Aces & Eights’ president Bully Ray wants to continue his reign as TNA World Heavyweight Champion beyond next January’s UK tour.
Bully – who won the title in August at Lockdown by beating Jeff Hardy – will defend against AJ Styles at Sunday’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view, the biggest night in TNA’s calendar.
The two men’s paths will cross after Styles won the Bound for Glory tournament – and the number one contendership – beating British star Magnus in the final. Bobby Roode and Austin Aries competed the final four.
He said: “No doubt, AJ is a great wrestler. All four of the semi finalists are. But I’ve beat all these guys. They don’t have the resilience to beat me, or the experience.
I want to continue being the TNA champion. Nothing will change.”
After initially fighting the Aces & Eights stable, Bully turned on his fans by announcing himself as the president of the group in the summer.
Despite the group losing several members in recent months – Wes Brisco, Mr Anderson, D.O.C and Tito Ortiz have either been expelled, left or are no longer with TNA – Bully believes his faction are still the group wrestling fans love to hate.
“Aces & Eights are on the tip of everyone’s tongue. You may hate me, but you still pay to come to the shows to see me. You turn on your TV to watch me and my boys. They are my muscle. They will help me retain my title at Bound for Glory,” he said.
The most recent addition to Aces & Eights is Bully’s new girlfriend, Brooke Tessmacher – who challenges ODB and Gail Kim for the Knockouts title at Sunday’s PPV.
While receiving a foot rub from his partner, he said: “What does Brooke bring to Aces & Eights? Have you seen that ass?! She’s eye candy.
I have the hottest girl in the world by my side, and I’m the most hated guy in TNA. People don’t like it. I don’t try to piss people off. I just do.”
Whether their relationship, the Aces & Eights, and indeed Bully’s title reign continue until the UK tour in January remains to be seen. One thing is for certain – he will be performing at all dates in Manchester, London, Birmingham, Dublin and the TV taping in Glasgow.
“I know everyone in the UK is very excited to watch the top rated wrestling show in their country. I can tell you that all the wrestlers love coming to the UK and performing,” he said.
TNA offers fans the chance to meet some of their favourite wrestlers through their Fan Interaction packages, which can be bought alongside show tickets through the usual avenues.
“It is important that the fans get to interact with some of the wrestlers. It’s no different to meeting your favourite rock star,” he said.
Bully’s long-time tag partner and on-screen brother, Devon, recently left TNA. The pair are the most successful tag team in professional wrestling history having won 23 title regins across the globe.
“Everything with Devon is a good memory. We won titles in TNA, WWE, ECW, Japan – every major promotion in the world. From Madison Square Garden to the Tokyo Dome, we performed there,” he recalls.
UK viewers can catch up on the latest action from Impact Wrestling on Challenge on Sunday nights at 9pm.
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Photo courtsey of Impact Wrestling, with thanks.
