Bully Ray Says Former WWE Star Has Become 'Background Noise' In AEW

With AEW now more than seven years into its existence, the company has seen the arrival of many former WWE stars. Some, like Jon Moxley, have gone on to great success, while others have floundered. Speaking on "Busted Open Radio," Bully Ray praised the skills of one former WWE star who is featured regularly in AEW, but Bully also believes he has failed to make a significant impact.

"If I'm Claudio [Castagnoli] and I heard what Paul Heyman said during the Chris Van Vliet interview, ... my ears and brain are open to be like, 'Maybe I shouldn't be background noise. Maybe I'm really that f***ing good. And maybe I still have a lot of gas in my tank and something to offer, so I shouldn't be sitting here like a back-up singer,'" Bully stated.

When Heyman appeared on Van Vliet's podcast in recent weeks, the onscreen manager shared his belief that WWE mishandled Castagnoli when he worked for the company as Cesaro. Heyman went so far as to say that Castagnoli could and should have wrestled in the main event of a WWE WrestleMania, which is something that he reported John Cena to have once said backstage after wrestling Cesaro.

"Claudio is one of the absolute best of the best of the best, and I don't like seeing him be background noise," Bully continued.

In AEW, Castagnoli is a member of the Death Riders, led by Jon Moxley. Since his AEW arrival in 2022, Castagnoli has held the ROH World Championship twice as well as the AEW World Trios Championship, and he became CMLL World Heavyweight Champion last year.

Since Bully's comments, Castagnoli was booked into another pay-per-view match; he'll team with fellow Death Rider PAC to challenge Cope & Cage for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at the first-ever Redemption on Sunday, July 26.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.