Bully Ray explained how his singles run in TNA started and why it was successful.
He won the TNA World Championship in 2013 as the leader of the Aces and Eights. This was the first real singles push of his career, outside of a short stint in the mid-2000s with WWE.
The former TNA World Champion appeared on Maintaining with Tyrus, where he was asked about his singles run as Bully Ray in TNA. He explained why he and D-Von split up, likening them to Alexander the Great weeping because he’d conquered so much.
“It was considerably different because I never got into professional wrestling wanting to be a singles wrestler. The first two wrestlers I ever saw on TV were Afa and Sika, the Wild Samoans. The minute I saw them, I said, ‘I want to do that. I want to be like those guys.‘” Bully Ray said. “I always thought tag team wrestling was more exciting because there were four guys in the ring, not two. I grew up a huge fan of tag team wrestling—especially during the golden eras. It’s what I always gravitated toward.”
“But there came a point in me and D-von’s career where we were much like Alexander the Great. We had conquered every land, every territory. There was nothing left to do. “
“There’s the old story about Alexander the Great looking over his balcony. Weeping because there were no more lands for him to conquer. I could relate to that. I looked at D-von and said, ‘There’s nothing left for us to do. There’s not a territory on the planet that we haven’t gone into and succeeded—both in winning championships and financially. What’s next?””
“Otherwise, it would just be rinse and recycle, rinse and recycle. D-von always wanted to try being a singles wrestler, so I said, If there’s ever a time, let’s try it now. We came up with something meaningful to us, allowing us to split up, feud with one another, and then go our separate ways.”
Bully Ray Transformed His Body, Which TNA Management Noticed
Bully Ray continued, explaining how he got in the best shape of his career after splitting from D-Von. This was noticed by management, who decided to push him as a singles star.
“For me, I just looked at it as a new challenge. The biggest positive that came out of going off on my own was the body transformation I was able to achieve. I was always a heavier athlete—my heaviest was 402 pounds.”
“When me and D-von split up, I was probably around 330–340. Going solo gave me the incentive to transform my look. I asked myself, ‘How are people going to accept me almost overnight as someone completely different from this tag team?” That transformation was hard to achieve, but it was worth it.”
“I got into the best shape of my life, and the fans noticed. The creative teams noticed too, and they came to me and said, ‘Listen, we have something we want to give you. It’s going to take a year to pan out, but we have a plan. I said, If this is what you want to do, then I’m all for it.'”
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