WWE Hall Of Famer Bully Ray Discusses The Toll The Industry Takes On Relationships

Life as a professional wrestler is complicated for many reasons, and while things have gotten better in recent years, the unrelenting travel schedule has been a source of tension across countless relationships. Speaking on "Busted Open Radio," WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray detailed the difficulty associated with maintaining romantic relationships with people outside the industry.

"It's difficult — it's brutal — on a relationship," Bully said. "Now, no WWE star [is] on the road nearly as much as back in the day."

Despite the easier schedule, there are challenges that go beyond simply spending time apart. One situation in which things can easily become complicated is when a wrestler has to work a storyline with an onscreen romantic partner, such as Dominik Mysterio has had with both Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley over the last few years. While his relationships with both women have gotten flirtatious and Mysterio has even kissed Morgan onscreen, WWE has maintained some degree of ambiguity, avoiding the more risque interactions of the past.

The discussion about the issue continued on "Busted Open" for quite some time, with Bully bringing up the appeal of blurring the lines between fiction and reality in wrestling. He also looked back on his time working with tag team partner D-Von Dudley, and how D-Von struggled balancing his career and family life.

"I witnessed D-Von try to be a husband and a father over the phone for the majority of our career," Bully continued. "To listen to what he had to go through — arguments with his wife, or trying to reprimand his children, [or] talk to every single one of his children every single day. When you're doing this from the road every day, it is exhausting. I would get exhausted listening to him."

Bully emphasized that he teaches his wrestling students that their first goal in the industry should be to earn money, with the idea being that they're earning for their family. Back in the day, that also meant that wrestler's wives would receive regular checks from their husband's job, which Bully says often helped ease things over between couples.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.