Bully Ray Loved 'The Rub' From This AEW Dynamite Segment

WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray was a big fan of the way the May 28 episode of "AEW Dynamite" kicked off, where Hangman Page, Will Ospreay, and Swerve Strickland all exchanged words following Page's victory over Ospreay in the final of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament at Double or Nothing. During a recent edition of "Busted Open Radio," Ray explained that Page greatly benefited from this segment, not just because he was believable when he said he was focused on Jon Moxley and the AEW World Championship, but the fact that he got something that not many people in AEW get, "the rub."

"When Ospreay looked at Swerve and he said 'people are starting to believe in us again, and it's not because of me, it's because of him' and he pointed to Hangman Page. We've been talking about that one guy that's going to carry the flag, wave the flag for AEW, be that guy. That guy we've been talking about it being Will Ospreay, maybe it's going to be Darby [Allin], I thought Will, well Will said it was actually Hangman. Not a lot of people in AEW get the benefit of 'the rub,' but that was a rub in of itself in AEW because Ospreay is the guy right now. To me, Ospreay is Mr. AEW and he's telling Swerve that it's actually Hangman, and he's saying 'hey listen to the people, they're starting to believe in us again.'"

The mutual respect between the two isn't just for the cameras as it was reported following Double or Nothing that both Ospreay and Page wanted the other man to win their match, with the decision to put Page over being one that was made very close to the pay-per-view itself.

Please credit "Busted Open Radio" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.