How Good Were The Dudley Boyz Actually?

Range

This is where the G.O.A.T. case flounders, and badly: if the Dudleyz didn’t “get the table”, they were mostly dismal.

Bubba Ray and D-Von didn’t excel using the table so much as they were reliant entirely on it. In-ring, they exhibited the least range of any wrestling act ever. In terms of character work, they mostly played two roles, depending on whether they were babyfaces or heels.

As heels, they were nasty, sexist, foul-mouthed heels.

As babyfaces, they stole a catchphrase from a Budweiser commercial and bellowed it to the crowd before asking them to echo their demand for a table.

This sounds rubbish, like it’s meant to diminish them, but it was actually clever. Simplifying your act, projecting it to a large, casual audience, and playing the hits is the sign of a great worker. The Dudleyz, after a certain point, were able to generate monstrous reactions by doing the same, basic things night after night.

But as savvy as it was, the Dudley Boz are meant to be an all-time great tag team. Did they ever once provoke a true, earnest response?

There was no depth to their work. The Rock n’ Roll Express conducted an agonising sympathy of emotion in the building; the Midnights were fantastic at ripping the baton from Ricky Morton’s hand. The Young Bucks, like them or not, are so effective at what they do in the heel role that they are able to make teams who aren’t all that great feel like world-beaters. The Golden Lovers and FTR are also fantastic at making a crowd feel full-blown emotional turmoil.

Other great teams didn’t trade in textured emotion - Demolition, the Road Warriors - but you could argue that the genre has evolved into something better in the years after the Dudleyz were active full-time, weakening their "best ever" case significantly.

2/10