Bully Ray

[Grimmas]

I don't see the hate here. He was the best heel in ECW and was able to carry Devon and others to fun tag matches. Was pretty solid in the WWE, especially as a heel and had all those praised TLC matches. He then went on to TNA and had a pretty awesome run there.

I could see him making my top 200 and I will consider him, but I don't see how he is worse than a lot of guys nominated.

[GOTNW]

I'm completely perplexed by what anyone sees in him. His "best run ever" in TNA was mostly based on shitty promos and him not being fat anymore. He had three good matches, all of which were carry jobs. AJ Styles tried to kill himself in order for that number to grow but Ray's shittiness prevented that from happening. I'd never rank a guy like Edge but at least I'd see where someone would be coming from if they were to include him on their list.

[Parties]

He deserves credit for knowing how to get actual heat on the mic in an era when almost no one does. But in-ring he's not remotely close to being good enough. His crowning achievement is that Heyman booked the Dudleys to win the tag titles on the night that they were leaving the company. His heel champ stuff in TNA is very overrated and came off as low-rent, even against AJ. I have little regard for the circa 2000 weapons tags with Hardys/E&C. I agree with the sentiment for present-day candidates and wanting to evaluate modern wrestling fairly, but he's not the guy I'd hold up as a living legend.

[SomethingSavage]

I understand why people feel like the AJ matches could be carry jobs, but Bully's also had some fun brawls with Ken Anderson of all people - whose only other notable match at all is a cage match that was worked in a similar style against Kurt Angle.

 

Oh. And I don't think any single one of the Styles matches would be Bully's best anyway. I'd go to the first PPV outing against Austin Aries for that.

 

I don't even think Bully belongs on a list like this, to be honest. But, as far as modern workers go, I think he's incredibly smart about the little things. He's not going to blow you away with many of his performances, so no. The sheer quantity of super quality matches aren't there to justify him getting high up on anybody's list. But the appreciation for Bully is more as an overall character that understands the finer details between the big stuff.

Bully sort of reminds me of Adam Pearce actually. Pearce smokes Bully on the mic to be fair, but both guys are vastly underrated in a lot of the same ways.

 

Bully's got a knack for knowing the whens, whys, and hows of doing things. Vastly underrated as a guy that "gets it" and could easily have a job as a coach or producer someday.

 

I kind of thought the breakout singles run had turned a lot of folks around on him. But I guess enough time has passed now that people have soured on it and are searching for ways to dismiss it or say it wasn't initially as impressive or surprising as it actually was. I can't help but shake my head at revisionist stuff like that.

 

But yeah. For a good stretch there, Bully was one of the few things TNA was doing right - along with Styles in-ring matches, Aries in-ring matches, and the Roode/Storm feud.

[InYourCase]

I'm completely perplexed by what anyone sees in him. His "best run ever" in TNA was mostly based on shitty promos and him not being fat anymore. He had three good matches, all of which were carry jobs. AJ Styles tried to kill himself in order for that number to grow but Ray's shittiness prevented that from happening. I'd never rank a guy like Edge but at least I'd see where someone would be coming from if they were to include him on their list.

Completely agree. I think he's garbage. I think his tag run is incredibly overrated, as well. He wouldn't sniff my Top 300.

[BigBadMick]

I understand why people feel like the AJ matches could be carry jobs, but Bully's also had some fun brawls with Ken Anderson of all people - whose only other notable match at all is a cage match that was worked in a similar style against Kurt Angle.

 

Oh. And I don't think any single one of the Styles matches would be Bully's best anyway. I'd go to the first PPV outing against Austin Aries for that.

 

I don't even think Bully belongs on a list like this, to be honest. But, as far as modern workers go, I think he's incredibly smart about the little things. He's not going to blow you away with many of his performances, so no. The sheer quantity of super quality matches aren't there to justify him getting high up on anybody's list. But the appreciation for Bully is more as an overall character that understands the finer details between the big stuff.

 

Bully sort of reminds me of Adam Pearce actually. Pearce smokes Bully on the mic to be fair, but both guys are vastly underrated in a lot of the same ways.

 

Bully's got a knack for knowing the whens, whys, and hows of doing things. Vastly underrated as a guy that "gets it" and could easily have a job as a coach or producer someday.

 

I kind of thought the breakout singles run had turned a lot of folks around on him. But I guess enough time has passed now that people have soured on it and are searching for ways to dismiss it or say it wasn't initially as impressive or surprising as it actually was. I can't help but shake my head at revisionist stuff like that.

 

But yeah. For a good stretch there, Bully was one of the few things TNA was doing right - along with Styles in-ring matches, Aries in-ring matches, and the Roode/Storm feud.

It's just me and you waving the TNA flag around here, Savage!

[El McKell]

A great character in TNA in 2011 & 2012 (and good in the ring too), I cannot recommend the promos with Scott Steiner enough and for non-comedy shit everything he does in the build to his PPV match with Austin Aries also rules. Hard to say he really has enough in the ring in the relatively short post D-Von part of his career when he is good to warrant being on a top 100 though, but I do think he is good and shouldn’t be totally written off as a non-candidate.

What I watched for this so far and my match ratings
Dudleys vs Hardy Boyz vs Edge & Christian (27/08/00) ***¾
Team 3D vs Motor City Machine Guns (07/11/10) **½
Bully Ray vs AJ Styles (12/06/11) ***¼ 
Bully Ray vs Austin Aries (13/05/12) ***½
Bully Ray vs Joseph Park (10/06/12) ***¾