Billy and Chuck
Billy & Chuck was the successful team and tandem of
WWF professional wrestlers Billy Gunn and
Chuck Palumbo.
The
gimmick began when Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo were teamed up in
tag team action. They grew increasingly affectionate toward each other, showing evidence of a
homosexual relationship. They even found a "personal stylist" in the ambiguously flamboyant
Rico. After several months of success in the ring, Chuck proposed Billy to be his partner for life and he even gave Billy a wedding ring. Their wedding ceremony was aired on
SmackDown!. It was disrupted by
Eric Bischoff and
Three Minute Warning from
RAW in an effort to get at
Stephanie McMahon, the then General Manager of SmackDown. The interruption spurred them to reveal it was merely a
publicity stunt as both Billy and Chuck disavowed their on-screen homosexuality and admitted they were just friends, causing Rico to defect to RAW and manage Three Minute Warning.
This great charismatic tandem was a controversial gimmick that was featured in many
newspapers and
magazines and even in broadcast news channels. The success of the duo was seen by capturing the
WWE World Tag Team Championship on two occasions.
Billy & Chuck's final match together occurred at
SmackDown! event in the 1st round of a tournament for the newly created
WWE Tag Team Championship. They lost the match to the team of
Ron Simmons and
D-Von Dudley (aka Reverend D-Von).
The team quietly split in Late 2002/Early 2003 when Billy became injured.
Tag Team Finisher: Code Red (Doomsday Device variation)
*2-Time
WWE World Tag Team Champions*Billy & Chuck won the 2002
Pro Wrestling Illustrated Tag Team of the Year Award.
*Although Billy and Chuck became widely known for their ambiguously homosexual gimmick, they were not the first to use this in professional wrestling. In 1999,
WCW featured a tag team known as the
West Hollywood Blondes that had similar characteristics.
