Brian Fritz of Sportingnews.com is featuring an interview with former ECW and WWE star Bully Ray (aka Bubba Ray Dudley) discussing why he opted to not make a return to Impact Wrestling this year and parting ways with WWE last year.
On not returning to Impact Wrestling:
“I did not think it was in my best interest to go into a role that was created for somebody else. Bully Ray is one of the most successful performers in the history of Impact. That’s not just because I’m saying it; it’s because the numbers back it up. My ratings on Spike TV along with the Aces and Eights were some of the highest that TNA ever had. Me and Jeff Hardy was the highest grossing TNA pay-per-view and the most people who ever paid to see a TNA pay-per-view. Then the communication broke down with them and when the communication broke down, I knew that was a sign that I should follow my heart to Ring of Honor.”
On almost becoming the Bully Ray character in WWE:
“When you have something called the ‘Be a STAR’ program, it’s not easy to have a character named Bully. That was one of the reasons. We came really, really close and I know the WWE Universe would have loved to have seen Bully Ray in a WWE ring.”