Bubba Ray Dudley Talks Singles Career, Spike and More in Exclusive Interview

Bubba Ray Dudley is a rare breed.

As one-half of a legendary tag team that very well may be the best ever, Bubba Ray was still able to reinvent himself in TNA as the abrasive heel known simply as Bully Ray. The run earned him a world championship, and despite being synonymous with an iconic tag team, he is still bombarded with requests to resume a singles run in WWE.

This is virtually unprecedented for such an elite tag team performer.

I spoke with Bubba Ray on the PodNasty Wrestling Podcast ahead of Hell in a Cell, as the Dudley Boyz look to become 10-time WWE Tag Team champions, and the hard-nosed brawler who cut his teeth in ECW has maintained his old-school, no-nonsense sensibilities.

Still, he is able to connect with a new world effortlessly.

Bleacher Report: I've heard before from wrestlers that your mind plays tricks on you when you've been away from the WWE for a while. There's this fear that maybe the fans forgot. When you were getting ready to make your entrance at the Royal Rumble earlier this year, was there any doubt in your mind that the fans wouldn't explode the way they did?

Bubba Ray Dudley: I don't want to sound cocky, but no. We were out there traveling all around the world, conquering the world of tag team wrestling in every corner of the planet you can possibly think of, whether that was TNA, in Japan or any place.

So, wrestling fans still knew who we were, fans in the WWE Universe still knew who we were, so you put that together, and you get a surprise entrant—the first surprise entrant into the Royal Rumble—you have all of the elements needed for the type of reaction that I got.

B/R: You mentioned Devon; he was missing from this equation at the Royal Rumble. R-Truth did a great job filling in, but did you feel a void without Devon by your side?

Dudley: I really wished Devon could have been there, and if you go back and you watch the [Royal] Rumble again, about 30 seconds before I got eliminated, the crowd starts chanting "We Want Devon."

I think that people always use the term "the roof would have blown off the place," but I think if Devon would have came out and the Dudleys would have been standing in the middle of the ring at the Royal Rumble, I think you would have had the same reaction, if not a bigger reaction, as we got in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn when me and Devon got back together.

B/R: You've run a very successful wrestling academy for years with Devon in Florida, which is not too far from NXT in Full Sail University. How do you feel the launch of NXT has impacted students of your academy? Are they more excited about the business now?

Dudley: The Team 3D Academy has been around since 2007, and it's completely different from the Performance Center. The Performance Center will pick the people they want to bring in and they want to train. If the average Joe off the street wants to become a pro wrestler, they can't just walk into the Performance Center. That's when they come to us.

We're more of an old-school, traditional pro wrestling training academy. But them being 20 minutes away [from NXT], Florida is such a hotbed right now for pro wrestling, and people always ask, did you ever think you would be able to work with the developmental system, and I think the academy would make for a great feeder system for developmental, so I think it would work on a lot of levels.

B/R: You talked about old-school philosophies. Brock Lesnar appeared on Steve Austin's podcast this week and made it very clear that he approaches wrestling like a business, like a job, and he didn't grow up a fan of wrestling; doesn't love it. As someone who is very involved with wrestling and gives back to it, do you have a problem with this approach?

I have zero problem. I think the way he looks at it is absolutely perfect, and I think that is exactly the way I teach my up-and-coming wrestlers from day one.

You have to remember that this is a business, and the idea in business is to always climb the ladder of success and achieve the most success you can, especially financially, especially in an industry where you're going to destroy your body. You want to make the most amount of money possible.

The wrestling business is no different from any other business. Whether you flip burgers or whether you do brain surgery, you always want to climb the ladder of success, so I think Brock's way of looking at it is absolutely perfect. 

B/R: You really reinvented yourself in your time away from WWE. You became a world champion, had a successful singles career. Is there any desire on your end to resume a singles career during your time with WWE?

Dudley: I get tons of this question. Everybody wants me to be a singles wrestler already, they're not even letting me enjoy these tag team ranks!

B/R: (Laughs)

Dudley: If WWE ever came to me and said "Hey, we'd like to give you a shot at the singles, we'd like to try it," I'm more than open to it. It would be interesting. I think the fans would love to see it, but right now I'm concentrated on me and Devon winning our 10th Tag Team Championship at Hell in a Cell.

B/R: That's got to be flattering for you, Bubba, because I honestly can't remember anybody who is part of a team as legendary as the Dudley Boyz where there is such a demand to have a singles career. Is that a point of pride for you?

Dudley: Yeah, it is kind of cool because that must mean they were really into what I was able to do by myself and they were emotionally invested and that they liked it.

When I was off on my own, it worked really, really well, and I think I brought a level of edginess back to pro wrestling that hasn't been seen in a while. In wrestling, you never say never. Maybe one day it will happen, but if it never does happen, it's really not a big deal to me.

The reason I would like to do it is because it seems like the fans really want to see it so much.

B/R: The fans have made a lot of comparisons between NXT and ECW, where you became a star. What comparisons would you make between these two brands?

Dudley: I think the obvious comparison between ECW and NXT is the passion in which the wrestlers go out there and perform, and the passion of the fans. When you have that kind of chemistry between your in-ring performers and your fans, it's going to make for a very special moment every single night.

B/R: Being in WWE, you've reunited, somewhat, with Paul Heyman, who you worked with in ECW. Are you guys still close? Do you still talk a lot?

Dudley: Yes. I speak to Dr. Frankenstein pretty frequently.

B/R: (Laughs) The New Day has had a 3-on-2 advantage on The Dudleys for this entire feud, and it has really kept you guys from winning the tag team titles. Now, I'm very well-versed in the Dudley origin story, and I know for a fact that there aren't just two Dudleys. Is there a chance we see Dudley reinforcements to even the odds?

Dudley: If we needed to, Spike Dudley is only a phone call away, and fans on social media have been asking me that question: "When are we going to see Spike, when are we going to see Spike?"

As of right now, I don't think we need Spike because—Xavier Woods—I don't think he's going to be making it to L.A., I gotta tell you that, so it'll be two-on-two.

But if we ever needed Spike, if we ever needed our little brother, if we ever needed the runt of the litter, like I said, he's no more than a phone call away, and he'd be right there by our side. And I think the WWE Universe would go absolutely crazy to see Bubba, Devon and Spike standing together in the same ring again.

Alfred Konuwa is a featured columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @ThisIsNasty and subscribe to his weekly wrestling podcast.