Bully Ray On WWE Insulting Fans' Intelligence, Why SmackDown Is Much Better Than RAW, Vince McMahon
As previously noted, professional wrestling veteran Bully Ray recently spoke with fellow WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross on The Jim Ross Report podcast. Among many other things, Bully talked about WWE programming insulting his intelligence, WWE SmackDown Live being superior to WWE Monday Night RAW, and people mistakenly assuming WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is not involved in SmackDown Live.
According to Bully, so much does not make sense on WWE TV that it insults his intelligence.
"There are so many things that don't make sense," Bully admitted. "And when I watch, I try to watch as the professional, but I also try to watch as the fan because then I have to talk about it on Busted Open [Radio] and the things that don't make sense I find are often insulting my intelligence. And I'm wondering if other people feel that way. Does the 13 year old in Sheboygan, Wisconsin really know whether his intelligence is being insulted? No, but the 40 year old man in New York [New York], Philadelphia [Pennsylvania], and Chicago [Illinois] knows that it is; however, when WWE looks at its numbers, JR, I think that everything is pointed in a positive direction for them, so why should they change their product?"
During the interview, Bully said he always knew Drake Maverick has the 'it factor' and that the manager of AOP would be a rich if he was bigger.
"I remember the first time I saw him in TNA," Bully recalled. "My exact words to Jeremy Borash, who know works down in NXT [were], 'that kid has 'it”. And [Ross is] right – if he was 6'4", 250 [pounds], he would be a gazillionaire by now. But I agree with [Ross]."
In Bully's opinion, SmackDown is better than RAW and that the two shows are like "night and day".
"We're talking about RAW maybe dropping the ball sometimes or being lacklustre, to take this on a positive note, they're doing quite the opposite on SmackDown," Bully pointed out. "On SmackDown, I'm more invested in the characters there; I'm more invested in the story; I'm more invested in the actual wrestling matches that are taking place. As a tag team guy, I have The Bar, The Usos, and The New Day, three teams with tremendous chemistry duking it out for those tag team titles. I have Becky Lynch and Charlotte [Flair] there doing probably some of the best work in the company right now. So it's crazy. It's night and day between the two brands and despite the fact that SmackDown is the better show and over the course of history has had times when it is definitively been the better show, it's still always labeled as the B-show."
Additionally, Bully noted that it is ludicrous for fans to think McMahon is not involved with SmackDown, as WWE is still ultimately a mom and pop shop.
"[McMahon] will be the first to tell you that the buck stops with him, so you hear stories that Vince is at RAW, but he may not be at SmackDown. Well, he [has] been at SmackDown plenty of times when we've gotten great SmackDowns. Am I to believe that Vince is at SmackDowns, but his hands are off the product? No, that's not true because he has his hands on everything. At the end of the day, this billion-dollar company is a mom and pop fruit stand. It's run by mom, dad, sister, brother, brother-in-law." Bully added, "it's a family business and they have their hands all over it."
Listen to The Jim Ross Report here https://player.fm/series/the-jim-ross-report. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit The Jim Ross Report with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The Jim Ross Report