At Ring of Honor (ROH)’s last pay-per-view, Sept. 22’s Death Before Dishonor XV, Bully Ray (aka Bubba Ray, aka Bubba Dudley) suffered a concussion during his Six-Man Tag title match with The Briscoes against The Bullet Club. After a night in the emergency room, the legend was still talking about lingering effects from the injury a week later, and questioning his future as an in-ring performer.
A few weeks haven’t changed that outlook, if his promos from the first couple nights of ROH and New Japan’s Global Wars tour are any indication.
On Friday night, Oct. 13 in Pittsburgh, Bully Ray came out prior to the show’s intermission for the second straight night to deliver what sounds a lot like a farewell speech.
According to live reports (like this one from PWInsider), Ray told the audience ROH said he didn’t need to appear on the shows, but he wanted to because of how much performing in the city has always meant to him, regardless of what company he was working for at the time. He wanted to come out and make eye contact with everyone so they’d know how much he appreciates the support. Since he’s not sure he’ll be back, he wanted the chance to say goodbye in person.
He received a loud ovation in Buffalo the night before after a similar promo:
THANK YOU @bullyray5150 !!! pic.twitter.com/GKVju6Sz3n
— El Gordo Guapo (@bka_fats) October 13, 2017
And his follow-up tweet after last night’s show drove the point home:
From The Golden Dome (ECW) to The Mellon Arena (WWE) to AT Stage AE tonight (ROH).
— Bubba Ray Dudley (@bullyray5150) October 14, 2017
THANKS and take care Pittsburgh...I appreciate you all
Is it the end? Certainly not for his career in wrestling, with tag and business partner D-Von working for WWE and their chain of wrestling schools to run. Perhaps his performing days are done, and that may be for the best. But it’s always hard to tell... the pull of the ring is strong for some.
Either way, hopefully Bubba’s feeling better - and thanks for the memories.