WWE Hall of Famer and current ROH Star Bully “Bubba” Ray was recently a guest on Chris Jericho’s Talk is Jericho podcast, and discussed a wide variety of topics, including rejecting IMPACT’s offer after the departure of Matt and Jeff Hardy from the company.
The Hardy Boyz left IMPACT Wrestling back in early 2017 after contract negotiations didn’t go well. Around that time, Bully Ray was working in the independent circuit as a singles competitor after parting ways with WWE.
After The Hardyz officially left IMPACT Wrestling, Bully Ray felt that the company would reach out to him for a possible return. When they did actually call him, he declined their offer and he explained why he did that.
“The minute The Hardyz left Impact I said to myself that within 24 hours my phone is going to ring and about 16 hours later my phone rang.. I knew what they were going to come back with and they came and backed up the Brinks truck. Not Chris Jericho money, but they offered me a lot of money to come back.
“This is when Jeff Jarrett had come back into power with Ed Nordholm. They said that we want to bring you back, and for four days I was bashing my head into a wall because I couldn’t believe I was considering it because the regime that was there, I didn’t necessarily see eye-to-eye with in the past. I felt at times people were out to get me, which wasn’t on paranoia, it was on facts. I didn’t think I can top what I did, you know? I worked with Sting. I worked with Hulk Hogan. I was World Champion twice. The largest gate in TNA’s history was me and Jeff Hardy at LockDown in a cage, 7,200 paid. I didn’t know who I could go back to Impact and have that kind of business with and top what I was able to do with Bully Ray in the Aces & Eights.”
When Bully Ray was considering making a return to IMAPCT Wrestling, the company did something that changed his mind and decline the offer.
“…And then they handed me creative for Drew Galloway. Everything they wanted to do with Drew Galloway and then Drew left, went back to WWE and they handed me his creative,” stated Bully Ray. “I said that you can’t just plug me into somebody else’s stuff. I go, I was an established character here with an established history and story. We have to re-think this. They weren’t willing to re-think anything and I walked away from the money and then I went back to the original company I wanted to be with.
“I always knew that Ring of Honor was the company that I wanted to be with, I just didn’t know if Ring of Honor was willing to dip their toe in the water with an act that went so against what they are all about. Ring of Honor is more about the moves, and the spots, and I am talking about the story part of it. I said that one of the things that the company lacks is the storytelling. I wanted to bring storytelling to Ring of Honor; episodic week-to-week, month-to-month pay-per-views and stories where they can actually have a payoff and have other people benefit from it. I’m not looking to get myself over, and I know that having other people over I am going to get the residual of it and get them over in the process.
“We worked it out with ROH, and my first night was at the Hammerstein Ballroom, and it has been an amazing experience since.”
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h/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.
