Ex-WWE star claims Ric Flair didn't want to work with Hall of Famer; recalls backstage incident

Rene Dupree has claimed that Ric Flair did not want to work with WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray (fka Bubba Ray Dudley). The former superstar recalled a backstage incident that saw The Nature Boy throw the World Tag Team Title belt on the ground.

In December 2003, The Dudley Boyz dropped the World Tag Team Championship to Flair and his Evolution teammate, Batista. Although The Nature Boy and The Animal lost them to Booker T and Rob Van Dam two months later, they regained them in March. Their second run lasted another month before Chris Benoit and Edge captured the title.

Flair and Batista squared off against The Dudley Boyz multiple times during their World Tag Team Title runs. On his Cafe de Rene podcast, Dupree claimed The Nature Boy was unhappy with these interactions. He recalled Flair throwing the belt on the ground backstage at a live event and urging Bully Ray and his partner, D-Von Dudley, to keep it.

"I remember Flair coming back after their matches throwing the belts on the ground and saying: 'F***ing keep them' because he didn't wanna work with Bubba. Yeah, and these were house shows. Arn [Anderson], whoever was the agent, right? He would throw the belts down right on the ground and say: 'F***ing keep them.' He didn't wanna work with those guys," he said. [22:31 - 22:57]

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The Ex-WWE star claimed The Dudley Boyz disliked each other

Bully Ray and D-Von Dudley worked as a tag team for many years and held several championships in WWE together. However, Rene Dupree claimed on a previous episode of Cafe de Rene that the two disliked each other, saying that their relationship was just business.

In an interview with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, D-Von Dudley addressed the rumored animosity between him and his former tag team partner. He clarified that he had no heat with Bully Ray.

"Are there things that I didn't agree with? Yes. Are there things that he didn't agree with me? Absolutely. But guess what, we squashed it, whatever that little disagreement was, and we're together, but we were never apart. I feel like Bubba said, 'We're like KISS. We're gonna put on the face paint one more time. And we're gonna do it,'" D-Von said. [H/T: PWMania]

D-Von and Bully Ray recently reunited to compete in two matches on the independent circuit. It would be interesting to see if they will have one more bout as a tag team in WWE.

Do you want to see The Dudley Boyz back in a WWE ring? Hit the discuss button and sound off.

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