Hi folks! I’m here to bring you the second edition of Wrestling Heat. Many fans remember The Dudleys for their time in WWE, and possibly as Team 3D in TNA Wrestling, but today we’re solely focusing on their work in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).
ECW Heatwave 1999
When fans look back on The Dudley Boyz time in ECW, fans remember the promo they delivered at the Heatwave 1999 pay-per-view. It has become known as the day when they nearly instigated a riot, and I’d like to see if this was true. Here’s a video showing what happened.
Disclaimer: This article contains extreme amounts of uncensored cursed words and sexist language. Therefore, it should not be viewed by anybody who is easily offended.
It’s important to note that children can be seen attending as close as the front row. The fans are chanting for The Dudleys during their entrance. As what had become standard, D-Von tells the fans to “shut the fuck up” before Buh Buh Ray speaks. He opens by saying he feels sick being in this “piece of shit city”. Ray calls them white trash pieces of garbage, and that gets a pop from some. If they had the time, they would come out there and kick everyone of their asses.
Buh Buh Ray looks at some of the audience. There’s a faggot in a Hawaiian shirt on one side (even Joey Styles finds that offensive). On the other, there’s a Mother who taught her daughter how to suck dick. Don Callis has some killer lines here. And then there’s a skankasauros who’s going to take D-Von’s 9-inch black dick so far up her, she won’t know what hit her. You know what the great part about it is? None of them have the guts to do anything about it. Styles mentions security needing to be alert.
Ray points out a big, bald guy in the front row, who he calls a “fat, bald motherfucker”. I should state that while he is calling out the guy, he looks pretty happy about it. The Dudleys come right up to him and get in his face. He doesn’t seem too bothered, so Buh Buh throws a guy’s drink in his face and begs him to punch him square on the chin. Security is very close to the situation, so nothing’s happening without them rushing in to stop it.
The Mother from earlier is screaming at him and giving him a middle finger salute. She seems more animated than the guy was, but she’s only going as far to spit on Ray. He calls her a whore and she just smiles at him. They get back in the ring and an “ECW” chant breaks out. These fans aren’t stupid. They know what Buh Buh Ray is doing and they are far from rioting. I’m disappointed because I’ve read so many times that this so-called “incident” was meant to have come close to instigating a riot. It didn’t! Not even close.
ECW: It Ain’t Seinfeld ’98
So, where did this story come from? That ECW Heatwave ‘99 came so close to being a riot? I believe it’s a story that grew over the years and hasn’t ever been challenged. Back then, wrestlers didn’t draw heat like that. They weren’t getting up in fans’ faces and literally begging them to throw a punch. This broke new ground, and it’s remembered because it happened on PPV where most fans saw it. However, what if I were to tell you that this was tame, and that The Dudley Boyz had done way worse a year before?
The other day, I stumbled across a video showing a promo from a show called “ECW: It Ain’t Seinfeld” (they called it this because Seinfeld was airing its last episode that night). Maybe there are other examples, but some of the original ECW footage is rare, and the other videos I found did not match up to this one’s intensity. Because I can only find it on Veoh, I cannot link it directly for you here. I’ve tried, but it won’t let me. Therefore, I’ll post the link for you below, so you can watch it. I confirm the site is 100% safe and there’s no need to sign up for anything. Skip forward to the 16:30 mark for The Dudley Boyz segment.
The Dudley Boyz Go Wild On New Yorkers (May 14, 1998)
There’s a unique atmosphere this time. It’s far more negative. Buh Buh Ray almost gets into it with a fan during their entrance, and the guy looks pissed. Another fan joins in and pushes him away. That’s what proper heat looks like, and Buh Buh isn’t scared to get up in their faces. D-Von tells the fans to suck it with a crotch chop. He tells them to shut the fuck up, and man… this crowd hates them. The difference here is that they have Big Dick Dudley in there, so if any idiot tried jumping in to the ring, they’d soon figure out their mistake.
D-Von continues the abuse by saying they are the worst pieces of shit he has ever seen. The next person who says one more thing, he’s going to the top balcony to slap the shit out of them. This crowd is rowdy and far more vocal than Heatwave. Buh Buh gets passed a drink so he can spit it at the crowd, and you probably shouldn’t look, but there’s a big guy mooning them without a care in the world. He tells the guy that if he has one hair on that big ass he’d get in the ring, motherfucker. The guy moves his way to the rail, and he’s ready to go. Trash is already pouring into the ring.
Ray asks where his bra is. I always loved the hypocrisy of Buh Buh Ray calling others fat, when he’s not exactly slim either. He asks if he’s scared to get in the ring, but he motions to security. Buh Buh says that he couldn’t get laid in a whorehouse with a fistful of fifties. The next person who throws something, he’s going to kick their ass. This just increases the volume of trash. Someone throws in a chair and this pisses Buh Buh off. He tells the guy straight up to bring it if he has the balls to throw a chair. He calls them all cowards? I can’t tell because of the sound cuts.
D-Von tries to get things moving, but someone on the balcony catches his eye, so he tells them to sit down. He then tells them to jump off the balcony, and promises that he won’t get kicked out if they do. Buh Buh wants him to jump too and calls him a pussy. He asks if it would help if he told him that he fucked ???? (sound again) last night. His Mother is a $2 whore. Would it help if he told him that Big Dick used to fuck his Father in jail? Man, Ray is flexing with those insults. Ladies and gentleman, he gives you a 100 lb pussy. He thought they would have learned by now not to get him started, because he’d fuck every single one of them up.
We finally get to the scheduled programming, which is a word with Brother Gertner. Time to testify! He’s not even a Dudley that he should worry about, but still he’s licked… I wish I knew what he said, but the sound cut. Don’t hate him because he’s beautiful, as it’s not the reason he hates everyone of them. The fans seem to appreciate the introduction for himself. He hypes up Sign Guy Dudley as the one who decided if Queens should get its own PPV (they didn’t). At this point, the young man they called a 100 lb pussy gets some help to fall from the balcony to the floor. He jumps over the rail and security is there to greet him, although they don’t immediately grab him.
The crowd goes nuts for the kid, as they want to see him get in there with the Dudley Boyz, but security ensures that doesn’t happen. They encourage him back over the rail. The ring is a mess and the fans chant “EC-DUB!” After what was already an extra long introduction, Gertner assumes they don’t care to hear the rest of it, so he cuts it short. They do what they can to clear the ring as their opponents, The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, and Spike Dudley, make their way out. The mood has changed and New York is firmly behind this team.
I’m ending the commentary because the promo finishes here. Wasn’t that far worse than Heatwave? And I can imagine a few other shows being like that, especially in 1998 when The Dudley Boyz were notoriously hated. By 1999, they were established and getting insulted by them was part of the experience. But at this show, the fans couldn’t stand them and it’s clear as day. Did they get close to instigating a riot? I don’t believe so. I know they got plenty of heat from those they targeted, and I’m sure at least two of those were close to doing something they’d later regret.
This series is about wrestling heat. It’s about showing you some of the most extreme examples of heels pushing people’s buttons. There are few in the business who can do that like The Dudley Boyz. Even in an environment where he can’t be crude and curse like no tomorrow, he knows how to be the guy you want to punch. He has one of those faces, and his voice lines up with how stupid it looks. Man, it makes me want to jump the rail and get in his face. What an asshole! And I hope this has enlightened you to how far heels can go without limits. Thanks for reading!
Also Read: 25 Years of Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio at Halloween Havoc ‘97
