Mike Gunner: A Return To Legitimacy

Mike Gunner couldn’t believe it. The 300 some-odd fans inside the middle school gym couldn’t believe it. Bam Bam Malone, the man who finally pinned Gunner’s shoulders to the mat, couldn’t believe it.

Let’s face it, Gunner stands out in any room he walks into. Built like a bodybuilder and carrying himself with the swagger of a street fighter, he has been to the top of the independent wrestling scene.

Then, he disappeared, leaving us wondering just what happened to one of the rare legitimate fighters in modern wrestling.

When Mike Gunner made his return to the ring last year, it was in an odd place: Paris, a community in Northeast Texas, population of close to 30,000. The town often played host to World Class Championship Wrestling and Mid-South Wrestling events during the ‘70s and ‘80s. There are still stories passed around about how Andre the Giant shut down the local all-night diner by consuming most the restaurant’s bacon supply. So, when Gunner chose to come back, it was with a purpose.

He grew up in wrestling country, North Carolina. The Southern boy often recounts “sitting” in the Greensboro Coliseum as a 3-week-old child, even then being enthralled by the spectacle. Wrestling was a part of his family’s life blood. It was something they bonded over. However, he was never a fan of the “cartoonish, over-the-top gimmicks” of the World Wrestling Federation (WWE). Instead, Gunner found his niche in Jim Crockett Promotions, the AWA and the various syndicated wrestling shows that proliferated the ‘80s.

All of this played into his budding psyche. Mike Gunner grew up as a loner, and quickly learned to be a fighter. He broke his nose at 5 years old in kindergarten, defending his buddy from a bully. This willingness to fight, almost desire for it, set him apart from his classmates and ended up compelling him to hang out with an older crowd. At one point, in an attempt to recreate the scaffold matches of the Road Warriors and Midnight Express, Gunner was thrown from his tree house scaffold 12 times! Yet, he kept climbing back up, only to be tossed down again. He wasn’t as big as the older kids, but he would refuse to be taken as anything less than legitimate.

This tenacity found an official outlet when Gunner moved into his teen years and picked up boxing. He eventually won both North Carolina and South Carolina Golden Gloves. He compiled a 14-1 record with eight knockouts over that span. Then, Gunner jumped into the original Tough Man circuit. Over several years, he dominated the scene going 32-0 with 27 knockouts! It was during one of these Tough Man competitions that he encountered Bobby Fulton of The Fantastics.

Overhearing Fulton in the locker room, Gunner was inspired to attend his first wrestling show, as an adult. Like many teenage boys, he had left wrestling behind for other activities. On the card that night in Asheboro, NC was none other than Jimmy Valiant and Manny Fernandez. Reigniting a passion that had been dormant, Gunner wanted to know more about wrestling. “The Raging Bull” Manny Fernandez was a childhood idol, thus he sought him out following the show. Soon after, Gunner was training at Fernandez’s school and working with Ron “The Truth” Killings (R-Truth). Following months of grueling training, he hit the road with none other than his mentor, Fernandez.

Driving those backroads of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and the Carolinas allowed Fernandez to pour an even more “old-school approach” into Gunner. This was the formative years that shaped what would be become a mythical career. “Aggression has always been part of my personality,” Gunner explains. Fernandez used that aggression to build the prototype of what he envisioned a wrestler to be.

Mike Gunner then experienced two big breaks from vastly different people. The first came from Robert Gibson, one half of the hall of fame tag team The Rock and Roll Express. Gibson brought Gunner into Tuscaloosa, AL and over the next four years, he won everything they had to offer. Gunner has high praise for Gibson, referring to him as “a fine man. A friend.”

The second break came once Gunner had relocated to Texas. He was simply eating in a local restaurant when he noticed that one of the other patrons looked very familiar. That was Skandar Akbar sitting across the room from him. one of the greatest minds in Texas wrestling, Akbar invited Gunner to visit his wrestling school to show the younger wrestlers some holds. “When someone like that (Akbar) invites you to go… you go,” Gunner says.

Once again, establishing that “old school approach” was meaningful for Gunner. This allowed him to incorporate a hybrid fighting style, since he had begun training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, quickly rising to a blue belt. Akbar recognized Gunner’s talent and paid him the highest of compliments, “I am very impressed with your intensity, focus. The way you work reminds me so much of Magnum T.A. You would have belonged in the territories.” Gunner does indeed resemble Magnum, not just in physical presence, but in the manner in which he navigates the ring. The similarities can be uncanny at times.

Then came the hiatus. Building a life after wrestling is something that many athletes have struggled with, but Gunner was self-aware enough to focus on the future. Of course, the wrestling bug is difficult to shake. In August, Gunner returned to the ring after a near 18-month hiatus, immediately making an impact.

Declaring himself to be the apex of Texas wrestling, he plans to take on all comers to prove that the legendary stories still ring true. And even though he suffered a rare loss, you can bet your bottom dollar that Mike Gunner is real, dangerous and hellbent on vengeance.