The WWE Draft has concluded, and as seen on WWE SmackDown and Raw, some special guests were brought in to announce some of the draft picks.
The Dudley Boyz, Bubba Ray Dudley (Bully Ray) and D-Von Dudley, appeared on both Raw and SmackDown. Bully spoke on Busted Open Radio today about his experience backstage at WWE, and what he says is consistent with what many have said about the Triple H era, in that things were much more relaxed.
He said, “Man, I can’t even put into words how different of a place the WWE is now, the way the whole show is run, and obviously, without certain people there, I believe the black cloud and the eggshells have definitely disappeared.” Bully continued, “You can tell that Paul Levesque’s WWE is a more laid back WWE, less stress, and a lot more fun. There’s just this whole vibe of more of a team effort than I think I’ve ever seen there before, everybody being on the same page, very little politicking that I see or anything that resembles it. It really was a great experience. If it wasn’t, I would tell you about it. I’d be like, ‘Wow, man, it’s bad back there’, but no, a really great experience.”
Bully responded to some who believe this year’s WWE Draft has been underwhelming: “I know you guys are saying you felt that the draft was a bit underwhelming or boring, or you didn’t like it at all. I didn’t really get a chance to watch everything being so busy there with other aspects like, you know, digital media, or interviews and stuff like that, but the stuff that I was involved in, I enjoyed. It was fun for me and D-Von. I know it was fun for the fans in Cincinnati and the fans in Kansas City last night. So I don’t know. Will it be a successful draft? I’m not sure. Will they stick to the rules? Hopefully the first draft under Paul Levesque, they’ll stick to the rules and they won’t start swapping people out for a while.”
The majority of the talent on RAW and SmackDown remained with their respective brands, with a few names crossing over to other brands and some NXT call-ups. Following the conclusion of RAW and SmackDown, several additional draft picks were announced. Bully’s comments about WWE’s backstage environment echo what many wrestlers have said in recent months.
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
