TNA News: Bully Ray on thinking outside the box and his surprise appearance at House of Hardcore event

TNA star Bully Ray spoke with Phil Strum of the Poughkeepsie Journal to promote the December 30 TNA Old School event that will be taped on Monday in Poughkeepsie, New York. Bully was asked about his surprise appearance at the House of Hardcore event in November that set up his TNA Old School main event with Tommy Dreamer.

"It was great," Ray said. "I came up in a company, ECW, that was really good at shocking people. I think wrestling, across the board, needs that shock and awe feel. I do shock really well as I did in TNA in the last year as the president of Aces and Eights. What I did at House of Hardcore, people were buzzing, the wrestling world was buzzing, the internet was buzzing. It got a ton of hits on YouTube. It’s good for wrestling."

Ray also spoke about the importance of pro wrestling companies thinking outside the box. "It’s very important for companies to do things like that," he said. "It keeps it interesting for people and it keeps people into wrestling across the board. Nobody really, in wrestling, is knocking them dead right now and selling out every arena.

"Wrestling is where it is right now. There’s a demographic that will always tune in and always buy merchandise and always buy the shows. But whenever you do something like I did at House of Hardcore, and people go, ‘hey HOH and TNA are working together,’ it’s lightning in a bottle. It’s a spark. TNA is also putting on a loaded card that night that people are going to want to be there in person for." Read the full interview at Blogs.poughkeepsiejournal.com/underthering/2013/12/23/under-the-ring-interview-with-bully-ray/.

Powell's POV: Ray also spoke more about appearing at the House of Hardcore event, offered a sales pitch for the TNA Old School event, and looked back on his 2013. As for his appearance at the show, it was a cool surprise and I would like to see TNA think outside the box more. It obviously generated interest in the Ray vs. Dreamer match for the fans in attendance as well as those who saw it online and may be more likely to order the Old School event once it airs.