Bubba Ray Dudley made a name for himself as one half of the legendary tag team The Dudley Boyz. Together he and D-Von captured tag team titles all over the world, but a few years ago Bubba Ray transformed into Bully Ray, and he found success with a singles run in TNA.
Bully Ray managed to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship twice, and he was revealed to be the leader of the Aces & Eights in what was one of the company’s hottest storylines at the time.
Earlier this year Bully Ray was faced with a major decision when he became a free agent. He had to choose between signing with ROH, or returning to TNA (now known as GFW). In the end he chose to sign with ROH, and he recently explained his decision during an interview with the Metro.
“Absolutely there was a choice. TNA came at me with a massive financial offer to be a part of their company and bring me back as Bully Ray. They came after me extremely aggressively and at the end of the day, I said no for two reasons.I knew that I would never be able to go back to TNA and top what I did as Bully Ray with the Aces and Eights because they didn’t have the guys there for me to do it with. There’s not another Hulk Hogan for me to tell a story with, or another Jeff Hardy or AJ Styles for me to have those matches with. So I couldn’t go back there and top what I did. Secondly, ROH is always a company I’ve known and respected, and I knew that Bully Ray would fit in a company like ROH. They were businessmen that I thought I’d get along with, and I am getting along with very well. There’s no doubt that Bully Ray was one of the top attractions in the history of TNA, and I’m proud of my body of work there. But if I can’t top what I’ve done in the past, I have no reason to go back.”
Bully Ray also talked about the possibility of CM Punk returning to wrestling, and he noted that he doesn’t know Punk on a personal level, but added that they’ve met a few times and he believes that they share a mutual respect for one another.
It’s no big secret that CM Punk isn’t on great terms with WWE, but Bully thinks that a return to ROH could be good for Punk and Ring of Honor.
“CM Punk could do more for the wrestling world by coming back home to ROH than going back to WWE. Because what is there for him to do at WWE? There’s really not much left, and he’s going to have to do it their way. So if he needs for his ego to work the last match at Wrestlemania, then great, but I think he’s worth so much more to the wrestling world by breathing life into the business by going back to a company like ROH. If he shows up in ROH, the entire wrestling world will be buzzing about in a positive way. If he goes back to WWE, yeah people will be talking about it, but it’s also like, hey you said you were never going back, but now you’re back.”
