7 Biggest WrestleMania rises and falls from year to year

WrestleMania Rise: Billy Gunn

Billy Gunn

WrestleMania 13-WrestleMania XIV

After a solid but unspectacular run as a member of the Smoking Gunns team in the mid-'90s, Billy Gunn found himself floundering as a singles competitor in early 1997. Taking on the Honky Tonk Man as a mentor and adopting the moniker of “Rockabilly” had not done him any favors creatively.

When the time came for WrestleMania 13 that year, the best Gunn could find himself on the card was getting a win over Flash Funk in a pre-show match on the “Free For All'' before the actual pay-per-view.

However, in October of that year, things started to take a positive turn for Gunn. He broke away from the Honky Tonk Man and formed a team with another misguided character, Jesse James.

Now known as the New Age Outlaws, “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn and Road Dogg quickly rose up the tag team ranks. They won the Tag Team Titles in November of 1997 from the Legion of Doom.

After subsequent wins over LOD, and rubbing elbows a few times with the likes of Shawn Michaels and Triple H, the Outlaws found themselves in a major feud with Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie (Terry Funk). The feud culminated in a Dumpster Match at WrestleMania 14.

Despite losing the titles that night, the match was one of the marquee attractions for that year’s event.

Then, the next night on Raw, some fuel was really added to the fire. The New Age Outlaws not only won the Tag Team Championships for a second time by defeating Chainsaw and Cactus in a Steel Cage match, but became official members of D-Generation X.

The Outlaws joined Triple H, Chyna, and X-Pac to form what would go on to be one of the most popular groups in wrestling history.