Last Monday, August 21, will be a day sad to my heart. I awoke to look at twitter and other areas of the web where there was word that the Dudley Boyz were announcing their retirement on Raw. I felt this had to be a “work” because I thought for sure the WWE would let them retire with that tenth WWE title reign. Alas, I went to the source and Bubba Ray as well as Devon had posts admitting to their retirement. I was sad, but I can understand why they wanted to call it a career.
Hell, for 20 years they have been dominating the squared circle no matter where they were or what company they worked for. Sometimes they were portrayed as the good guys while other times they were the villains. No matter what you thought, they were always the Dudley Boyz. I think that is the main reason they have such a large following. They were always true to themselves and true to their fans. Sure while they worked for TNA, or Impact wrestling as its no known, they made some changes to their personas but the core was always the Dudley Boyz straight outta Dudleyville.
Let’s talk stats shall we. They are the 8 time ECW tag champions, 2 time IWGP tag champions, 2 time TNA tag champions, 8 time WWF champions, as well as single tag championship runs with WWE, WCW, and NWA. They have literally won belts for every wrestling promotion in existence during their reign. Hell, they have even been in matches of teh year according to Pro Wrestling Illustrated in the year 2000 as well as 2001.
The Dudley Boyz are a force to be reckoned with and that is why I enjoyed watching them wrestle. I spent 20 years of my life screaming, “Get the Tables!” every time I saw that cue or WAS UP? when Devon was on the top turnbuckle while Bubba Ray and some poor guys legs ready for the pain.
I honestly believe the Dudley Boyz will be around for a long time. I personally believe as Tommy Dreamer does, they will wrestle again. Hell, I don’t think they are done with the WWE either. They may be free agents at the moment, but they owe Anderson and Gallows a little payback for what they did on Monday Night Raw as the Dudleyz went out on their terms.
I want to take this time to simply say to Bubba Ray and Devon, THANK YOU! Thanks for the epic matches, thanks for sharing your wrestling skills with the world, but most importantly, thanks for being the greatest tag team in the world of professional wrestling! To steal a line from the great Bret Hart, you are the best there was, the best there is, and the best there ever will be.
THANK YOU!
I wish they had one more run with the tag titles but you gotta admit they livened up the tag division and made it great again