25 Great Wrestlers That EVERYBODY Turned Against

6. Bully Ray

Bully ray PCO
IMPACT Wrestling

Maybe "great" is a stretch here, but then maybe it isn't. 

The Dudley Boyz have spent years making a claim to being the best tag team in wrestling history, and can at very least use their title lineage - limp a metric as that might be - as justification for the boast. They convinced multiple promoters to strap them up, trust them with helming their tag divisions and get over future duos. No mean feat. As a singles wrestler, Bully Ray (eventually) had a run in TNA that was - to his immense credit - a consistent over-delivery creatively and commercially. Before the company's re-emergence as an attack brand in its partnership with WWE, Ray's time atop Impact as its top heel was the last time the company had any relevance before a 2010s wilderness period took hold. 

Nonetheless, Ray's celebration of said legacy might be the very reason he's ended up alienating so many people along the way. 

Between his inadvertently patronising analysis of current pro wrestling and self-aggrandising about the good old days, he's managed to annoy more than his fair share of fans and ex-pros. In some cases, it's borne out of bad experiences with him at the time. Rico, René Dupree, Sylvain Grenier and most notably Dave Batista didn't exactly relish their times with him, and made no secret of the fact post-retirement. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett