Bully Ray Got TNA Offer, But Viewed Return As ‘Kind Of Pointless’
Bully Ray had no interest in helping to "make Impact great."
Also known as Bubba Dudley, Bully made his debut with Ring Of Honor March 4 at its live event in New York City and had his first match with the promotion this weekend at its 15th Anniversary pay-per-view. Before signing with ROH, however, Bully received a last-minute offer from Impact Wrestling (formerly known as TNA), which is currently re-branding and revamping its product under a new creative team led by one of the founders of the promotion, Jeff Jarrett.
Speaking with SI.com, Bully Ray said the following about his interest from Impact:
“At the last minute, TNA came in hard and heavy and made me a significant offer. But the way I look at it is this: If I can’t go back some place and top what I did before, then it’s kind of pointless. I’m not blowing smoke up my own ass here, Bully Ray was the top heel in TNA. I generated ratings—me and Jeff Hardy drew TNA’s biggest house of all time at Lockdown, and I had my run with Hulk and with Sting. If you take a look at the landscape of TNA and their locker room, I don’t have anybody to top what I did before.”
The Hardys also made their debut at the ROH "Manhattan Mayhem" event, defeating the Young Bucks to become ROH World Tag Champions.
Later in the interview, Bully Ray noted that he "proved everybody wrong again when people thought I couldn’t pull away from my tag team and become a successful singles guy." As Bully Ray, he had a pair of reigns as TNA World Champion.
Click here to read Bully Ray's complete interview with Sports Illustrated.
