What’s the story?
WWE fans went nuts when Bubba Ray Dudley ( Mark LoMonoco) made his WWE return at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view (PPV) a few years ago, but imagine the buzz that would’ve been in the air had he returned as Bully Ray? During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard, LoMonoco revealed that the Bully Ray character was one day away from making its WWE debut, but the plan was scrapped at the last second.
In case you didn’t know...
After his departure from WWE in 2005, Mark LoMonoco adopted the Bully Ray character which he built up rather well in TNA. His performances earned him the first extended singles run of his illustrious career.
The heart of the matter
Here’s what LoMonoco had to say about Bully Ray almost debuting in WWE (all transcribed quotes courtesy of Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard):
“We came one day away in August from debuting Bully Ray in WWE. At the last second, the decision was made to not go forward with it. Bully Ray was ready to go, but that’s all I can tell you. We were one day away, and they had to pull the plug on it.”
Since this incident, Bubba Ray has wrapped up his WWE run and signed a contract with Ring of Honor.
What’s next?
Bully Ray has now found a new home in Ring Of Honor (ROH), which has had a lot of buzz surrounding it not only due to the signing of Ray but the signings of The Hardy Brothers as well. We can expect to see Ray and The Hardys on ROH programming rather regularly moving forward.
Sportskeeda’s Take:
Seeing the Bully Ray character in the WWE would have been great, however, the WWE’s creative team would have taken a lot of the organic nature out of it that made the character so good. Ray is in the right place with ROH to help the character grow and resonate with fans.
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