Bully Ray is catching major backlash after incorrectly claiming a controversial tribute moment following Eddie Guerrero’s death was staged — only to get publicly corrected with a Community Note afterwards.
The controversy started after an old clip resurfaced showing Combat Zone Wrestling holding a ten-bell salute for Eddie Guerrero shortly after his death in 2005. During the emotional tribute, a fan interrupted the ceremony, leading to a young Eddie Kingston confronting the person near the barricade. After the footage started spreading online again, Bully Ray jumped into the conversation on Twitter and claimed the entire thing had actually been planned as a wrestling angle.
“ps…this was a work…as they tried to use Eddies passing to replicate the very real evening w/ the Dudleys / Heyman and a disrespectful fan at the Elks Lodge, during a 10 Bell Salute after Rick Rudes passing”
The problem? Fans quickly pushed back — and eventually Twitter itself stepped in. Ray’s post ended up getting hit with a Community Note directly contradicting his claim. The note stated that according to both CZW founder John Zandig and CZW’s official account, the interruption was not staged.
“The CZW 10-bell salute interruption for Eddie Guerrero was not a staged work, according to CZW founder John Zandig and the promotion’s official account.”
Then CZW itself entered the situation and absolutely unloaded on Bully Ray for the comment. In a brutal response, the promotion denied ever using Eddie Guerrero’s death as part of a fake wrestling angle and mocked Ray’s explanation entirely. CZW then took an even sharper shot at Ray while dismissing the comparison to the old ECW Dudleys incident.
“We didn’t use Eddie’s passing as a ‘work’ to get ‘heat.’ “Why would we do a worked angle of ten bell for one of the best ever to recreate a Dudley boys moment no one remembers cause you were starting fake riots and beating up fans. Stop. Not everything revolves around you Mark.”
The entire situation immediately blew up online because Bully Ray presented the story as fact before getting publicly corrected by both Community Notes and the promotion involved.
Bottom line: Bully Ray tried to rewrite a controversial Eddie Guerrero tribute moment as a wrestling angle — but CZW and social media fact-checkers quickly shut that down and turned the entire situation into a public pile-on against the WWE Hall of Famer.
Do you think wrestling veterans sometimes lean too hard into “everything was a work” mentality when discussing old incidents, or was Bully Ray just trying to interpret the moment through wrestling history? Drop your thoughts below.