Would Bully Ray Winning the WHC Be A "Feel Good" Moment For You?

[Ferreira]

Hi,

As you know last night Jeff Hardy beat Bully Ray in the Finals of the Bound For Glory Series 2012. It's now scheduled that at Bound for Glory Austin Aries will defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Jeff Hardy in what promises to be an amazing match but that's not what this thread is about.

This thread isn't about if Ray should or shouldn't have won the Series but it's about what would it mean for you to see Bully Ray winning for the first time in his career the "big one".

As you might know there are a few wrestlers that compete for years and years and never win the World Heavyweight Championship or a similar main-event title, there are a lot of WWE Hall of Famers never to do it, still they are major superstars in the history of Pro Wrestling. One of the guys that never won it was Roddy Piper, but on TNA roster there are few veteran superstars that never won the big one and in my view the biggest is Bully Ray.

For me Bully Ray doesn't need the World Heavyweight Championship to go in history as one of the best pure talent that this business has seen, the guy is amazing inside the ring with great psicology and also outside the ring now that he is cutting the best promos of his career.

Ray change a lot in the past year and a half, he went from being the "fat guy" from The Dudley Boyz to the biggest heel in TNA (with Bobby Roode being also the #1) and now most of TNA crowd and internet fans want him to win the big one, it doesn't matter if it is at Bound For Glory or latter.

That are a few great moments that stand as my favorite moments in wrestling and one of them is Chris Benoit winning the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania XX and what Jim Ross said after he wins it stands as one of the best moments in wrestling, it was Benoit's journey coming to the moment he hoped and dreamed his whole life. Unfortunately we know what happened years later, but it was a great moment. It was a very good feeling moment. The same thing happened with another wrestler that I liked a lot and knew he was going to a struggle after losing a member of his family: Mark Henry, he never got a chance when he was younger and after working his ass off he got his prize.

Would for you Bully Ray winning the World Heavyweight Championship feel like something similar? Like his journey coming to his well deserved prize?

Also, wouldn't Bully Ray work as good as a face in his journey to the top?

 

[Wald]

It would for me, not because I've been watching his career for the past 15 years but because the guy has really stepped up to the plate in the past two years and become the best heel in the business. I mean that too, he truly is the best heel in wrestling today.

I also think Hardy will be taken out by Aces & 8s in the coming weeks, Bully Ray will be given the title shot (due to coming 2nd) and will win the title at BFG, whilst being revealed as the Aces & 8s leader. I really hope that happens because Ray as a heel champion with Aces & 8s behind him opens up all kinds of programs for him to work with Aries, Hardy and Storm.

 

[Tired0FthePeople]

Bully Ray isnt even the best heel in TNA. That said, the guy does somewhat entertain me.

The TNA World Heavy Weight Title isnt like the WWE WHC. I dont think its meant to be a lifetime achievement award like giving it Mark Henry. TNA has more people deserving of a title run than Bully Ray...and I wouldnt consider it a 'feel good' moment if Bully won the title. Im a Bully Ray fan but I dont think it does the TNA championship justice if they make Bully champion. He rarely wins matches...he's rarely even in the main event of PPV or Impact tapings...it seems to me that his role in the company is to put talent over.

He's not believable as the number 1 champion to me. If the company is going to make me believe that he cant defeat a heavily injured Jeff Hardy, and that his main fued is with a guy who isnt even wrestler, (Parks) then why would I buy him as champion?

 

[flyinbukta]

I think Tired0FthePeople has got it completely right. At this moment in time, Austin Aries has beaten him (I think), he just lost to an injured Jeff Hardy, and he either couldn't beat, or got laid out after the fact to someone who we're supposed to believe isn't a wrestler (at least, we were supposed to believe that then).

How then, is he believable as the best in the company?

What they need to do with Ray is give him some sort of "epiphany", whereby from his loss to Jeff Hardy he realised that he just wasn't cut-throat enough, and start him on a tearing run where he only loses rarely, by luck or by a small mistake, and when he does lose, he beats down the person he loses to afterwards. In five or six months (or even a few longer if they can keep it fresh), Bully should get a Championship Thursday match against the World Champ (if that's still around down the line), and lose. After the loss, he needs to put on a massive beat down of the champ, and then go into a feud with them over the title and the personal aspect of the attacks.

Bully should attack the champ from behind, do everything he can to escape a straight-up fight, all the classic heel stuff then. Eventually, Champion should demand a match against him, with whatever stipulation that stops Bully running away, Bully should say only if it's a title match, and Bully should win.

That way, Bully's believable, he's still a similar heel to what he is now, and he's the World Champion.

 

[IHW]

Would for you Bully Ray winning the World Heavyweight Championship feel like something similar? Like his journey coming to his well deserved prize?

Yes. I feel as if Ray will get the title, and it will be a great moment. He deserves it. He has worked hard to become one of the top heels in pro wrestling today. If he doesn't get a run with the title in the next two years that he has signed, I will be disappointed.

Also, wouldn't Bully Ray work as good as a face in his journey to the top?
No. I do not think, nor do I want to see, a face Bully Ray. It just doesn't work. Would he go back to being the sub par Bubba that everyone knew and few loved? I sure hope not.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Not so sure it'd be a "feelgood moment" but for the EC-Dub faithful in particular it'd be the last of their breed to make it big. For general fans I doubt they would appreciate a TNA win in the same way... WWE seem to make first title wins, particularly after a long career mean a lot more like they did with Christian, RVD and Foley for example (Yes I know he had the TNA title first and then lost the WWE one after 2 days but the night itself was pretty huge)

Bully has just signed his way to being a top 4 main eventer for the next 2 years, that's all. He hasn't got a guarantee of the title by any stretch. On a personal level, I'd enjoy seeing it, but at the same time I'd prefer him to have returned to the E rather than re-signed. On the plus, his re-signing probably means RVD or Kennedy will be headed out sooner rather than later.

 

[BreezyDaProtege]

I dont know if it would exactly be a feel good moment but it will be a well deserved one which we all know Bully Ray standing the test of time and still remaining fresh definitely deserves. It will probably be similar to when Mark Henry won the WHC. And keep Bully Ray the way he is. He dont need to be a face maybe a tweener the most.

 

[AndThat'sTheBottomLine]

It would definitely be a feel good moment for me. I've been a fan since I started watching wrestling in 1999 and I loved the Dudley Boyz. I remember his singles run in the WWE as a heel and I always felt that WWE could've done better with it. I watch TNA and see Bully as a top heel. Yes he puts talent over but he looks so strong doing it that even though he might not have won, you still see him as a contender. He plays a GREAT heel character and I'd like to see him win the big one just once before he hangs it up. That'd be a good feel good moment for me.

 

[mustafa33]

yes it would be very feel good moment It would bbe smack on the face for many people that kept him holding down and he deserves that moment at least for one Month run would be a great return for his efforts to tna n i believe Ray should have won it but you have to respect the fact he put over Hardy because Hardy vs Aries will mean more business with back story it can really be one of the best match! 2ndly Bully can live up his dream some other pay per view and Bully winning the Title with a shoot promo people holding him dwn can work awsome but ryt now Aries need to hold on to hold on to the title for couple of months to built more credibility in his character as hes the Greatest man that ever lived so he z the one who should be bound for glory Period.

 

[JJYanks121]

Not even a little bit.

I liken Bully Ray in TNA to Big Bossman's Attitude ERA WWF run. Both guys had done other things and been over in the past, but both channeled their inner jerk to become truly despised in their roles. You could make the argument that both were the "best heels" on the roster because they are heels in every sense of the word. They aren't trying to be "cool" and bad, they are simply jerks and have the unique ability be universally hated.

While I know that in 2012, people have come to appreciate the work of heels even more than the late 90's, that still doesn't separate what Bully Ray is to TNA.

He is the jobber to the stars.

The guy gets great heat but never wins the big match. The Big Bossman was the guy other wrestlers went through to get to The Rock or Undertaker or Triple H, whomever it was that was the top heel for the business at the time. Keep in mind when I say top here, I mean the heel that is likely to hold or contend for the top title at any given time. There is a difference between "most heat" and "top contender". Right now, Vickie Guerrero is the person in all of wrestling with the most heat. That doesn't mean she deserves a run with any title though. We must understand this in order to understand Bully Ray.

While Ray gets more heat than basically everyone in TNA, up until the BFG series, Ray was used primarily in the role I described. Did you know that before his Tables match victory at Hardcore Justice, Bully Ray's last Pay Per View victory was at last year's No Surrender? It was the same scenario as this year too, where he beat James Storm controversially only to lose later in the night cleanly to the guy who would win the series. Since then, Ray has been defeated at Pay Per Views by the likes of Mr. Anderson, Abyss, Bobby Roode (in a Fatal 4 Way), James Storm, Garrett Bischoff's team for Lethal Lockdown (I won't hold this one against him though), Austin Aries, and Joseph Park.

I want to look specifically at the cases of Storm and Aries. In both cases, the babyfaces were on the rise. Storm was hot on the trail of Bobby Roode while Aries was simply skyrocketing to the main event with just his X Division title standing in the way. With Storm, you knew the money match was with Roode but TNA wanted to save it for Lockdown, their second biggest show of the year. As such, Storm needed to look strong so he was put with Ray to kill time and to give him a hated heel to beat. Essentially, he had to go through Ray to get to Roode.

Now with Aries, he was killing people in the X Division to the point where it wasn't fair. It was clear that he had to get out of there and up the card. Enter Bully Ray. The feud there allowed a very over Aries to turn face and who better to fight first than the guy who is going to help you get even more cheers by being a jerk? It worked too as just like James Storm, Aries went through Ray to get to Roode. Of course, the outcome with Roode was different but the point remains the same. Ray is the guy you go through to fight the true stars.

Remember that Bossman was very much the same in the late 90's. I respect the work of both men as I can truly remember hating Bossman back then. Guys like that are fine to put against top babyfaces when they need someone to beat for a while, but when they don't credibly win matches ever, you can't foresee them as champions.

Thus, Bully Ray winning the title wouldn't be a "feel good" moment for me, it would be a confusing one.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Nice comparison with Bossman, however Bossman was a much bigger name during his first run than Bully has ever been. Sure he never got titles but his gimmick wouldn't have worked with one, he was regularly teaming with Hogan and facing the top heels. When he came back he was again not able to carry a gimmick and a title... the nightstick was always far more valuable to him than a title belt.

Bully has so much success as a tag wrestler, it's a big ask for people to buy him "winning the big one". Even guys like Bret Hart only had 2 tag title reigns. It's like when Edge finally won the big one, he'd done so much as a tag wrestler that it took a really long time to position him correctly, it needed MITB to exist to make it work. If Bully's time is gonna come, it suits something like Lockdown rather than BFG.

 

[IT Factor]

Would Bully winning the TNA World Title be a "feel good" moment? Simply put, no. Bully is an interesting heel character who has busted ass to improve his game. He is by far standing out the most on the Impact Wrestling roster and has been doing things to set himself apart from the crowd. Just his little nuances and bickering with the crowds are smart additions to make him stand out. When he was a face, he was good at getting face reactions as well just not as good as his heel reactions have been. It's always a good thing when people work hard and win titles. Bully definetely deserves to be champion sometimes within the next 6 months or so, if not sooner. Aries has been a weak champion because of weak booking and having a strong heel character beat him for the belt would be great. I doubt TNA will follow through though.

 

[New Hot Fed]

I'm with Ferreira on this, Bully winning after years in tag team wrestling and busting his butt, after becoming one of the most entertaining wrestler in TNA in singles wrestling, litheraly coming out of nowhere, reinventing himself on a weekly basis would be a fantastic moment. Hell he plays the heel better than anybody else but I can't hate the guy because I admire him too much.

Bully winning would be a standout moment like Ray Bourque winning the Stanley Cup after having played in the NHL for years, never expecting this would happen.

Greatly Deserved.

 

[New Hot Fed]

Would Bully winning the TNA World Title be a "feel good" moment? Simply put, no. Bully is an interesting heel character who has busted ass to improve his game. He is by far standing out the most on the Impact Wrestling roster and has been doing things to set himself apart from the crowd. Just his little nuances and bickering with the crowds are smart additions to make him stand out. When he was a face, he was good at getting face reactions as well just not as good as his heel reactions have been. It's always a good thing when people work hard and win titles. Bully definetely deserves to be champion sometimes within the next 6 months or so, if not sooner. Aries has been a weak champion because of weak booking and having a strong heel character beat him for the belt would be great. I doubt TNA will follow through though.

You say it would not be a feel good moment then spend the rest of the post saying the opposite? I don't get it. You say he reinvented himself and yea he should beat Aries because he's a weak champ and a great heel beating him would be great. So it would be a feel-good moment, no? Especially the way Bully deserved it?

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

Absolutely would for me. Huge Dudley Boyz fan in ECW back in the day. Hated to see them leave ECW, but was happy for them to get WWF gold, and a good push.

Very happy to see him having the success he's been having with the Bully Ray character in TNA. He's one of the primary reasons why I tune in to watch TNA(along with Dvon & the other ECW guys).

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I definitely think it would be a feel-good moment for me. If Bully Ray was to win the TNA title it would show wrestlers that it is never too late to reinvent yourself in this business and go on to achieve great things.

Bubba Ray was always the best Dudley Boy. He could wrestle, he could talk and he could get heat like noone else in the business, especially in ECW. He is one of the greatest tag-team wrestlers of all time, but I never thought I would want to see him in singles. His WWE singles run was awful, and when TNA broke up The Dudleyz, I really didn't see either Devon or Bubba going anywhere. I wanted them to remain as a team.

However with this Bully Ray character, Bubba seems far more comfortable as a singles wrestler, he has got into the best shape I have seen him in, worked on his in-ring skills even more and has developed into probably the best heel in the business, far better than the likes of Albert Del Rio in WWE. Ray can talk better than pretty much anyone else, and the promo he cut at No Surrender was world class.

I think Bully would make a good TNA champion, maybe not a long term one but definitely he is worthy of a run. He has earned it by his huge improvement over the last 2 years, reinventing himself and making himself into a singles star. I would be VERY shocked if his new TNA deal didnt include the guarantee of a WHC reign.

 

[IT Factor]

You say it would not be a feel good moment then spend the rest of the post saying the opposite? I don't get it. You say he reinvented himself and yea he should beat Aries because he's a weak champ and a great heel beating him would be great. So it would be a feel-good moment, no? Especially the way Bully deserved it?

I don't know how anyone could've misunderstood my meaning above. It cannot be more crystal-clear; Bully is a heel character and heel characters generally do not get "feel good" moments. Nor does it seem like he's trying to. From a fan's viewpoint, I would be happy for Bully because he has worked so hard to reinvent himself. Will it be portrayed as a "feel good" moment? Who knows? My entire point before was that Bully deserves at least one title reign because of his hard work. It's up to each individual fan whether or not it "feels good". Clear enough? Probably not, but I'm not trying to get approval from other fans. It's just my view on how the moment would actually be.

 

[scottyshowman82]

Ray had a great promo at No Surrender saying that you don't have to like him but you have to respect how he transformed his body and how he went from a great tag team competitor to the baddest man in the company and a great singles competitor. Bruce Pritchard in a vignette at the pay per view picked him to win and say that he was the hungriest. I think Bully Ray staying and just the serious way he carried himself says bigs things for Bully Ray in the future. He is an obnoxious, overbearing jerk, and he plays his character possibly better than anyone eles on the roster. He deserves a run with the TNA Belt.

 

[Warrior]

Yes it would, not because of how long he has been wrestling in TNA or any of that. But Because he is easily the best heel in TNA to have it, and have a good run with it as well. However, not at BFG. Bully Ray vs. Austin Aries in the main event at BFG is definitely not what should happen. If Roode was still champ, i would be able to see some situation were Bully winning the title at BFG would work, so we just have to wait.

In all honesty he really does deserve it. He has worked extremely hard to be as good as he is. He deserves it in the same way Samoa Joe, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio and others did. Because he,like all of them, is just so good at what he does, he makes perfectly logical sense as the world champion. If I see Bully win it, it will be a feel good moment, If Christopher Daniels ever won it(not gonna happen) it would be a feel good moment. I compare it to the Seth Rollins situation, so many want to see him come to the main roster, not only does he deserve it, but it would be a potentially very good idea. Or maybe Dean Ambrose? Chris Hero? Its the type of feel good moment you get when you see something that's good for all parties including the man in question.