New Age Outlaws
The New Age Outlaws are an American professional wrestling tag team short-lived in World Wrestling Federation made up of Brian James and Monty Sopp. The duo became popular in the late 1990s as members of the second incarnation of the professional wrestling stable D-Generation X. Regarded as one of the greatest tag teams of all time, the promotion has described James and Gunn as "the most popular duo of WWE's Attitude Era." Over the same period, The New Age Outlaws had the third highest merchandise sales in the WWF after Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock.
Upon parting ways with the WWF, the team reformed in several promotions, mostly notably in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling where, under the ringnames B.G. James and Kip James, they performed collectively as the James Gang and then as the Voodoo Kin Mafia, the latter of which was a play on the initials of their former boss in the WWF Vince McMahon. The team returned to periodic active competition in WWE under its original name in 2013. Today only James is employed with the WWE in a backstage role while Sopp currently performs in All Elite Wrestling although the team are under a Legends contract for the WWE.
They are six-time tag team champions in WWE, having held the WWF World Tag Team Championship five times and the WWE Tag Team Championship once. The duo hold the record for the most time between title reigns in WWE history after becoming the WWE Tag Team Champions at the 2014 Royal Rumble PPV, more than 14 years after their previous Tag Team title reign.
History
World Wrestling Federation
Formation (1997)
The Outlaws first formed on the October 4, 1997 episode of Shotgun Saturday Night when struggling superstars Billy Gunn and "Road Dogg" Jesse James, then known as Rockabilly and "The Real Double J" Jesse James respectively, ended their feud and teamed up.On the October 11, 1997 edition of Shotgun, Jesse James walked out to the ring following a loss by Rockabilly to Flash Funk and asked him to turn on his manager The Honky Tonk Man, who had been responsible for Rockabilly's defeat, and team with him. Rockabilly answered by smashing a guitar on Honky Tonk Man's head and agreeing to team with James. Rockabilly re-dubbed himself "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn and Jesse James rechristened himself the Road Dogg. The team made an immediate impact on the WWF tag team scene with blatant attacks against other tag teams and, initially not having an entrance theme, walking out to the ring with only Road Dogg making a rant against their opponents over the PA system. The team became known for pulling wins out of nowhere via cheating and use of weapons. Through their attitude, charisma and antics, they began to get over with the crowd as heels.
Tag Team Champions and D-Generation X (1997–1999)
James and Gunn defeated the Legion of Doom for the Tag Team Championship in November 1997. This marked Gunn's fourth Tag Team Title reign and Road Dogg's first. Not only did the team win the titles that night, but they also got their "Outlaws" nickname when they "stole" the win and then ran to a waiting car, prompting Raw announcer Jim Ross to liken them to outlaws leaving a robbery. The name 'New Age Outlaws' was first used during their feud with LOD on the December 15 episode of Monday Night Raw; the Outlaws joined Triple H and Shawn Michaels, collectively known as D-Generation X, in assaulting the team, including shaving off one of Road Warrior Hawk's mohawks and throwing Road Warrior Animal through the announcers' table. The name stuck and the New Age Outlaws quickly became one of the most hated teams in the WWF.Shortly before the Royal Rumble in 1998, the New Age Outlaws began a feud with Mick Foley, first fighting him as Dude Love, then as Mankind and finally Cactus Jack. When it became apparent that he needed help dealing with the Outlaws, Foley brought in Terry Funk as Chainsaw Charlie. Following a disqualification against The Legion of Doom at the Royal Rumble, the team were confronted by DX who told them they needed to start making waves by acting more controversially. In response to this, the Outlaws locked Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie in a dumpster and threw it off the entrance ramp on to the concrete floor. The Outlaws initially looked concerned, but ultimately attacked their injured rivals in what Foley would describe as "one of the funnier examples of bad sportsmanship". At WrestleMania XIV, the New Age Outlaws lost the titles to Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie in a Dumpster match. The next night on Raw, however, with the aid of Triple H and X-Pac, the Outlaws regained the titles in a steel cage match and officially joined DX.
The growing popularity of the "new" DX quickly turned the group from heels to tweeners, eventually becoming faces, and they feuded with many different tag teams over the course of 1998. Their immense popularity was part of what helped the WWF challenge World Championship Wrestling for ratings supremacy during the Monday Night War. They lost the tag title to Kane and Mankind in the summer of 1998, only to regain the titles from that same team at SummerSlam in a handicap match after Kane no-showed. In late 1998 Vince McMahon's Corporation tried to tempt the Outlaws away from DX and failed, which led to the Outlaws losing the title to Corporation members Ken Shamrock and Big Boss Man.
Singles competition, reunion and split (1999–2000)
As 1999 started, the Outlaws slowly began to drift apart, with each man striving for singles gold. Road Dogg held both the Hardcore Title and the Intercontinental Championship in the first few months of 1999, and Gunn briefly held the Hardcore title as well. In March, the pair started to team once again, leading to a match with Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart at Backlash in April. A week later, Gunn turned heel on Road Dogg, resulting in a feud and a match at Over the Edge. The following month, Gunn went on to win the King of the Ring tournament.During the fall of 1999 the Outlaws reunited, first as faces, but then as heels when they rejoined the reformed and now heel DX. No Way Out saw the final end of the Outlaws when Gunn received a serious arm injury during a match with the Dudley Boyz. Gunn was soon kicked out of DX after "losing his cool" and getting into a fight with all of the DX members; in reality, he needed to have surgery to repair his torn rotator cuff. The two would reunite one more time as faces at Survivor Series, teaming up with K Kwik and former DX teammate Chyna against the Radicalz in a traditional Survivor Series match. Afterwards Road Dogg continued to team with K-Kwik. Gunn went on his own. Road Dogg was released from his WWF contract in January 2001 due to ongoing drug issues while Gunn was released from his contract in November 2004 after eleven years with the company.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
3 Live Kru (2002–2005)
On September 18, 2002, "Road Dogg" Jesse James debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under his birth name B.G. James. In July 2003, he formed a stable with Konnan and Ron "The Truth" Killings known as The 3Live Kru. The trio went on to become fan favorites and eventually won the NWA World Tag Team Championship on two occasions, which they defended collectively under the Freebird Rule. Billy Gunn debuted in TNA at Against All Odds on February 13, 2005, interfering in the NWA World Heavyweight Championship bout between Jeff Jarrett and the challenging Kevin Nash. Gunn struck Nash with a chair, but he was able to kick out of Jarrett's subsequent pin attempt. After Gunn seized the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt in order to strike Nash with it, B.G. James ran to the ring and wrestled it away from him.B.G. James and Gunn, now renamed The New Age Outlaw, came into conflict once more on April 24, at Lockdown, when Jarrett, The Outlaw and Monty Brown faced Diamond Dallas Page, Sean Waltman and B.G. James in a Lethal Lockdown match. Page, Waltman and James were victorious, although during the match James and The Outlaw refrained from fighting one another. Through October and November 2005, "The Outlaw" helped 3LK numerous times during their feud with Team Canada. Although he was obviously helping the Kru at every turn, Konnan refused to trust Kip.
On the November 26 episode of TNA Impact!, and even though Konnan had his doubts, 3LK inducted Kip into the group and renamed themselves the 4Live Kru. At Turning Point, however, Konnan turned on the group, eventually forming his own group, The Latin American Xchange. Killings also went out on his own afterward, leaving only Kip and B.G. together.
The James Gang (2006)
On January 14, 2006, Kip James and B.G. James, now calling themselves The James Gang, announced that they had reunited in the face of Konnan and his new group after LAX attacked B.G.'s real-life father "Bullet" Bob Armstrong. Their official in-ring reunion took place the next night at Final Resolution, where they defeated The Diamonds in the Rough. Their feud with LAX continued and included several more appearances by "Bullet" Bob Armstrong, including an Arm Wrestling match between Konnan and the 67-year-old Armstrong.In May 2006, The James Gang began a feud with Team 3D over which of them was the greatest tag team. The James Gang picked up a victory over Team 3D at Sacrifice after Kip used a pipe on Brother Devon. They met again at Slammiversary, with Team 3D picking up the win this time. With the teams standing at 1-1, Team 3D challenged The James Gang to find themselves a partner and face them in a six-man tag match at Victory Road. Whereas Team 3D expected them to get someone from their family, the James Gang "made a deal with the devil" and paid James Mitchell to have Abyss team up with them instead. The James Gang and Abyss won the no-disqualification six-man tag match after Abyss Black Hole Slammed Brother Runt onto a table and got the pin.