Impact Wrestling: Is Bully Ray Ready to Take a Lead Role in Singles Competition?

The writing has been on the wall for a few weeks now. Bully Ray has escaped the shadow of tag team wrestling and appears ready to become one of the top singles stars in Impact Wrestling.

After a marriage of sorts with Brother Devon for years in WWE and TNA, Bully Ray cut ties with his partner and has since shown that he can make it on his own. As the “enforcer” of sorts in Immortal, Ray has proven he can be one bad apple and is in line to capture the World Heavyweight gold as a competitor in the Bound for Glory Series.

If ever there was a wrestler in TNA who embodied the idea of making trouble and taking names, Bully Ray fits the description. His is big, strong, powerful, and he's a great wrestler.  His years as a tag team player served him well, but the break-up with Devon proved two things: first, that Bully Ray was the star of that combination and second, that Devon needs something to happen in the BFG Series because his career is going nowhere. The angle with the Pope has no legs because it is not exposed well enough to the public with all that is currently happening on Impact.

While Ray does not have the microphone skills of some others in Immortal, he certainly shows off his persona with big, brooding spots that are effective. Furthermore, he looks larger than life when he is talking to a wrestler or is in a spot with muscle-bound freaks like Scott Steiner.

It is a lot like the past when bigger, stronger wrestlers (e.g. Ron Simmons, Terry Gordy, and King Kong Bundy) tried to manhandle their opponents in the ring and on camera. While these three examples all had different styles and Simmons and Gordy were great wrestlers, they all used raw power to get over.

So with the BFG Series in full swing and Ray moving up the chart and taking his place in line, you have to wonder what happens next. He was verbally confrontational with Sting about defending Hulk Hogan and then threw Scott Steiner under a bus. He was verbally abusive to AJ Styles, and the two have had a classic feud that I and the rest of the TNA Universe would love to see continue. And we must wonder what happens when he and Gunner cross paths. How does that confrontation divide Immortal and the loyalty of Eric Bischoff?

All this leads to the development of one bad man and a singles competitor that is coming out of his wrestling shell.