Billy Gunn Thought He Was Gay The First Time He Listened To “Ass Man”

Billy Gunn has played many characters throughout his time in professional wrestling. But The Ass Man, if it isn’t his most recognized persona, is certainly his most recognized theme music. 

Speaking to AMBY’s Alicia Atout, Gunn detailed the origins of the Ass Man.

“So Brian — Road Dogg — he had a live mic and could say whatever he wanted to,” he said. “Back in the Attitude Era, where everything you said stuck like glue, he comes out and for some reason he’s mad. He says, ‘You will not call him that. You will call him Mr. Ass. You will call me Mr. Dogg.’ And the next week on Raw everybody had Mr. Ass signs. I looked at him and went, ‘Thanks. Thanks for that.'”

After winning the Tag Team Titles on five occasions with Road Dogg as part of the New Age Outlaws, Gunn was positioned for a big singles run. But no singles run can be complete without your own theme music. The Ass Man song is one of the catchiest and crudest tunes in WWE history. And Gunn had a surprising reaction when he sat down and really listened to it for the first time.

“Once they separated us a bit, somebody said ‘let’s make him some music.’ For the first two or three years, I didn’t hear the lyrics to the song,” he noted. “People dug it and they were like, ‘It’s so funny. It’s so cool.’ And I said, ‘I guess so.’ And they asked, ‘Have you ever heard it?’ And I sat back and went, ‘No, I guess I haven’t.’ So I listened to it and went…..’I think I’m gay.’ Not that there’s nothing wrong with that. I was gay at one time. I just realized the song was way inappropriate, but cool at the time.”

Gunn enjoyed plenty of success as a singles star, winning the Intercontinental and Hardcore Titles along with being crowned 1999 King of the Ring.

You can listen to the entire interview with Billy Gunn and his son Austin in the video above.