At this point, Bully Ray chimed in, recounting a story from a WWE house show in Madison Square Garden where he and D-Von Dudley squared off against Edge and Christian in the opening contest. There was a spot in the match where the babyfaces, The Dudleyz, used the old hot tag wrestling routine to bring the crowd to their feet before scoring the victory. Ray revealed it was one of the rare instances when he basked in the praise from “the old man” in the Gorilla position. 

“I came back through the curtain, and Vince is standing there,” Ray recalled. “He’s clapping, and he goes, ‘My God! That’s how you blow a comeback!” I’m like, ‘Thanks, boss,’ and I walk away. And he says, ‘Come here. You know why I put you on first every night?’ I said, ‘I think I do, Vince.’ He goes, ‘You guys know how to set the tone for the entire night.’ He goes, ‘Being on first is just as important as being on last.’ That’s it. That was the lesson, coming from the man himself.”

Ray echoed Henry’s sentiments as to why the rare “one-on-one time” and praise from McMahon meant so much to his career, comparing his relationship with McMahon to the relationship he had with his father. Ray’s comments propelled Henry to list the number of times he received praise from McMahon. revealing that it was around 10 times. Ray responded, “10 times over 25 years when you’re working 300 nights a year is a very small [amount of praise].”