On a recent edition of the “Busted Open Radio” podcast, Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer praised Natalya’s surprise return to WWE NXT and Ridge Holland’s promo segment on Tuesday’s show.
Natalya defeated Lola Vice in singles action while Holland announced an indefinite hiatus from the ring. WWE also moved Holland to the alumni section of their website.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
Tommy Dreamer on Natalya coming back to NXT: “I loved … Natalya coming back to NXT. You’re gonna get better every time you step in the ring with someone like … Natalya.”
Bully Ray on Natalya being underrated: “Natalya, in my opinion, is extremely underrated and extremely underutilized. I think Natalya suffers from the same thing that happened with … Dolph Ziggler. [They’ve] been there for so long that they just become a part of the background.”
Bully Ray on how Natalya could excel as a heel: “Let’s turn Nattie heel. Let Nattie go out there and be a b****.”
Bully Ray on Ridge Holland’s promo on NXT this week: “I absolutely loved Ridge Holland’s promo. Loved, loved, loved. I loved it because I have no idea if it’s a work or a shoot. If it’s on TV, it is what it is. Everything he’s talking about is 1000% legitimate. If you do hurt a wrestler once, it’ll screw with you. If you hurt a wrestler twice, these things stay with you and makes you gun-shy and skittish, enough where you might want to reassess what you’re doing out there. You’ve got to think about your friends, your family, your fellow workers.”
On how the crowd reacted to the segment: “Then he brought mental health in too and how this could be affecting his mental health. Did you listen to the crowd? They were silent. They had no idea. This was so, so real. And I thought Ridge did a phenomenal job with his tone, his inflection, and his volume.”
Dreamer on WWE selling the angle: “Kudos to WWE for immediately moving him to the Alumni section on their website. The other part that Bully talked about is perception, but it’s also perception from the company. If you’re the guy that goes out there and hurts a lot of people, even if it isn’t your fault, then that becomes your perception.”
Dreamer on where the story could be going: “You could go a lot of different places with this as well. He could come back as a bigger babyface or he could come back with a vengeance and start being somebody who purposely goes out there and hurts people and has this moniker of a guy who [says], ‘You blame me for things that weren’t my fault, now I’m going to hurt the fan favorites that you guys like.’”
