As one of the most decorated tag team wrestlers of all time, Bully Ray achieved his highest singles honor earlier this year by defeating old rival Jeff Hardy for the Total Nonstop Action World Heavyweight Championship. Since then, Bully Ray and his Aces & Eights have, for the most part, run rampant on the rest of the TNA roster. On Oct. 20 Bully Ray defends his title against AJ Styles in a no disqualification match at TNA’s biggest annual pay-per-view Bound for Glory. As he prepares for one of his biggest title defenses to date, Bully Ray talks to Wrestling with Pop Culture about his history with Styles, the current whereabouts of the rest of the Dudley Brothers and his transition from tag team to singles success.
You’ve had some intense matches with AJ Styles in the past, and he recently took your brother Devon out of the TNA picture for the time being. Given your history with him and his unpredictable behavior as of late, what are your expectations going into your title match at Bound for Glory?
My game plan is pretty obvious: go into Bound for Glory and retain my World Heavyweight Championship, tear the house down and give the people one of the most hard-hitting and exciting matches they can possibly expect. Every time I go into that ring – weather I’m talking, fighting or wrestling – I always go out there to steal the show. And if you’re going to steal the show, AJ Styles is a hell of a guy to have in there to fight. About two years ago, me and AJ had a last man standing match that people were talking about. He’s a hell of a competitor, he’s a great athlete, he’s a great wrestler, he can stand there and go toe-to-toe with you. So it’s going to be a great match. It’s going to be entertaining and hard hitting. But my goal is to come out of Bound for Glory the World Heavyweight Champion.
What have been some of the biggest challenges for you transitioning from a tag team wrestler to a singles competitor?
I’m not trying to sound too pompous here, but there really haven’t been too many challenges. I’ve enjoyed the transition. It’s not something I ever thought I was going to do and not something I ever really wanted to do. I got into pro wrestling to be a successful tag team wrestler. So I guess the biggest challenge was getting into the shape I’ve gotten myself into. I had never been in phenomenal shape – not that I’m in phenomenal shape now – but I’m in the best shape of my life. The other real challenge is being in the ring without a partner. When you wrestle all over the world for 15 years and you’re used to having somebody by your side, it’s a little different to turn around and look at that corner and there’s nobody there. But as far as real challenges are concerned, I’m pretty happy with the way everything has gone so far.
You’re currently a heel in pro wrestling, but you’ve also been a babyface in the past. Do you think there is still a place for a pure heel or babyface or do you think the lines are more blurred these days?
The world has had good guys and bad guys ever since Jesus Christ and Satan. You always need the black hat and you always need the white hat. There are a lot of guys who choose to go down the good guy path and there are guys who choose to go down the bad guy path. I have always said I’m not a good guy and I’m not a bad guy, I’m not a babyface and I’m not a heel. I’m me and I’ve always been me. I have been me from day one. The difference between me and a lot of other guys is I can be loved on Monday, hated on Tuesday and loved again on Wednesday. As a performer it is your duty to your art form to be able to take those people on an emotional roller coaster ride and get them to respond the way you want them to respond. That’s what I have been able to do. I do think there is plenty of room for good guys and bad guys, whether it’s in movies, sports or pro wrestling. You always need good and bad people. But I don’t choose any one path. I just go out there and I do Bully Ray.
We’ve seen a lot of behavioral changes and blurring of these lines as of late in TNA with AJ, Dixie Carter, Aces & Eights and others. Where do you think everyone fits into the grander picture with all these different dynamics at play?
I can’t speak of anaybody else’s character and why they choose to do the things they do. I pat Dixie on the back. Why shouldn’t I? She’s such a nice lady. Everybody loves Dixie. It’s about time she stood up and told everybody to go to hell. When you talk about personalities, pro wrestling, even today, is entertainment and in entertainment such as soap operas or sitcoms or movies you need different types of characters. You can’t just have people that are loved, you can’t just have people that are hated. You need some middle-of-the-road people and you throw it all in a big pot and hopefully it works.
We recently saw Hulk Hogan quit TNA. If he is really gone for good, what do you think TNA will lose by losing Hulk Hogan?
No matter how I feel about Hulk Hogan and what’s been going on with me, him and his daughter, whether it’s been inside the ring or outside the ring, you’ve got to say this – it’s Hulk Hogan! He’s the Babe Ruth of the wrestling business. He’s the guy that put pro wrestling on the map back in the early ’80s. I do think there is a place for Hulk Hogan in TNA. You always want an icon like Hulk Hogan around. He brings credibility to your product, people love to see him, he can give advice to the younger guys, he’s definitely an asset. Plus I’d like to keep him around if I want to wrestle him because I’d like to kick his ass.
Given the success you’ve had both as a tag team and a singles wrestler, have you started to consider your retirement or maybe focusing more on your wrestling school?
I have no plans on retiring. I am fully invested in my wrestling school. I am there as much as I possibly can be to help train the stars of tomorrow. I thoroughly enjoy what I’m doing. As far as going back to tag team wrestling, there’s not a damn thing left for me and Devon to do as a tag team. I don’t know why we would, why we should. We can’t top what we’ve done and I’m having a blast doing what I’m doing right now. It’s new, it’s enjoyable and it’s like having a brand new girlfriend. But I’m definitely not retiring. I’ve got too much left in me. You can’t stop rock ‘n’ roll and you can’t stop me.
Once your in-ring career comes to an end, do you think you’ll ever be involved in the creative side of wrestling?
When I eventually retire and no longer want to wrestle, I definitely plan on getting into some of the more creative end of pro wrestling. It’s actually one of the reasons me and Devon opened a wrestling school about six years ago to be able to help cultivate quality wrestlers and put them back into the system, wrestlers with respect for the industry and wrestlers who can go out there and earn a great living for themselves. Once I do finish wrestling I want to continue training wrestlers at the Team 3D Academy. I would also like to work with the company where we can help build wrestlers up, whether its in the ring as wrestlers or as characters – whatever it takes to help build the wrestlers of tomorrow.
The Dudleys used to be a large faction in the wrestling world. We know where some of them are today, but others are a bit of a mystery. How often do you talk to the rest of the Dudley family? Do you foresee any other Dudley reunions in the near future?
Actually, just a few weeks ago I saw my good friend and brother Sign Guy Dudley out in Vegas. We hadn’t seen each other in probably ten or 12 years, so we had a bit of a reunion. As far as the other guys are concerned, I’m not really sure where they are. I miss my brother Big Dick Dudley very much. He’s up there riding his motorcycle in heaven. That’s all the information I’ve got for you on that.
You’ve always been confident in yourself, but what was it like for you when you became the World Heavyweight Champion and the top guy in the company?
I go out there and I know what I’m capable of doing. We did it in ECW, we did it in WWE, we’ve done it in Japan, we’ve done it all over the world. The only difference was now I was going to do it on my own. When I broke away from Devon and invented Bully Ray, I knew I could be successful. I knew there really wasn’t anything that could hold me back. I knew what worked in the past and I said to myself, “If I stick to the plan, if I reinvent myself, if I get into great shape and offer up a persona that is so disgusting and hated and gets under so many people’s skin with the tone of my voice and the venom that I spit – if I just do me – it’s going to work. And it has. And it really always has. I think TNA sat up and took notice and it gave me an opportunity to go out there and shine. So it’s all good and Bound for Glory is going to be a great show with a lot of great matches. As a student of pro wrestling, I’m always watching what’s going on. When I sit back and look at the TNA locker room I can honestly say it’s the best cross section of pro wrestlers, entertainers and athletes that is out there. You’ve got icons like Hogan and Sting; you’ve got guys who have been doing it at a top level for a long time like myself, Kurt [Angle] and Jeff Hardy; then you have the most important level, the workhorses of the company, the guys like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, [James] Storm, Kaz, [Christopher] Daniels, [Austin] Aries; you’ve got great X Division wrestlers; you’ve got some of the hottest girls out there – everything you could possibly want, need and ask for in a pro wrestling company, you can find in TNA.
How would you say the recent departures of Devon, Mr. Anderson and DOC have effected the Aces & Eights?
I look at the Aces & Eights as any other faction that wrestling has ever had. There’s the rise of a faction and there’s the fall of a faction. Right now the Aces & Eights, in your eyes and in the wrestling world’s eyes, is coming to an end. Things are not going so well. It looks like the Aces & Eights are being torn apart. It looks the Aces & Eights are about to self destruct. Maybe that’s just what I want you to believe. Maybe it’s all an elaborate plan. Maybe you’re going to see every single member of my club back sooner than later. Or maybe I’m picking them apart one by one because I’m so much of an egomaniac I want more of the spotlight for myself. That’s the difference between me and everybody else; I can keep you guessing and I can pull the wool over your eyes as many times as I want. David Copperfield goes out there every single night and makes people believe that the elephant disappears. That’s because he’s so good at mental manipulation, and that’s what I’m good at. So if I was you I’d keep my eyes open because you think you’ve seen the last of the Aces & Eights. I’m not too sure about that.
