Bully Ray Says This AEW All Out 2024 Match Was Done 'For All The Wrong Reasons'

AEW CEO Tony Khan has often been accused of not booking matches for the right reasons, and those critics were not placated by AEW All Out this past Saturday. On "Busted Open Radio," Bully Ray said that the TBS Championship match between Mercedes Mone and Hikaru Shida specifically stood out to him as having an ulterior motive.

"I believe the match was done for all the wrong reasons," Bully said. "I think the reason why this match was done was to wash away the taste of the Mercedes Mone-Britt Baker match from All In. I don't think people particularly liked the match. Everybody was b****ing and moaning ... I believe it was done to get a strong match under Mercedes' belt so we can forget the Britt match. Now I don't give a s*** how good the match was, because if it doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense."

Bully grew audibly flustered reflecting on the specifics of the Mone-Shida match, particularly the decision to eject Mone's bodyguard Kamille from ringside. He argued Kamille hasn't been with Mercedes long enough, nor wreaked enough havoc, to justify that type of storyline maneuver, and added that commentary's attempts to sell the move only made it worse.

"On commentary, three times in the body of the match, commentators are saying, 'Mercedes Mone doesn't need Kamille,'" Bully said. "At the end of the match, when Mercedes was leaving, Excalibur's going, 'Wow, like we said earlier, Taz ... it doesn't look like Mercedes Mone needed Kamille!' And Taz turns around and goes, 'Holy s***! How many times are you gonna say it?!' ... So what are they slamming home? That our heel [TBS] Champion doesn't need the heater because she's able to out-wrestle everybody else? What f***ing good does this do anybody?"