411’s WWE Broken Skull Sessions Report: Bubba Ray Dudley on ECW, TLC II, Aces and 8s, AEW, and More!

411’s WWE Broken Skull Sessions Report: Bubba Ray Dudley

-I wasn’t expecting Bubba as a guest for this show, but here we are and I am intrigued as we should get something more than just stories of working for WWE. Let’s get to it!

-Run Time: 1:38:38

-Great Austin intro as he stutters when saying Bubba’s name which is a wonderful touch.

-Bubba tells Austin that stuttering gimmick will never get over, and Austin says he remembers seeing the gimmick in ECW and knew Bubba was going to make it.

-Bubba asks Austin what they have in common in ECW and Austin isn’t sure. Bubba says they debuted the same night in ECW in Sept 1995. Austin was doing the Hogan stuff and Bubba showed up on a dare from his friends. He showed up with his gear and knew Tommy Dreamer. He asked Tommy if he could get him a meeting with the booker if they had a spot. Heyman met him and told him they could use him and would let him know what they had in mind. Bubba doesn’t see his name on the card and didn’t know Paul, so he was confused. “Don’t worry kid, when the time is right we will let you know.” Bubba thinks he is being ripped and just before the main event he was told he was going to be Fonzie’s bodyguard and 911 was hitting him with a chokeslam. He went up easy for the big guy and walked back where Paul had his checkbook (Bubba says to make our own jokes), and asked Bubba if he was okay with shaving his head. That was one of the biggest fears Bubba ever had as he saw himself as the third Nasty Boy. He didn’t have an answer and Paul said okay they may have something for him. Bubba could see his shot fading, so he buzzed his hair the next week. His next fear was being given the name Bubba and that happened a week later. He jokes all the fat guys are called Bubba, but he and Austin both praise Big Bubba as the best to ever have the name. He tells the story of the boys shouting out names and someone yelled Bubba and Paul loved it. This was different as Austin didn’t even get to ask a question as Bubba just went off with his own story.

-Austin asks Bubba if he thought he would amount to anything with the Hogan stuff, and Bubba says it was entertaining. He was shocked Austin was there and mentions Paul basically told Austin to talk.

-Austin asks about the genesis of Bubba’s love for wrestling. Bubba says he was glued to the TV as it was on Saturday mornings after Dr. Who. His first memories were The Wild Samoans, Rick Martel and Garea, Strongbows, and The Moondogs, as he gravitated towards the tag teams. It bothered him that tag wrestling took a back seat.

-Austin brings up how he says if he doesn’t want to be World Champion, he shouldn’t be in the business and Bubba has that same thought for Tag Titles. Austin talks about being in The Blondes and how his fear was if you are in a tag and the other guy gets hurt you are screwed. Bubba says that thought never entered his mind.

-Bubba stops to ask if they are going to drink some beers. Austin is shooting with us as outside of a beer bash in Japan when they had 110 beers, they haven’t really hung out. Bubba says they bonded over their love of “Beautiful Creatures.” They toast and drink a beer and then Bubba gives Austin a bottle of Jack Daniels. Austin references “Hot Ones,” and says he isn’t going to puss out or stand Bubba up.

-Johnny Rodz is mentioned and Bubba says he trained Taz, Dreamer, and D-Von. He talks about a nameless guy that did him wrong and he still holds a grudge. He wanted to go with Rodz, but believed this enhancement guy that fed him a line about having contacts in WWF and how he had a deal with HBO and was going to make Bubba his first World Champion. Bubba paid him $25000, He walked into the school and there was a beautiful WWF ring set up and the guy was sitting in a folding chair by the ring smoking a cigarette. The guy asked him what he wanted to learn and Bubba just said dropkicks. Bubba says the guy stole his money and he learned nothing. He is just good at smoke and mirrors.

-Mongo Vile: Bubba says it was a mix of The Nasty Boys and Maxx Payne. He calls it generic heel 101 and it was par for the course in the early 90s East Coast Indy scene. He was also selling cars at the same time. He started selling cars for his friend and it worked out great as he was paid well, had a car to use, and had health insurance. He could still do the wrestling and didn’t have to starve himself.

-They discuss life before ECW, and Bubba says he didn’t learn much until he got to ECW. He learned there from Funk, Bigelow and Douglas. All of the young boys were taken under the learning tree by the veterans. Bigelow once called him over to teach him how to lace his boots and called him Marcus to drive home the boot. From that point on he has always heard Bigelow’s voice in his head every single time he laced his boots in his career. Cool story!

-The Dudley Boys: They were based off the Hanson Brothers in Slapshot. The story is Big Daddy Dudley was a wrestler that banged out children across the country with ring rats. Bubba was from Big Daddy’s run in West Virginia. He says if they didn’t know what to do with someone they made them a Dudley. He used smoke and mirrors to get by until he was embarrassed by Jimmy Del Ray. He was a great worker and Bubba had nothing for him. He was exposed and the entire crowd shit on him. He says you are toast once the ECW Arena turns on you.

-ECW TV: 1995: A Dudley Family promo and while Austin is laughing his ass off, Bubba looks like he wants to die. It’s so dumb, but awesome at the same time. Bubba isn’t sure who thought of the stuttering and says it could have been Raven or Taz. That was his first night in the gimmick and he isn’t sure how that guy is sitting here right now. He notes that he and D-Von weren’t supposed to make it.

-D-Von enters as the Samuel L Jackson from Pulp Fiction Dudley that was to give them a badass. They killed each other feuding before they put them as a team. Bubba says those matches were what he had to go through to get the ECW Arena back on his side. He knew they had chemistry against each other and knew in his heart he wasn’t a babyface. He pitched the idea to put him and D-Von together and Paul was all on board. Bubba turned on Sandman and Spike, they hit the first 3D and that was it.

-He talks about how far they had to go as heels. He wanted to reach Blassie and Sheik levels. He hates cool bad guys and says that without Dark Vader, Luke Skywalker is a whiny bitch. “If the Devil don’t have any heat, Jesus can’t blow a comeback,” He brings up Austin having the ultimate bad guy and they agree that nobody besides McMahon could have gotten Austin to that level he reached.

-ECW Fans: Bubba says the fans were the most important aspect of ECW. Their fan base was ready to go to war with them. He calls the fans smart and rabid that were ready to fight people over their company. He compares it to seeing The Sex Pistols for the first time. To him, the fans weren’t sure if what they were watching is good, but it was different. He compares ECW to Napster as they both went bankrupt but changed their industries. He thinks it was better that they burned out instead of faded.

-WWF: Bubba says they were in ECW for five years and they had a friend named Blackjack Brown. He told them that rumors were WWF was interested in them and he said to call. Bubba knows the deal as whoever picks up the phone has the least amount of leverage and Austin smiles. A few months pass and in late 98/early 99 he had a 3-way call with Blackjack and Vince Russo. Russo was an ECW fan and liked what they were doing. He set up a meeting and now they had to tell Heyman. They asked for $1 more a night and Paul said no. Bubba realized Paul and Vince had some kind of agreement and he couldn’t stand in the way as WWE was going to get what they wanted.

-Paul Heyman: Bubba compares Paul, in a good way, to David Koresh. He talks about the speech Paul gave before Barely Legal (yeah, I am going to have to do that show next) and it still gives him goosebumps. They believed every word he said and so much so that Taz went on TV to challenge Austin.

-Back to WWF and Bubba says that the first meeting was a feeling out. He talks about The Public Enemy in WWF and does bless their souls, but they left a bad taste in WWF’s mouth. The WWF wasn’t sure if the Dudleys would flame out the same way. They had a few meetings and Bubba asked Vince about the “push.” Vince told him there is no such thing as a push, but there is an opportunity. That was a learning moment for Bubba and Austin backs it up as all he was told was he had an opportunity and if you hit on it then the push comes. Bubba also told Vince that he and D-Von were heels and couldn’t sign autographs. HA! Vince: “Bubba, not only will you sign autographs, but you will take pictures as well.” Another light bulb went off and it was “yes sir, we will sign autographs.”

-We get a video of The Dudley Boyz WWF debut as they hit the ring on SmackDown and beat down APA with 2x4s. Bubba talks about what went down with The Public Enemy as they were supposed to get put through their tables by The APA. He mentions Sabu and PE were doing table spots long before The Dudleys. PE didn’t want to do it and said they weren’t going through the tables. So, APA basically beat the piss out of them and if you find it, it was brutal. So The Dudley Boys were going to be tested. They were told to use the 2X4s and Bubba told D-Von they were going to get killed no matter if they were easy or stiff, so lay it in hard to at least look good and then just take the ass-kicking that follows. They hit the APA as hard as they could and the next week on RAW APA was going to get their revenge.

-Austin has the footage and mentions the boys in the back were all watching to see what was going to happen. The Dudleys cut a promo backstage and the Acolytes attack. They beat the tie-dye out of them with 55-gallon drums as Lawler buries ECW on commentary. Bubba says it was a shoot-ass kicking, but shook their hands after it and thanked them. Everything was okay after that moment as all the boys watched to see how they responded. Weird business, but whatever works for them.

-Austin asks who they leaned on for advice in WWE or traveled. Bubba says he and D-Von were on their own, but made sure to be respectful with the boys in the locker room. They discuss going out drinking and Bubba mentions they went out each night for some beers, but made sure they hit the gym or whatever they needed to take care of the next day.

-Royal Rumble 2000: Tables Match: This match is great, as was this show! Bubba notes they were cut by 5 minutes so instead of cutting something they just decided to run through everything faster. It worked great as that match had this amazing blitz of a pace. Bubba lets us know the legdrop/splash combo through the table sucks to take. No kidding! He says they didn’t hit at the same time and that’s what killed him. Austin compliments Bubba and D-Von for being so safe even with the crazy stuff they did and Bubba takes it with honor. Bubba says the moment where he took the bump off the balcony was his Jimmy Snuka moment and then Jeff hits The Swanton from the balcony for the win. Bubba just wanted that one moment at MSG just in case and he got it. They both note this is the match that put them on the map in WWF. He puts over The Hardys for the match. They lost the match, but it shows you don’t have to go over, to get over.

-Bubba says “D-Von get the tables,” which came out the same as “Austin 3:16” did as it was just something he blurted out. He also brings up the Wazz-up headbutt and how over that got with the crowd.

-Austin brings up the stacked roster when The Dudley Boys came in and Bubba calls it a Great White Tank. Everyone was making money and their goal was to steal the show. He didn’t care who put asses in the seats, but wanted to make sure people were talking about them.

-Mae Young: Bubba says the first time he picked her up, he gently put her down. Later that night she grabbed him up and said “if you slam me, then slam me like one of the boys.” Nice! Bubba mentions the powerbomb off the ropes is easy, but off the stage was tougher as it was blind and the trajectory was different. We see the footage and it is still spectacular. He points out how he overshot the first table and brings up that at one time he did the eye roll and the next day Bruce Prichard let him know that Undertaker was on the phone for him. Gimmick Infringement!

-WrestleMania 2000: Triangle Ladder Match: Bubba points out that people think that match was TLC I, but it wasn’t. They knew something great happened when the six of them walked back through the curtain. Apparently, Bubba came up with TLC name and thought it was goofy as soon as he said it, but Michael Hayes kept the name in the back of his mind.

-They discuss the process of putting one of these matches together. Bubba says they were all confident and on the same page. He puts over that it is hard to find two teams with chemistry and they had three. He calls it their step-in shit moment as they stumbled into it and Vince told them, “this shit smells like money.”

-WrestleMania X-Seven: Austin brings up many consider it the greatest PPV of all time. Before getting to TLC II they take a shot of Jack and drink to the Main Event of Mania X-Seven and TLC II. Bubba shows Austin what their mindset was as he flips the double bird. This was their crowning moment and if the fans were going to remember any match, it was going to be this one. It was a massive crowd and they knew they had to top what they did the year before and what they did at TLC I. They had to add more psychology and wanted to include Lita, Rhino, and Spike. In their eyes, it had to be perfect.

-To the video: Austin says George Strait broke their record for a crowd in The Astrodome. Bubba says they thought the match sucked because they couldn’t hear the crowd. Austin says he could hear the crowd there, but couldn’t at Mania 23 in Ford Field. Bubba tells us that an hour before the match they were told to shave 4-5 minutes off and jokes apparently the Main Event needed more time. Austin gives him a high five and laughs that they built the house. Crazy ass bump to the floor by Christian which Austin and Bubba note! THE SPEAR OF ALL SPEARS! Bubba has a story for that later. Bubba brings up that D-Von is terrified of heights and Austin gives him a shout-out and hopes he is doing well.

-Bubba says they were all in The Dome the night before the show and it was tense as they were trying to make everything perfect. They got into a huge argument over the sequence of the Holy Shit Bumps. Bubba knew the fans had seen him fly off the ladders through the stack of tables at TLC I and even adding Matt this time made it a familiar bump. He felt the Spear Spot should be the final major high spot in the match. Between the six they could not agree and were split 3-3. They yelled at one another in a suite in The Dome. Bubba lost out as he felt the Spear moment was bigger than the table spot.

-He continues that they knew they wanted to do the spear spot and had to find a way to create the swinging so that Jeff was far enough away. Of all the people, Rhino came up with the idea of Bubba carrying the ladder away to pull Jeff away. Everyone was dumbfounded that Rhino came up with the idea while they were all racking their brains.

-Bubba talks about the art of going through a table. He says the table has a mind of its own and never breaks the same way. He talks about the legs off the table and how WWE tables are 8 feet. For the spot where Matt and Bubba both went through the stack of tables they had them move the brackets back to give a bigger sweet spot for them to breakthrough.

-Austin brings up injuries and Bubba says that for 50 years old he is feeling great. His only main issue was at Barely Legal in 1997 when he got knocked off the apron and shattered his ankle. Of course, they show the video! Austin notes that Bubba cut the cast off and used a walking boot so he could still work.

-Next, they touch on the relationship between all six men involved in those matches. Bubba brings up their Hall of Fame induction and they had to bring Edge/Christian and The Hardys on stage. He wanted that moment because it may likely be the last time all 6 were in the same place for the fans to see.

-The Dudley Boys are split up during the first WWF Draft. Bubba says it was foreign to him and it was like losing a limb. He wasn’t confident at all, but had to play the hand he was dealt. He laughs that during his singles run he got to work with a kid named Brock Lesnar because someone didn’t want to work with him. Austin laughs! Awesome!

-We jump ahead to Survivor Series 2002 because they realized they need to put the team back together. Vince told him it was happening and that’s all Bubba needed to hear. Bubba told Vince when he wanted to split the team it was a bad idea and talks about how nobody wanted to see The Road Warriors apart. He also calls The Road Warriors the greatest tag team of all time and isn’t comparing him and D-Von to them. He understood the reason for the split though as they wanted to show anything could happen with that first draft.

-Bubba and D-Von were home for a few months and wanted to go to OVW to work with the young teams. They work with MNM and Bubba had a sense of pride when they were called up. Then they just sat home until ECW One Night Stand. Sadly that’s all they discuss that show.

-Bubba says financial reasons are why they left. They wanted them to take a little less on their downside. They couldn’t agree on money and it was just business. When they came back 10 years later they were welcomed with open arms, treated well and put in the Hall of Fame.

-Austin wants to compare the locker room of WWE and TNA. Bubba says it is the same other than in WWE you have Vince waiting when you come back through the curtain and it’s about accountability to him. He loved the accountability with Vince and all he needed was a nod from Vince. He tells a story of going five minutes long on live TV in The Garden and that is normally grounds for being fired. He walked through the curtain and Vince was standing there: “If you ever go over on my live TV again, it better be as good as that.” He then walked away. Austin is loving all these stories!

-TNA and Bully Ray: Bubba says they had a good run as a team in TNA and New Japan. They had nobody left to work with and no tag titles left to win. They weren’t retiring and D-Von said he had the itch to be a singles and now was the time. The story Bubba came up with for the split focused on their finish, 3D. Nobody ever kicked out of it in the 20 years they had been using it. He mentions they even told Taker he could during their handicap match, but he refused because he knew they had protected it. So they had a match where a loss would split the team and for the first time someone kicks out of 3D and it was Chris Saban. They lose and on the next show, Bubba turns on D-Von and starts calling him his co-star. He calls Bully Ray an easy character to do as it is heel 101.

-He had confidence with this character on day one and it’s because he had a plan. He pitched a one-year arc to creative for his character. In his eyes, Bully Ray was to be one thing, but he was pulled aside by Eric Bischoff, who asked him about being the leader of a motorcycle gang. Bubba hated it like he hated the idea of shaving his head. Now Bubba says he is very proud of Aces and 8s.

-They talk about the angle with Brooke and Hulk Hogan. Bubba loved it because it let him work with Hulk Hogan and Sting. He loves being in the ring with guys better than him and working to top what they are doing. He mentions Rock and Austin in that same breath as Hogan and Sting. He says it was everything he wanted it to be whether it was a match with Sting or a promo with Hogan. He says Hogan was all business with him and they had an episode where they were on the ramp and got too close. Bubba started to back down because it’s Hulk Hogan and Hogan told him in the back to never back down from him again. Hogan told Bubba, “I am here to make you. I will back down from you.” The idea was to bring Bully up to their level. Damn!

-TNA World Title: Bully beat Jeff Hardy at LockDown inside the cage for the TNA Title. He says it was the biggest gate TNA had as it drew a paid attendance of 7100. It wasn’t Dome numbers, but it was big for TNA. They show a photo of Bully with the Aces and 8s and he puts over Ken Anderson and how great he was for the group. He loved the entire run and brings up putting Dixie through the table.

-Bubba’s philosophy for wrestling is “shine, heat, comeback, finish.” It has worked for 100 years and why would he want to change it. The better you become at what you do, the less you have to do. His mindset was to get as much heat as possible so that all the face had to do was beat the shit out of him. He also quips, “feed the elbow baby.” DUSTY!

-WWE Return: It was just an opportunity that came up. Road Dogg sent an e-mail about Bubba being in The 2015 Rumble since it was in Philly. He jumped at the chance and notes he had never been in The Rumble match. To the footage! Bubba says he blacked out due to the wall of sound that hit him and it pushed his adrenaline through the roof. He notes they wanted him to hit Dudley spots with Truth and just to be safe he called D-Von who gave his blessing.

-Bubba Cutter: We see him hit it for the first time against D-Von in ECW. He got the idea from watching Malenko vs. Rey in WCW. He pitched the idea to D-Von and it hit perfectly.

-They then get into a drinking contest as Bubba guzzles a shot of Jack while Austin just takes a sip. Austin can’t let that stand and toasts to the best match at WrestleMania X-Seven. Bubba not to be outdone, drinks from the bottle and toasts to the match that stole the show at X-Seven. That was great!

-Team 3D Wrestling Academy: They show a photo of the class and Bubba notes some of the people involved and mentions one of the girls is in AEW. So there you go, this show has mentioned ECW, WWF, WCW, OVW, TNA, AEW and NXT. I guess we missed out on an ROH mention. They opened up the wrestling school because Bubba knew how poorly he was trained and how he had his money stolen. They did Indy shots and realized the etiquette and level of respect from the young guys were different. They needed to pump quality back into the business. The kids who sign up are told it is a one-year commitment as they don’t think anyone should have a match in just a few months. He admits to saying things to those kids that he shouldn’t as a business owner. I can only imagine!

-Overall thoughts on the business. Bubba thinks only the diehards are watching. WWE will always be the family product. He says AEW mirrors what ECW was back in the day as far as its relationship with their fans. He also shouts out Impact and what he does on his radio show is tell what he thinks of the state of the business. He watches and tries to give fair feedback. He thinks a lot of things need to change and things would be better if they got back to basics.

-Austin brings up that Bubba is in the WWE and TNA Hall of Fame. He covers everything he has done and Bubba says that he is satisfied. He will jump at things like working a match with Jerry Lawler or a Steve Austin. He isn’t a one-shot, one-night appearance guy and would rather do something for three months and then put that person over. The only way he could go back and work a year or two is to be fully immersed in the story. He doesn’t have a yearning, but he is always listening. The point of a return would be to elevate someone to a higher level. He talks about how he doesn’t need to take 100 bumps to get someone over anymore. If they are telling the story right, all he has to do is take one bump to end the match. He tells the story of not listening to old guys saying to slow down and then years later you realize they weren’t lazy, but were smarter than everyone else. The business is about the stories and not how many bumps you take. “One bump is all you need to make a match if you put it in the right spot. Especially if you are a heel.”

-Austin wraps things up and gives another shout-out to D-Von. Bubba has one more story as he mentions the last thing Blassie ever said on WWE TV was “D-Von get the tables,” and Austin is the one that brought Blassie down to the ring. That moment still blows Bubba’s mind. They toast one last time to Blassie and Mae Young.

-This was fantastic and a different type of episode as Bubba carried most of the conversation. Austin steered things where he wanted, but Bubba had no issue working in the stories he wanted to hit. I loved him going into the psychology of putting matches together now and his philosophy of what wrestling should be. I was happy to hear they get into his TNA run and was shocked they mentioned AEW as much as they did, but kudos to touching on everything they could. Definitely check this one out as Bubba is a natural that can tell stories for hours on end and keep you engaged. Thanks for reading!