WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray (Bubba Ray Dudley) appeared on an episode of the Six Feet Under podcast, where he discussed various topics, including his debut in ECW.
Ray said, “They basically dragged me in the car. And I get to the show and I see Tommy Dreamer in the parking lot. And I’m like, ‘Hey man, you think you can get me on the show tonight?’ Gave me a look, he says, ‘Yeah, I’ll see what I can do’… Tommy comes back to me and he says, ‘You’re going to get a shot tonight. Just, no matter whatever they tell you to do, do it to the best of your ability and don’t ask questions.’”
On the moment:
“Show starts. I’m in my gear. I’m looking at the lineup, my name’s not there. Third match is in the ring, nobody’s told me a damn thing. Fifth match is in the ring, I don’t know what I’m doing, so I go up to the promoter. I go up to the booker, a guy that you might know, Paul Heyman. [I say] ‘Um sir, Tommy told me I was going to get a look tonight. I don’t see my name on the lineup. I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you.’ [He said] ‘Don’t worry, kid. When the time’s right, I’ll tell you what to do.’ The time’s right? We’re in intermission. We’re in intermission. There’s only three more matches. Now the semi-main is going to the ring. Now I think I’m getting ribbed. I’m getting tested. They want to see my reaction, and they’re going to tell me to come back in two weeks.”
On going to Paul Heyman again:
“I went up to Paul one more time. ‘Sir. I don’t mean to be a pain in the ass. Blah, blah, blah, sorry, sorry, sorry.’ He goes. ‘I told you, kid. When the time’s right, I’ll let you know.’ There’s only one more match. It’s the main event. First, it was the Public Enemy versus the Gangstas, and Bill Alfonso was in the ring. And the story was 911, the big monster who just chokeslammed guys, was trying to get to Bill Alfonso. And the music is playing for the main event. Paul Heyman pulls me to the side. He says, ‘Okay kid, you’re Bill Alfonso’s bodyguard, 911 has been trying to choke slam Bill Alfonso. When 911 gets to Bill, you get in front of him. He’s going to chokeslam you. Go get him, kid.’ That was it. I go out there. I’m like a deer in the headlights the whole time.”
On his time to shine:
“And when the time was right, 911 almost got to Bill Alfonso. I stepped in front of Bill Alfonso. 911 goozled me, and at 402 pounds I took a chokeslam as high as Rey Mysterio could, boom. I came back through the curtain, and Paul Heyman is sitting there and he said, ‘Great job, kid. How do you feel about shaving your head?’ I had the Nasty Boy mullet. I had the long hair, the mullet. Like if Man Mountain Rock and Brian Knobs got together, not that this is a good thing! And he goes, ‘How do you feel about shaving your head?’”
On coming up with the name:
“I was terrified, because the two biggest fears I always had in wrestling was having to shave my head and ever, ever getting the name Bubba. Because all of the heavy guys are named Bubba. And when Paul said, ‘How do you feel about shaving your head?,’ I was like, ‘Um.’ And before I can even say your word, he goes, ‘Don’t worry kid, if you don’t want to do it we can always find something else for you.’ And that was one of my first light bulb moments in the wrestling business, where I was like, ‘Shave your head tomorrow.’ This is — you know, people think in the wrestling business or in life, opportunity [knocks]. Opportunity doesn’t go like this. Yeah, it goes like this [taps lightly]. It just depends on how in tune you are.”
On shaving his head:
“The very next day, on 12th Avenue in Belmar, New Jersey on my friend’s stoop in the front of his house. All the hair came off, and that was it.”
On getting the Bubba name:
“Two weeks later, at three o’clock in the morning doing a promo class, like, ‘We don’t know what we’re gonna call this kid. We know he’s gonna be a Dudley, but what do we call him?’ ‘Well, he looks like a Billy Joe. He looks like a Bobby Sue. He looks like a Jim Bob, he looks like a Bubba.’ And I’m like, ‘Holy s**t, I hope that Paul didn’t hear that.’ Paul goes, ‘You do look like a Bubba. You look like a Bubba — Bubba Ray! That’s it, Bubba Ray Dudley.’”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
