Bully Ray recently spoke with Brian Hebner’s “Refin’ It Up podcast for an in-depth conversation about all things pro-wrestling. During the discussion, Ray talks about the differences in the way the NWA, WWE, and AEW tells stories on their programs, reveals he was never supposed to drop the TNA Title to Chris Sabin in 2013, and more. Here are the highlights:
Differences in the way the NWA, WWE, and AEW tells stories on their programs:
“One of the reasons why I like the NWA so much is because Billy Corgan allows the talent to be talented. He allows the talent to go out there and do what they do and tell their stories the way they see fit. He sets parameters, and then you go out there and you tell the story, which is what I enjoy. Obviously, in the WWE, everything is under a microscope right now with creative. You tell the stories that they want you to tell. AEW, not as much focused on the long-term story as there is the short-term story. That’s why I like what the NWA is doing.”
Never meant to drop the TNA Title to Chris Sabin in 2013:
“Me dropping the belt to Sabin was never supposed to happen. That wasn’t the plan. The plan was I was going to win the World Heavyweight Championship at Lockdown in San Antonio and beat Jeff Hardy, and I was going to hold that championship all the way until Bound For Glory. Nice little nine month run as the world champion.”
“Chris Sabin had gotten hurt. He hurt his ACL, an unfortunate injury. To my recollection, if I have the story correct, I don’t believe TNA wanted to pay for his surgery. I don’t know if they ever did. But to compensate him for getting hurt in their ring, they put the World Heavyweight Championship on him for one month.”
“I told them, ‘This is not a smart decision because it is going to affect Chris Sabin. This is not going to be good for him. He’s going to win and the people are going to go crazy because he beat me, but then he’s going to drop it back a month later. Where is that going to leave him? How does this do Chris Sabin any good?’”
“This was a decision that went way beyond Eric Bischoff. I think it went way beyond Dixie Carter. I think it went straight to the people who cut the checks. Eric Bischoff said, ‘Just go out there and lay down, we’ll get past it, and we’ll move on.’ That’s my recollection of the story.”
“Sabin was never in the equation, not because Chris Sabin is not a great wrestler, he just wasn’t part of the equation. Bully is the heel and he’s going to run parallel to AJ (Styles) up until Bound for Glory. So Bully goes over in San Antonio, then he’ll drop it to AJ at Bound for Glory. Now, when I dropped it to AJ, people loved it, but they would have loved it even more if I hadn’t dropped it to Sabin four or five months earlier.”
You can listen to the complete podcast below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
