Bubba Ray was recently a guest on “Talk is Jericho”. During the interview, he discussed the contract offered by IMPACT, why he turned it down and his current run with Ring Of Honor. Here are the highlights:

On The IMPACT Contract Offer:

So once we came to terms with WWE and decided that we weren’t gonna do business, the minute the Hardys left Impact I said to myself, ‘Within twenty-four hours my phone is going to ring.’ And about sixteen hours later my phone rang. And I knew what they were going to come back with and they came and backed up a Brinks truck. Not Chris Jericho money, but yeah, they offered me a lot of money to come back.

On If He Considered The Offer:

This is when Jeff Jarrett had come back into power with Ed Nordholm when they [Anthem] first bought in. They said that we want to bring you back, and for four days I was bashing my head into a wall because I couldn’t believe I was considering it…because the regime that was there, I didn’t necessarily see eye-to-eye with in the past. I felt at times people were out to get me. And that wasn’t paranoia, it was on facts. And I didn’t think I can top what I did, you know? I worked with Sting. I worked with Hogan. I was the World Champion there twice. The largest gate in TNA’s history — me and Jeff Hardy at LockDown in a cage, 7,200 paid. I didn’t know who I was able to go back to Impact and have that kind of business with and top what I was able to do with Bully Ray in the Aces & Eights.

On Why He Turned It Down:

And then they handed me creative for Drew Galloway. Everything they wanted to do with Drew Galloway? Drew left, went back to WWE and they handed me his creative. And I said, ‘You can’t just plug me into somebody else’s stuff.’ I go, ‘I was an established character here with an established history and story. We have to re-think this.’ They weren’t willing to re-think anything, I walked away from the money, and then I went back to the original company I wanted to be with.

On Joining Ring Of Honor:

I always knew that Ring of Honor was the company that I belonged in. I just didn’t know if Ring of Honor was willing to dip their toe in the water with an act that went so against what they are all about. Conversely, they never had that kind of storytelling…Ring of Honor is more about the athleticism, and the moves, and the spots. I was like, ‘The one thing that this company lacks is the storytelling.’ And that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to bring storytelling to Ring of Honor; episodic week-to-week, month-to-month, PPV to PPV. Stories that build and have an acual payoff where other guys can get over and other guys can benefit from it. I’m not looking to get myself over, and I know by getting other other people over I am going to get the residual of it and get them over in the process…so we worked it out with Ring of Honor, went over there and had my first night at the Hammerstein Ballroom, and it has been an amazing experience since.

You can listen to the full interview below:

Credit: Talk Is Jericho. H/T 411Mania.