Finally back to watching wrassling after playing some vidja games instead. The RAWs right after KOTR 1998 are really interesting shows. Mabel comes back, Jason Sensation and the DX Blackface skit happen, The McMahon Salute and Austin taking off the headset gif happen, the brawl for all is going on, and this is all in one episode!
HBK just came back!
Oh man, Russo went deep into the Brawl for All stuff on his podcast.
So back then JBL was at his all time high of being an asshole in the locker room, and making a point to pick on Russo. So one night, JBL worked stiff, as usual, which caused a few in the locker room to call him out on it. JBL took the stance of "I'll kick anyone's ass in a real fight", so Russo took the idea to Vince regarding Brawl for All. Once it started, JBL kept talking constant trash about Bart Gunn, about how its his "last shot at success", so Bart, who did bare knuckle boxing years before he became a pro wrestler, just tore through the first two rounds.
The day of the matchup with Bart Gunn/JBL, JBL apparently went to Vince and told him he was not able to fight that night, and that he asked if the fight could be postponed to the following week. Vince had the doctors check him, and everything was good.
Then the fight happens:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9JOEYxwwbk
