Bully Ray Says Ring Of Honor Is The New ECW And Explains Why CZW Is Not
Bully Ray spoke with The Wrap about why Ring of Honor is the new ECW and why CZW is not. He says Ring of Honor has more of the mentality of ECW, and was created due to the hole left behind when ECW folded.
"One of the whole reasons I'm in Ring of Honor is because of how much it reminds me of ECW," Bully said. "There is not one wrestler out there ? or one veteran out there ? who understands the Ring of Honor mentality ? more than I do. ECW was Ring of Honor before Ring of Honor. Ring of Honor was created because of the void that ECW left when it disappeared."
On the flip side, CZW may have the violence that ECW once did, but that's not what embodied ECW, according to Bully.
"CZW does not carry the torch of ECW at all. ECW was not about violence ? it was about passion and it was about a mindset. ECW was truly a rebellious movement, giving our middle finger to the rest of the wrestling business, telling people that we were gonna do it our way," Bully responded. "And we did it our way so much that we revolutionized the entire business. CZW is just gratuitous violence for the sake of gratuitous violence, just to shock people. Do they make more money year after year? Are their crowds any bigger? No. So I kind of compare them to GWAR. Listen, GWAR could continue to tour for as long as GWAR wants to. They'll perform to the same 100 fans every night, and they'll make the same amount of money. They'll never grow financially and they'll never grow as an act ? and that's just a fact when you look at CZW as a business model."
He went on to compare ECW to another revolutionary company that eventually went bankrupt, Napster.
"ECW was the Napster of pro wrestling," Bully said. "Napster went bankrupt and failed as a business, but it revolutionized the way we listen to music. ECW went bankrupt and failed as a wrestling company, but it changed the landscape of wrestling forever. Without ECW, you would never have the [WWE] Attitude Era."
Bully Ray (aka Bubba Dudley) will be heading into the WWE Hall of Fame this year alongside his tag partner, D-Von Dudley.