The Gunns (professional wrestling)

Austin Gunn made his professional wrestling debut on March 18, 2017, by teaming with his father Billy Gunn at a Sunbelt Wrestling Entertainment event against Adam Rose, Deimos and Justin Oversheet in a handicap match, which Austin and Billy won.[7] The father and son duo teamed with each other on a few more occasions on the independent circuit.[8][9]

Austin and Colten Gunn would win their first professional wrestling championship at a New South Wrestling event Resurrection on March 11, 2022, where they defeated TME (Duke Davis and Ganon Jones Jr.) to win the New South Tag Team Championship.[10] Two weeks later, at Royal Glory, they lost the titles to The Bad News Boyz (Brandon Tate and Brent Tate) in a three-way match, also involving Facade and James Storm.

The Gunn Club competing in a tag team match on Dynamite.

Billy Gunn joined the upstart promotion All Elite Wrestling from the very beginning in 2019, as a producer and an occasional on-screen talent.[11] His son Austin debuted for AEW in a non-televised match during a taping of Dark on January 1, 2020, as Austin and Billy defeated Preston Vance and Shawn Spears.[12] Austin's televised debut in AEW occurred on the January 14 episode of Dark, as Austin and Billy, known as "The Gunn Club", defeated Peter Avalon and Shawn Spears.[13] Gunn Club established themselves as fan favorites, winning their earlier matches on Dark throughout the year, until the September 15 episode of Dark, where they teamed with Private Party (Isaiah Kassidy and Marq Quen) against The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds, Evil Uno, John Silver and Stu Grayson) in an eight-man tag team match, which Dark Order won.[2] Gunn Club's first match as a team on Dynamite occurred on November 4, where they teamed with Cody Rhodes to defeat Dark Order members Colt Cabana, John Silver and Ten in a six-man tag team match.[14]

On the November 17 episode of Dark, Gunn Club expanded to a trio as Billy's elder son Colten made his professional wrestling debut by teaming with Billy and Austin to defeat Bshp King, Joey O'Riley and Sean Maluta.[15] Austin and Colten made their pay-per-view debut at Revolution on March 7, 2021, by participating in a Casino Tag Team Royale as the #5 and #6 entrants, for a future AEW World Tag Team Championship opportunity. They were both eliminated by Q. T. Marshall.[16] Gunn Club enjoyed a successful run on Dark throughout 2021, winning all of their tag team and six-man tag team matches. Their success continued in 2022, resulting in Austin and Colten topping AEW's tag team rankings on February 9, with a tag team record of 3-0 in 2022.[17] As a result, Austin and Colten earned a World Tag Team Championship opportunity against Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) on the February 11 episode of Rampage,[18] which they failed to win.[19] Austin and Colten would fail in subsequent #1 contender's matches on the February 23 and March 2 episodes of Dynamite to earn another opportunity at the titles.[20][21]

During this time, Gunn Club transitioned into villains by forming an alliance with The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster).[22][23] Caster began teaming with Gunn Club more frequently after Bowens suffered a knee injury in May.[24] They began appearing more on Dynamite and Rampage, beginning with the June 1 episode of Dynamite, where they lost to CM Punk and FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood).[25][26] On the Road Rager episode of Rampage, Caster and Gunn Club defeated Ruffin It (Bear Boulder, Bear Bronson and Leon Ruffin).[27] At AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door, the entire Gunn Club trio teamed with Caster to defeat Alex Coughlin, Kevin Knight, The DKC and Yuya Uemura.[28]

On the 2022 Blood and Guts episode of Dynamite, Caster and the Gunn Club lost to Danhausen and FTR after Bowens accidentally hit Austin with his crutch. Austin and Colten confronted Acclaimed after the match and left the ring, while Billy stayed with the Acclaimed.[29] The following week, on Dynamite, the Acclaimed and Gunn Club defeated Fuego Del Sol and Ruffin It in an eight-man tag team match. However, Billy attacked the Acclaimed after the match due to dissension between both teams.[30] This would result in the Gunn Club facing the Acclaimed in a dumpster match on the August 3 episode of Dynamite,[31] which Gunn Club lost.[32] Billy tried to reconcile with Austin and Colten on the August 17 episode of Dynamite but Stokely Hathaway appeared on the stage and Austin and Colten turned on Billy by attacking him and siding with Hathaway, which resulted in Acclaimed making the save and forming an alliance with Billy. This marked Billy's removal from the Gunn Club.[33]

Austin and Colten resumed their alliance with Stokely Hathaway, as they joined his group of wrestlers The Firm and changed their name to The Gunns.[34][35][36] Gunns began mocking FTR by impersonating them during their matches, also including attacking them post-match at Final Battle.[37] This led to a match between both teams at the Holiday Bash episode of Dynamite,[38] which the Gunns won.[39]

On the February 8 episode of Dynamite, Gunns defeated The Acclaimed to win the AEW World Tag Team Championships.[40] After successfully defending the titles twice,[41] The Gunns name-dropped FTR among the teams they had beaten during a post-match interview, which led to FTR returning to AEW and attacking the Gunns.[42][43] The Gunns subsequently lost against FTR in a title vs career match on the April 5 edition of Dynamite.[44] This would effectively disband The Firm, with the Gunns allying with Jay White and Juice Robinson of Bullet Club Gold.[45][46]