How Good Were The Dudley Boyz Actually?

Rivalries

The three-way feud with the Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian was almost the sole highlight of legitimate tag team wrestling in the Attitude Era, which until that point was fixated on strange bedfellows tag teams after the New Age Outlawz lost momentum. (While it’s X-Pac who became shorthand for failing to stay over, Road Dogg and Billy Gunn deserve the ‘Heat’ suffix just as much, if not more, since they were never actually great to begin with).

Otherwise, this isn’t a major feat in their careers. The Dudley Boyz, outside of the TLC programmes, aren’t known for their classic rivalries.

In ECW, the Dudleyz got a lot out of working with Spike Dudley. The diminutive, rail-thin Spike was a great, fearless opponent for the violent, reckless-feeling meatheads. The Dudleyz were also good opposite the Gangstas, sometimes, and not many were. The Steel Cage match at Heat Wave ‘97 was a bit long, but crazed and heated enough to elevate it well above the repetitive turn-taking plunder brawls that came to define the post-peak ECW style post-1996. The Dudleyz, famous for the TLC wars, were infamous for a decidedly less good gimmick attraction: the Electrified Steel Cage, by which they had to pretend to be electrocuted, at TNA Lockdown 2007. Their feud with LAX was crappy before that. The match was as sh*tty as the medium gets.

Bubba and D-Von are mostly known for their feud with all of the women throughout the WWE Attitude Era. This misogynistic campaign did get the team over, which is a grim reflection of the fanbase of the day than anything else.

It’s not exactly Dusty Vs. Flair, is it?

6/10