Impact Wrestling (TNA) Rumors: Bully Ray's return cancelled, Alberto Del Rio signed as last-minute replacement
What’s The Story?
PWinsider is reporting that former TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray almost made his return to TNA Impact’s television tapings, this past Thursday night in Orlando. As we previously reported, former WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio made a surprising appearance during the tapings, challenged Bobby Lashley for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a match and subsequently won.
We'll just leave this here. See you Thursday Night @VivaDelRio pic.twitter.com/tOsNawKB7T
— IMPACT WRESTLING (@IMPACTWRESTLING) March 3, 2017
In Case You Didn’t Know...
Bully Ray was the top star in TNA for nearly a decade strong, where he would win the TNA World Heavyweight Title twice. Bully was widely regarded as one of the top heels in the entire industry while leading the infamous faction known as Ace’s & Eights.
Alberto Del Rio (Albert De Patron in Impact) made the move to Impact Wrestling, following his recent stint with WWE, which concluded September of 2016. Alberto left WWE, citing his reasons being that he was promised a main event push, amongst other alleged “empty promises.”
It is also being reported that Drew Galloway was originally slated to be the one to defeat Lashley for the title. However, Drew turned down a new contract and left the company.
The Heart of The Matter
It is being reported that Jeff Jarrett and other TNA officials were working diligently to secure a return for Bully Ray. Apparently, the two sides were so close at one point, that it appeared to be a done-deal. However, in the eleventh hour, negotiations fell apart as the two sides simply could not come to terms on the deal.
It’s also worth noting that Bully was allegedly offered a significant amount of money, as well as a main event role with the company.
After failing to secure the TNA Hall of Famer’s return, Jeff Jarrett reached out to Alberto late on Wednesday evening. They were both able to agree to a contract in which both sides would be happy, resulting in a deal being made.
Sportskeeda’s Take
It has been a rough week for TNA, even by their standards. At one point, it looked like the company was not going to be able to stop the bleeding, because of all of the departures. However, there’s nowhere to go but up from here.
You may not think much of Jeff Jarrett, but I can assure you, Double J has TNA’s best interest at heart. Jeff is the patriarch of the company and despite the current rocky conditions, he is certainly the one whom I’d want navigating this ship, during these uncertain times.
As far as Bully is concerned, I have a feeling we may very well see him back in TNA soon. Maybe the timing just wasn’t right. Regardless, they have a great champion on the roster as of right now. Alberto can be a very valuable asset to their product. With the current staff in place at TNA, who knows, we may see a reunion between Zeb and Alberto. Maybe not.
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