What’s the story?
Following Randy Orton’s twitter spat against Bubba Ray Dudley, several pro-wrestlers have taken to social media to react to the WWE champion’s remarks. Indie wrestler Ricochet even issued a statement in response to Randy Orton’s criticism on the performance of indie wrestlers. He had the following to say:
”Guys, not everyone is going to like every style of wrestling. Same in any sport, music, movies and pretty much every form of entertainment. So just enjoy what you like! And I dunno about you all but I’ve always thought Randy was awesome. Still is! I just love wrestling. Every type. Wish more people were this way. It’s an amazing art that I’ve been blessed to make a living from. I feel that us as wrestlers, expressing our style of wrestling is what makes it an art. Not someone else’s opinion on it.”
In case you did not know...
In a very controversial Twitter post, the WWE champion took a dig at independent wrestlers, making a scathing critique of what independent wrestling has presently become. Orton retweeted a post from retired wrestler Rip Rogers which criticised the indie wrestling scene.
Dudley then seemingly referenced Orton's post, to which The Viper retweeted and called Bubba Ray Dudley an "old outta shape vet.” The tweet by Orton was a direct response to Dudley’s tweet insinuating that Dudley was not only “old” and “out of shape”, but was merely falling and not actually diving onto his opponents.
Orton then made an extremely sarcastic apology which irked independent wrestlers all across the globe.
The heart of the matter
Following the war online, a number of wrestlers threw themselves into the mix by tweeting responses of their own. Indie wrestler Will Ospreay, responded to Rogers directly before posting a picture of a t-shirt sporting the phrase '.....dive' and encouraging people to buy it.
CM Punk amongst others tried to calm things down with a positive tweet about the entire situation.
What’s next?
Randy Orton will be defending his WWE Championship against Jinder Mahal at WWE’s Backlash PPV event at the end of this month. As for Bubba Ray Dudley, he is doing incredible work in Ring of Honor and will probably be lined up for a singles title run on the promotion.
Author’s take
With the controversy still ensuing between WWE’s style and that of independent wrestling circuit, there still seems to be a lot remaining to come out of this kind of trash talk from both the sides. We hope this controversy settles down soon and doesn’t sour WWE’s relations with the independent scene.
Send us news tips at [email protected]
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
