10 Things Impact Wrestling Fans Should Know About The Hulk Hogan Vs. Bully Ray Rivalry

In 2010, Impact Wrestling — back when it was known as TNA — saw the arrival of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff, who became main figures in the company both backstage and on screen. This period marked some major changes in the Impact Zone as well as storylines like Hogan and Bischoff trying to take over the company as part of the heel faction Immortal and the Hulkster randomly taking Abyss under his wing as his mentor. But late in his run with the company, Hogan entered a rivalry with Bully Ray, the former Bubba Ray Dudley.

The Hogan/Ray storyline not only included a forbidden romance angle involving Hogan’s daughter, but also became part of the big Aces & Eights angle that was dominating Impact television. Let’s take a look at this rivalry and what fans should know about it.

10 Initially Stablemates In Immortal

Bound For Glory 2010 saw the formation of a new heel faction in Immortal, which featured Hulk Hogan, Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy, and others turning heel to stage a hostile takeover of the Impact Zone, nWo style. The following month, Bully Ray turned heel on his long-time tag team partner Devon, breaking up Team 3D. Eventually Bully Ray joined up with Immortal, thus becoming teammates with his future rival Hulk Hogan, and even represented the faction at the 2011 and 2012 iterations of the Lethal Lockdown cage match.

9 Bully Ray Wrestled Hulk Hogan In His Final Matches

A year after Immortal formed, Hulk Hogan turned babyface following his defeat at the hands of Sting at Bound For Glory 2011 in a match that proved to be his final televised bout. However, that wasn’t Hogan’s last match overall, as he returned to competition for a pair of house shows in the UK. There, he teamed with Sting and James Storm against the team of Bully Ray, Kurt Angle, and Bobby Roode, defeating Ray’s team in both encounters.

8 Hogan Chose Bully Ray To Defend Impact From Aces & Eights

On top of turning babyface again, Hulk Hogan succeeded Sting as the main authority figure of Impact Wrestling in mid-2012, just as the masked biker gang known as Aces & Eights were staging an invasion of the Impact Zone.

Bully Ray found himself aligned with the rest of the Impact roster against the new heel faction, thus gradually becoming a babyface, so Hogan enlisted him to team up with Sting to take on two members of the group at Bound For Glory 2012. Aces & Eights picked up the win on pay-per-view, thus securing the group an official spot on the roster.

7 Bully Ray’s Relationship With Brooke Hogan Was Revealed By Austin Aries

To make matters worse following Aces & Eights’ victory over Sting and Bully Ray at Bound For Glory, the following month Austin Aries revealed to Hulk Hogan that Bully Ray had a secret romance going with Hogan’s daughter, Brooke. This led to a short feud between Bully Ray and Austin Aries, with the two clashing at December 2012’s Final Resolution. There, both Brooke and Hulk Hogan ended up on ringside, inadvertently distracting Bully Ray for a roll-up pinfall loss to Aries.

6 Hogan Suspended Bully Ray Due To His Relationship With Brooke

For Hulk Hogan, the final straw in the secret relationship between Bully Ray and Brooke Hogan occurred when he saw the pair kiss in a parking garage. This led to the Hulkster confronting Bully Ray in the ring on an episode of Impact, with an apologetic Ray admitting that he was in the wrong by not initially talking to Hulk Hogan about their burgeoning relationship. Despite that, Hogan still elected to suspend Bully Ray for his actions.

5 Hogan Took Part In Bully Ray And Brooke’s Wedding

While Bully Ray was suspended, Aces & Eights attempted to abduct Brooke Hogan, but Ray was luckily around to make the save. The two got engaged despite Hulk Hogan’s disapproval, and their wedding happened on the mid-January 2013 episode of Impact, with Brooke’s father participating in the ceremony. However, being an in-ring wedding, chaos was inevitable, which started with Taz revealing that he was secretly a member of Aces & Eights before the whole faction staged an attack on the wedding.

4 Hogan Put Bully Ray Into The World Title Picture

As a result of Aces & Eights’ attack on the wedding, Hulk Hogan ended Bully Ray’s suspension so he could help combat the group. Around that time, Hogan also had eight of Impact’s top stars — including Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, and Samoa Joe —competing in matches so Hogan could decide who was worth making #1 Contender to Jeff Hardy’s Impact World Title.

But when it came time to decide, he chose none of them and instead opted to make his new son-in-law the #1 Contender, despite Bully Ray not competing in any of the matches the previous week.

3 Bully Ray Revealed Himself As The President Of Aces & Eights After Winning The Title

Bully Ray’s title shot at Jeff Hardy happened in a steel cage at the pay-per-view Lockdown in March 2013. The bout saw Aces & Eights interfere in the match on several occasions, with Ray and Hardy working together to fight them off. However, at one pivotal moment, Aces & Eights member — and Ray’s former partner — Devon tossed Bully Ray a hammer, which he used to knock out Hardy for the victory. Not only was Bully Ray the World Champion and once again a heel, but he also revealed himself as the leader of Aces & Eights.

2 Bully Ray’s Heel Turn Caused Tension Between Hogan And Sting

Sting and Hulk Hogan in Impact Wrestling

Not only was Hulk Hogan duped into trusting Bully Ray, but the big heel turn caused Hogan to reignite a little of the enmity between himself and Sting, as Hogan blamed his old rival for showing so much support for Bully Ray in the first place. However, the spat didn’t result in another match between the two or any sort of extended beef, as Sting ended up making the save for Hogan following another Aces & Eights attack.

1 Hogan Left Impact In The Middle Of The Storyline

Following his reveal as the boss of Aces & Eights, Bully Ray’s marriage to Brooke Hogan came to an end, as he gained a new on-screen girlfriend named Brooke — and one loyal to the gang — in the form of Brooke Tessmacher. According to Bully Ray, he was supposed to actually have a match with Hulk Hogan, but Hogan wasn’t cleared to wrestle and was on his way out of Impact. The Aces & Eights storyline was still going on when Hogan was written out of the show by walking out on desperate Impact boss Dixie Carter.