10 Wrestling Matches That Started Riots

3. The Dudley Boyz Vs. Spike Dudley & Balls Mahoney - ECW Heat Wave 1999

Love him or hate him, Bubba Ray Dudley knows how to draw heat like few others.

From watching him over the decades, you can just tell that Bubba loves being a heel. Like, it's almost cathartic for him in some way to incite a crowd to the point that they are literally baying for his blood. But while the Dudley Boyz were great villains during their time in WWE, and Bubba was a phenomenal villain as 'Bully Ray' in TNA, that's nothing compared to what the Dudleyz - and in particular Bubba - did during their time in ECW.

The Dudley Boyz were infamous for pushing the buttons of a crowd in a way that nobody at that time was doing. As in, they crossed so, so many lines. And so, so often, it was Bubba Ray doing the crossing of those lines.

One particularly infamous example of this, was at ECW's Heat Wave 1998 PPV. With Bubba and D'Von defending the ECW Tag Team Championships against Spike Dudley and Balls Mahoney, the stage was set to get some heat before the bell rang.

For the Dudleyz, that meant D'Von telling the crowd to "shut the f**k up", Bubba labelling Dayton, Ohio "a piece of sh*t city" and then laying into individual audience members with some horrendous comments that have to be heard to be believed - before then fronting up to fight the crowd. Like many a crowd, the Dayton faithful didn't take too kindly to the Dudleyz's comments.

One other similar story saw a reported 40 police officers required to stop a riot caused after Bubba punched a fan.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.