Bully Ray: Vince McMahon Brought The Dudleys Back To WWE For A Specific Purpose

After becoming an iconic tag team in ECW and then WWE, the Dudley Boyz eventually left the latter promotion in 2005. A decade later, D-Von and Bubba Ray (better known as Bully Ray today) returned for a final run before their 2018 WWE Hall of Fame induction.

On a recent episode of "Busted Open Radio," Bully looked back to their WWE return and what Vince McMahon hoped for them to do. "I actually had a disagreement with Vince McMahon that very first day," he claimed. "Vince specifically wanted us to roll out to the ring and address Titus O'Neil and Darren Young, and I was like, 'Vince, no. Like, let us stay in the ring, soak in the moment.'"

"I'm like, 'Rolling out of the ring and saying something to Titus and Darren is going to be so inconsequential!' It's like putting the boots to somebody after hitting the finish," he pointed out. Bully claimed that McMahon listed several reasons why he wanted the segment, which he can no longer remember. However, he believes that in addition to being inconsequential to their return, nobody would remember the tag team of Darren Young and Titus O'Neil years later.

Following their disagreement, Bully claims McMahon sat them down ahead of the next "WWE Raw," where the former WWE Chairman pitched a more cohesive plan for The Dudley Boyz. "'I want you to get The New Day over, I want you to get The Usos over, and I want you to get The Wyatts over,'" the veteran recalled. "Even though I didn't agree with the exact way Vince wanted it done, I'm proud to say that all of those three teams went on to, you know, bigger and better [things]."

Bully then acknowledged that The New Day ended up breaking the record he and D-Von set for most tag title reigns, and then made a bold claim about The Uso's future in WWE. "I believe The Usos will go on to break The New Day's record one day," he proclaimed. "I was proud of the body of work. We did the best we could with the hand we were dealt." 

According to Bully, McMahon was genuinely happy with the way they put the aforementioned teams over, so he offered them a three-year contract. Unfortunately, by the third year, Bully felt he couldn't continue because of how disgruntled he was by their booking. 

"This is the story of when I went to Vince. I said, 'Sorry, Vince, I can't do this anymore.' He said, 'What are you talking about?'" Bully recalled. "I said, 'You did this, this, and this.' I'm like, 'You can't rebuild us anymore! We've been basically jobbed out for a year!' To the point where we were putting over make-shift tag teams of Cardona and 'insert-name-here.'"

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio," and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.