Backstage News On Why WWE Turned Down Bully Ray For NXT Event

WWE wanted to use Bully Ray (former Bubba Ray Dudley in WWE) for a NXT live event in Philadelphia on May 15, but they changed their mind after he appeared on May 8th's TNA Impact. It ended up being Tommy Dreamer in the spot as the guy that put over rising NXT star Baron Corbin in a singles match. At the time there was a lot of speculation that it would be Ray against Corbin since he was also at WWE's Royal Rumble back in January. The reason why they went with Dreamer, according to the Wrestling Observer, is because WWE lost interest in Ray after he had a one night only TNA appearance as a guest referee for a match between Kurt Angle and Eric Young. Dreamer has worked for TNA Wrestling for several months as a backstage agent that sometimes participates in matches and angles. But WWE chose to turn down Ray for being on TV as recently as he had been.

Since that time, Ray has gone on to talk about wanting to go back to WWE repeatedly. He has done recent interviews with tag team partner Devon with Sports Illustrated and The Fight Network where they spent most of their time pitching a WWE return, while saying they were in their best shape in 15 years. Ray was revealed on last week's Impact as the on screen authority figure that can book matches on TNA's shows, yet he was doing interviews trying to get into WWE. That just shows that he's not going to be loyal to TNA if WWE comes calling. From WWE's side of things, they could have reunited the Dudley Boys at any point this year and have refused to do so even though they would be a boost to the tag team division. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM_x9lfB-os