Former WWE and TNA star Bully Ray was recently interviewed by Journey of a Front Man, and the following are some interview highlights:

On the Royal Rumble:

“Well the Royal Rumble is a lot of fun. As far as the reaction was concerned, it was awesome. To be able to come back to Philadelphia ten years after I had left the WWE to that type of reception, you really can’t put any words to it. I kind of knew in the back of my head that I was gonna get a warm reception from the Philly crowd. Some people might of been shocked just how big the reaction was. It was overwhelmingly positive. If that was my last time that you ever saw me in a WWE ring again, not that I’m saying that I want it to be, but if that was the last time that you ever saw me, that’s a hell of a way to go out!”

On NXT’s Blue Pants:

“She’s been around for a long, long time. Just like I teach all of my students, you never know when something is gonna happen. It can happen overnight or it can happen twenty years down the road. It’s all a question about how long you want to stick around and how much time you want to put into it. Leva has been plugging away and now she’s getting a little taste of success, she’s getting over in NXT. That’s great. Proud to have her as a graduate of Team 3D Academy. I’m very happy for her success right now.”

On approaching wrestlers in public:

“If you see a wrestler in public and you want to go say hello to them, just be polite! Just go up to that person and say, “Hi, my name is so and so. Nice to meet you.” If you walk up to a wrestler and you go to shake his hand and you’re very polite, they will be polite to you. Don’t approach a wrestler when he’s putting a fork in his mouth or when he’s with his wife and his kids in an intimate moment. Have common courtesy. Have respect. Every wrestler loves it when you come up to them and thank them for what they have done and show appreciation for all their hard work. Most of the time, wrestlers are jerks to a fan because the fan is probably a jerk first. And that’s the reality of it. I’ve had many fans be rude and disrespectful towards me and then they get the full wrath. Then they get the Bubba that everybody hears about. I’m a really nice guy. I’m really fuckin’ laid back and easygoing. I think it’s cool as hell when fans come up to me and say thank you or they just want to introduce himself. I am so cool with that. It’s the couple of fans out there that ruin it for everybody else.”

Thoughts on Rey Mysterio leaving WWE:

“Whenever people leave a company or go to a company, everyone will ask what my thoughts are. It goes on every day. People come and go from companies every day, whether it’s wrestling or a bank or a big business or McDonald’s, people come and go all the time. When one person stays in a company for too long, they can sometimes get stagnant or stale. So it’s good because with Rey leaving WWE now, maybe he’ll go do some stuff that will light a fire under his ass even more. And now that opens up a spot for a younger guy in WWE to step up and become the next Rey Mysterio. It’s always good for the business when people come and go and rosters constantly get mixed up.”

On his future in wrestling:

“If that was my last appearance, all I can say to my fellow wrestlers in the back and the fans in Philly and all around the world that watched…thank you. Thank you for the warm welcome backstage. Thank you for the warm welcome in the arena. Thank you for everything. People always ask me about the Hall of Fame, whether it’s TNA or WWE. “Do you think you’re gonna go into the Hall of Fame?” I tell them, “I get inducted into the Hall of Fame every night I go through that curtain.” When you go through that curtain and you can hear the response of the fans, that’s being inducted into the Hall of Fame every night. As long as they are booing me as loud as they can or cheering me as loud as they can, that’s the only Hall of Fame I will ever need in my career.”