WWE News: Dudley Boyz Could Split Up With ‘Bully Ray’ Character Debuting In WWE


There has been some talk about splitting up the Dudley Boyz, Bubba Ray and Devon, on WWE television with a character similar to TNA’s “Bully Ray” featured by WWE, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via Wrestlezone).

The Dudley Boyz returned to the WWE for the first time in a decade this past summer, surprising WWE Tag Team Champions the New Day the night after SummerSlam. Their return has been well received by the WWE Universe, evidenced by the tremendous reactions the legendary tag team has received at arenas worldwide since returning.

The Inquisitr previously reported that WWE had some internal discussion about the Dudley’s potentially winning tag team gold, but the team has yet to do so. Instead, they’ve been primarily used as a nostalgia act, helping younger tag teams, such as New Day and the Wyatt Family, look strong by defeating the ECW Originals.

But with a myriad of injuries to several of WWE’s biggest stars, including John Cena, Randy Orton, Cesaro, Seth Rollins, Daniel Bryan, Sting, and others, the company is currently in need of credible singles wrestlers. While neither of the Dudleys has ever enjoyed singles success in WWE, both men have proven they can be stars by themselves.

During their decade-long stint in TNA, going by the name Team 3D, the Dudleys were a popular tag team but also evolved into two of TNA’s most capable solo acts. Bubba Ray, in particular, entered a new stratosphere of success when he became a bad guy (heel) in 2010, breaking off the tag team with Devon and entering singles competition.

For parts of the five years after the split, “Bully Ray” became one of TNA’s most popular and most hated on-air personalities. His solo success was capped off with two TNA World Heavyweight Championship victories, the only time that Ray held a major singles championship in his career.

Bully Ray during his reign as TNA World Heavyweight Champion. [Image via Impact Wrestling]
Bully Ray during his time as president of Aces & Eight and TNA World Heavyweight Champion. [Image via Impact Wrestling]

Not only was Ray a two-time World champion, he also engaged in memorable feuds with the likes of Jeff Hardy, Austin Aries, Hulk Hogan, Sting, and several others. Ray also became the president of the since-disbanded Aces & Eights faction, which by its crescendo had accumulated 13 different members during its existence.

With such a decorated stint as a heel solo performer, Ray has proven he can be trusted on his own without the need of his longtime tag team partner. Luckily for WWE, Ray is also not against bringing the “Bully Ray” character to WWE at some point.

In an interview with Live Audio Wrestling (via EWrestling News), Ray said that he’d be open to testing out that character in WWE if the company ever approached him about.

“If WWE came to me and they told me that is something that they wanted to try out I would be more than happy to go down that road since I know I’ve done it in the past & I know I’ve done it in the past well. So I definitely think it could work.”

While the 44-year-old Bubba Ray would seemingly have a niche on WWE television carved out for him, his tag team partner Devon, 43, would not be as fortunate. He is a former two-time TNA Television Champion while he was a solo performer, but is the far less accomplished singles wrestler.

[Image via WWE]
[Image via WWE]

But as Devon told NOLA recently, the Dudley Boyz don’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

“It’s been an amazing roller coaster ride, and there is no end right now. We’re still going strong. After 20 years, we’re still relevant. It’s been incredible. I don’t think there could have been an actual writer that could have wrote this any better than we’ve played it out. I don’t think that we could have ever predicted the stardom, the success that we’ve had within those 20 years.”

[Image via WWE]

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