Mike Polchlopek

Michael Polchlopek (born December 27, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist.

Michael Polchlopek was born on December 27, 1965, in Titusville, Florida.

He was a big fan of wrestling, often watching Championship Wrestling from Florida, and enjoyed seeing Eddie and Mike Graham and Jack and Jerry Brisco.

Polchlopek was trained to wrestle by Caesar Barraza, Blackjack Mulligan, Tim Parker and Boris Malenko.

He made his debut in 1991.

In 1992, Polchlopek (wrestling as "Brett Colt") formed a tag team with Kip Winchester in the Tampa, Florida-based International Championship Wrestling Alliance known as the "Long Riders".

Polchlopek was perhaps most famous in the World Wrestling Federation as one-half of the tag team The Smoking Gunns with his kayfabe brother Billy Gunn.

He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1993 to 1999 under the ring names Bart Gunn and Bodacious Bart, as well as his appearances with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) from 1998 to 2002 and with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) from 2002 to 2004 as Mike Barton.

They made their debut in April 1993 The team won the Tag Team Championship three times before breaking up and engaging in a brief feud in October 1996.

Bart Gunn briefly went into solo competition, his most high-profile match occurring on Monday Night Raw, in April 1996, which he lost to "Ringmaster" Steve Austin via the Million Dollar Dream.

Gunn feuded with Billy Gunn during the fall of 1996 after Billy turned his back on Bart.

The feud ended after he defeated Billy on the December 16 episode of Monday Night Raw.

His most notable victory was scoring an upset victory over Triple H by disqualification on Superstars.

He also participated in the 1997 Royal Rumble match being eliminated by Steve Austin.

He would defeat Triple H by countout on February 17 on Raw after Goldust chased Triple H into the crowd.

Gunn would later become a jobber in 1997 losing to the likes of Faarooq, Triple H, Ahmed Johnson and Vader.

His final match in this run was on June 9, 1997, on an episode of Raw Is War against Rockabilly, where he was defeated.

He disappeared from the roster afterward.

Gunn would then have a brief stint in Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling where he won their championship from Lance Diamond on May 3, 1997.

Then he would drop the title to Ace Darling on September 26, 1997.

Under his new manager Jim Cornette, Polchlopek recreated the Midnight Express tag team as "Bodacious Bart" with partner Bombastic Bob in March 1998.

The team had limited success, though they did hold the NWA World Tag Team Championship for a brief period from March to August 1998.

In July 1998, Bart Gunn participated in the WWF's shootfight tournament, the Brawl for All.

Gunn faced tag partner Bob Holly in the first round, and was declared the winner on points.

Gunn next defeated "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, with a surprising knockout on August 24.

Utilizing his enormous brute strength, Gunn defeated The Godfather in the semi-finals, and Bradshaw in the finals to win the tournament.

According to his interview in the Dark Side of the Ring episode on Brawl For All, he sat home for months following this after being told by Vince Russo that WWF creative had nothing for him at the time.

Despite this, while still under WWF contract Gunn would sign with All Japan Pro Wrestling in October 1998, wrestling there for three months up until January 1999.

During this time he also worked in the independent circuit.

After signing with All Japan Pro Wrestling in October 1998, his debut would be announced on the November 1, 1998, edition of AJPW TV.

His first in-ring match and appearance with the company was at a pay-per-view on November 14, going by his WWF ring name Bart Gunn.

He would compete in the 1998 World Strongest Tag Determination League, teaming with Johnny Ace, and finishing in 4th place with 8 points.

He became a member of Johnny Ace's gaijin (foreign wrestlers) stable, The Movement, and the two continued to team.

After returning to WWF television in February 1999, the WWF sent him to be trained by Ray Rinaldi (notable for training Marc Mero) for a WrestleMania match against Eric "Butterbean" Esch.

Gunn would then briefly feud with both Holly and Williams, both angry at having been beaten in the tournament, the latter masking himself and pushing Gunn off a stage to prevent him from winning the WWF Hardcore Championship from Holly.

At WrestleMania XV, Esch brutally knocked out Gunn in 35 seconds.

Polchlopek was soon after released by WWF.

While still under contract with the WWF, Polchlopek found success wrestling in Japan (due in part to his knockout of Steve Williams, who in Japan was a longtime main-eventer and held a strong reputation for his toughness).

Both would regularly wrestle until January 22, 1999, when Gunn returned to the WWF to fulfil the rest of his WWF contractual obligations.

Upon being released from the WWF after WrestleMania XV, he would return to AJPW in May 1999, still maintaining fanfare and momentum even after the loss to Butterbean.