Taz allegedly called a pizza shop to threaten former ECW star
Bay Ragni recently recalled how Taz took exception to him performing as the Chubby Dudley character outside of ECW.
Ragni was one of nine members of the Dudley family in ECW in 1995. The 52-year-old continued to portray Chubby Dudley on the independent scene after leaving the company in 1996. Away from wrestling, he also made a living working in a pizza shop.
On the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast, Ragni revealed that Taz once called him at the pizza shop and demanded he stop using an ECW gimmick:
"He's like, 'Are you doing our gimmick on the indies?' I said, 'What do you mean our gimmick?' He's like, 'That's our gimmick. We own the gimmick. You can't do it.' I said, 'Well, that's kinda f****d up. All right, you wanna talk, can we just please talk? I would love to talk.' I said, 'Taz, all I wanted was a shot. That's all I wanted. I was never given a shot.'" [28:59 - 29:24]
Ragni added that he never complained during his 18-month run in ECW. He was grateful and thankful for the platform that the company gave him. However, he felt he did nothing wrong at the time by taking the gimmick to the independent scene.
Taz was prepared to attack Chubby Dudley
Between 1993 and 1999, Taz was one of the top stars in ECW. He held the promotion's World Championship twice and even helped out behind the scenes with merchandising.
The origins of The Dudleys:Buh Buh Ray Dudley,Sign Guy Dudley,Big Dick Dudley,Chubby Dudley and Spike Dudley,circa-1995 https://t.co/Jzecl2PsP8
According to Ragni, the ECW legend threatened to confront him at an independent show if he continued to use the Chubby Dudley name:
"He said, 'Yeah, well, you're out, you're gone, you left. You can't do the gimmick anymore on the indies. If I find out you're doing it, I'm gonna come to a show and I'm gonna stretch your a**.' I was like, 'Okay, all right,' so I stopped doing the gimmick." [29:40 - 29:59]
Taz later wrestled for WWE before becoming a commentator. After stints at the announce desk in WWE and IMPACT Wrestling/TNA, the 55-year-old now commentates for AEW.
Do you think Bay Ragni should have been allowed to work as Chubby Dudley outside of ECW? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Please credit the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.