We Almost Got Bully Ray In WWE

The reincarnation of Bully Ray has begun in Ring of Honor, though his return was originally slated for WWE last year.

“We came one day away in August from debuting Bully Ray in WWE,” he said in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “At the last second, the decision was made to not go forward with it. Bully Ray was ready to go, but that’s all I can tell you. We were one day away, and they had to pull the plug on it.”

It was rumored at the time that Bubba Ray Dudley would turn on D-Von Dudley and he would transform into a character similar to his Bully Ray persona. Instead, The Dudley Boyz were beaten down by Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows on Raw the night after SummerSlam to write them off television. While it was their final night together in WWE, D-Von currently works behind-the-scenes as a producer.

Impact Wrestling made a late push two weeks ago to sign Bully Ray, but he ultimately came to terms with ROH.

“At the last minute, TNA came in hard and heavy and made me a significant offer,” said Ray. “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.”