Bully Ray Shares Lesson From WWE HOFer Pat Patterson, Reflected In TNA's Mike Santana

Bully Ray is generally a fan of TNA star Mike Santana, recently stating that Santana was "the guy" in TNA on an episode of "Busted Open After Dark." However, Bully couldn't help but notice a glaring error during Santana's work on the July 15 episode of "WWE NXT." While teaming with Trick Williams and Joe Hendry, Santana failed to get the most out of a hot tag, making his offensive comeback a bit too early before getting some assistance from his partners.

"I learned this from Pat Patterson," Bully said. "Don't blow your own comeback. Santana was getting beat up by everybody and then, lo and behold, he hit a double DDT or a double cutter and then kicked the other guy off, and basically beat up all three guys that were beating him up for two or three minutes."

Bully then recalled an early match from his time in WWE, where he made the same mistake as Santana. Once the match was over and he got to the back, Patterson was there to explain what he did wrong.

"What Pat was trying to teach me is: if I was strong enough to backdrop a guy and clothesline a guy, why did I have to tag out?" Bully continued. "That tag should be about desperation. Those heels shouldn't be bumping and feeding until the fresh guy comes in."

He then cited Ricky Morton of the Rock 'N' Roll Express as a strong example of how to react in such a situation. Rather than hitting a bunch of moves on his opponent and tagging Robert Gibson in, Morton would be more likely to hit one desperate move and maximize the reaction from the crowd before finally reaching out for the tag.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open After Dark" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.