What’s the story?
As per a report by CageSideSeats, the beef between Randy Orton and Bubba Ray Dudley, which has recently gathered a lot of steam, is nothing new and goes back to an incident fifteen years ago.
The website reports that Orton and Dudley have been at loggerheads with each other since the time when Orton and Ray were both reportedly injured during a Tag Team match. Bubba Ray has also come out and stated that the story is indeed true and the purported incident had happened at a house show.
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The tag team legend Bubba Ray Dudley (now known as Bully Ray) and current WWE Champion Randy Orton have been having a war of words on Twitter. With Orton directing scathing remarks towards the independent wrestling scene and Bubba Ray defending it.
Also read: WWE News: Drew Gulak posts amusing Tweet with Randy Orton
Orton had also sarcastically apologised to Dudley after calling him out of shape.
The heart of the matter
Randy Orton and Bubba Ray Dudley haven’t seen eye to eye for the better part of both their careers. Before the current controversy, Randy Orton has, on several occasions, criticised Dudley for his in-ring work and lack of athleticism.
As per an interview with WrestleCast in 2008, Randy Orton had discussed the aforementioned incident and had been quoted as saying:
“I never liked him. I never liked what he did because he only thought of himself. In the match my foot was broken, it was his fault... Bubba Dudley is the most out of shape, fat, non-work-ethic-having person I knew.
And you had a bad taste in your mouth when you met him."
Although Bubba Ray hadn’t commented on Randy Orton’s remarks towards him back then, he brought up the incident recently and stated the following:
“About 15 years ago there was a live event between me and D-Von and Randy Orton and Batista. It was just one of those matches that just did not go the right way.
It was a snake bitten match. I wound up hurting my back, Randy wound up hurting his leg and his shoulder, Dave wound up hurting his tricep - it was just one of those bad nights.
Those guys held a little bit of a grudge from that night, and it went on for a long long long time.”
What’s next?
The war of words between Orton and Dudley has come from their history of dislike for each other, particularly on Orton’s side. However, it doesn’t seem like the beef is going to be settled anytime soon on Twitter or in a wrestling ring, as Orton is with the WWE and Dudley recently signed up with Ring of Honor.
With several professional wrestlers tweeting out their own two cents on the independent wrestling vs. WWE debate, it appears that there’s a lot more to come yet from this issue.
Author’s take
To me, it appears that the argument never had much substance, to begin with. Orton seems to be adding fuel to the fire and Dudley doesn’t seem to be doing anything significant to help the closure of it himself, although his statement on the issue clarifying that he wasn’t addressing Orton was certainly a welcome move.
The feud is certainly helping Dudley more than Orton, however, as he’s getting a lot of attention due to it! Hopefully, the attention can translate to more fans for Ring of Honor and Dudley’s current run as Bully Ray on the promotion.
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