking about a story, it’s not a story to us. Our entire childhood, everything we tell on screen is real. It’s real. That’s our real dad and he chose The Acclaimed over us. Yeah, people find it comical that he turned on us and went with The Acclaimed, they were the most popular tag team and America’s sweethearts. But I don’t think people realize how hurt we were by that. Like we never saw Dad growing up. I know it was a hard schedule, but you can’t even have time for your kids? I know you want to say that’s a story, but that was real to us. We gave him every single chance to come back with us, and every time he just let us down.
“So when it comes to The Acclaimed, that’s in the past. I don’t care. Even though we have a pay-per-view match at Revolution, that’s in the past. We’ve already beat them. We’re gonna wipe the floor with them again. We’re trying to focus our sights on new teams. We want to prove ourselves. We’ve already proven we can take down Daddy Ass and The Acclaimed, America’s Sweethearts. So that’s exactly what we’re gonna do at Revolution — again — and break everybody’s hearts again and let them feel them feel our pain we’ve been feeling our entire childhood.”
AEW Revolution takes place on Sunday, March 6 at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Check out our full interview with The Gunns below:
