Big Update On Randy Orton’s Real-Life Relationship With WWE Legend

Randy Orton had a real-life beef with WWE legend Bubba Ray Dudley.

The real-life feud started back in 2003 when Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley (The Dudley Boyz) faced Evolution’s Batista and Randy Orton in a tag team match on a WWE house show.

During the match, Bubba Ray accidentally landed on Randy Orton’s foot and injured him. After the match, he didn’t check on the rookie wrestler. Instead, he angrily confronted Orton because he had injured his own spine during the match.

This account was detailed in Batista’s autobiography, Batista Unleashed, which noted that Bubba Ray (aka Bully Ray) blamed Orton for the injury.

Randy Orton And Bubba Ray Dudley Have Officially Squashed Their Beef

On the Devon and the Duke podcast, D-Von Dudley revealed that the beef between Bubba Ray Dudley and Randy Orton is a thing of the past, as they have buried the hatchet and mended their relationship.

“I am happy that Bubba and Randy somewhat made up. I know that for a fact. I spoke to Randy a couple of times, and he said he squashed it with Bubba. It is what it is.” [1:06:43 – 1:06:53]

Randy Orton is currently on a hiatus from WWE TV. He was last seen at WrestleMania 42, where he unsuccessfully challenged Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship. Despite the loss, he had the last laugh as he took out The American Nightmare with a brutal punt kick to the side of his face.

With WWE heading into SummerSlam, Randy Orton’s status for the premium live event has become a major talking point among the WWE Universe. Randy Orton is currently unbooked for SummerSlam 2026, leading many fans to believe that he might miss the event.

However, others remain hopeful that he could make a surprise return at the event, given that Cody Rhodes is scheduled to challenge CM Punk for the Undisputed WWE Championship. There have been no reports on his return yet.