Athletes - Monty Sopp

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	Athletes - Monty Sopp

Monty "Kip" Sopp (born November 1, 1963 in Orlando, Florida) is an American professional wrestler, best known as "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn and Mr. Ass from when he competed in World Wrestling Entertainment. He is currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name Kip James and on the independent circuit as The G-Man.

World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment

When Billy Gunn first arrived in World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) he teamed with his storyline brother, Bart Gunn, as The Smokin' Gunns. The Gunns would separate in late 1996. After feuding briefly with his brother, Gunn struggled to make an impact in the WWF and languished in dead-end gimmicks like "Rockabilly," the new protege of the Honky Tonk Man. When Gunn started tag-teaming with another struggling singles wrestler, the "Road Dogg" Jesse James, to form The New Age Outlaws, however, he finally took the spotlight. The New Age Outlaws, with Gunn now being called "Bad Ass Billy Gunn", were in the spirit of the new Attitude Era: brash, vulgar, egotistical loud-mouths. Throughout late 1997 and the whole of 1998, the Outlaws would dominate the WWF Tag Team division. In fact, some would say that they may have been one of the most popular tag teams in the company's history (Next to The Hart Foundation and The Legion of Doom) In the aftermath of WrestleMania XIV, the outlaws joined the Triple H-led D-Generation X. The Outlaws fit the DX role perfectly and helped elevate the group to superstardom. After 1998, the Outlaws would separate, then reunite until early 2000 when, after suffering a serious arm injury in a match with The Dudley Boyz, Billy Gunn was kicked out of DX after "losing his cool." Sopp then took some much needed time off to tend to his arm injury before returning later in the year. He teamed with Chyna and dropped the Mr. Ass gimmick after losing a series of battles against the Right to Censor.

In June 1999 Billy Gunn won the King of the Ring tournament defeating Ken Shamrock, Kane and X-Pac. This was arguably the height of Gunn's popularity.

Soon after, Billy Gunn would rename himself "The One" Billy Gunn. He stuck with this gimmick for a little while. Gunn would later join with Chuck Palumbo in an ambiguously gay duo gimmick called Billy and Chuck and would later gain a manager and "stylist" in Rico. In the late summer of 2002, Billy & Chuck became the most-talked-about duo in the WWE when Chuck proposed to Billy, asking him to be his "partner for life." They had a marriage ceremony on the 2002 season premiere of SmackDown! Just before they tied the knot, however, they revealed that the entire ordeal was a publicity stunt, and both characters disavowed their on-screen homosexuality.

Sopp would reprise the "Mr. Ass" gimmick with Torrie Wilson as his manager, with limited success. On November 1, 2004, Sopp along with A-Train and Test were released by the WWE. At the time of his release he was one of the most tenured wrestlers with the company, second only to The Undertaker.

In June 2005 Sopp gave an interview in which he was heavily critical of the WWE and the events that led to his release. Many of the negative comments were directed towards Triple H, who Sopp claimed "runs the show up there".

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

On February 13, 2005, Sopp debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling with no name (as Billy Gunn is a WWE trademark) at the Against All Odds PPV, helping Jeff Jarrett retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in a match with Kevin Nash. Sopp then, using the name The New Age Outlaw, formed a stable with Jarrett and "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown known as Planet Jarrett, using the name The Outlaw, a take off of his WWE tag team, New Age Outlaws with B.G. James (then "The Road Dogg" Jesse James.

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