Triple H caught plenty of heat after WWE aired a three-hour episode of Monday Night Raw without a single women’s match for the July 20th episode, but D-Von Dudley isn’t convinced “The Game” deserves all the blame.
The Hall of Famer was asked about the backlash during an appearance on Duke Loves Rasslin, and while he admitted the situation looked bad from the outside, he quickly pushed back on the idea that fans already know who should be held responsible. D-Von said he’s been in WWE production meetings before, and that’s exactly why he’s refusing to jump to conclusions.
“That’s a lot of hours… I don’t know what happened and what went on in that production meeting. I don’t know when the show was written, why. My thing is we have to look at the perspective of what was their agenda moving forward to the next week or to the next show. Why wasn’t there? There’s something behind the scenes that’s telling us why we didn’t have that. I don’t know what it is.”
He made it clear he wasn’t trying to excuse what happened. A three-hour Raw without the women is just as strange to him as it is to everyone watching at home. The difference, he said, is that fans don’t know what conversations happened before the cameras started rolling.
“Listen, I’m not defending, but all I’m saying is until we know why that was, maybe we shouldn’t speculate until we find out why.”
That’s when D-Von took the conversation in a different direction. According to him, too many fans still look at Triple H the same way they looked at Vince McMahon—as the one person making every creative decision. D-Von doesn’t believe that’s how WWE works anymore.
“People don’t put in perspective that when Vince was in charge, Vince was in charge. No shareholders could tell him what to do… You get that now with TKO.”
In D-Von’s eyes, WWE changed the moment TKO took over. He argued that Triple H is no longer operating with the same freedom Vince once had because there are now executives above him who have input on what ultimately ends up on television.
“When he makes decisions, it’s not just him. It’s not like when Vince did it. TKO is involved as well. WWE is just… it’s not the Vince regime anymore. It’s the TKO regime is what I like to say because they’re the ones deciding everything. There are people higher up than Triple H. If you honestly think Triple H is making every decision, I don’t believe that.”
D-Von Dudley even revealed that’s not just his opinion—it’s what he’s heard from people around the business, too.
“Apparently, from my understanding and from what I’m hearing, they pretty much decide what storylines are approved and what storylines aren’t. If I’m wrong, then I’m wrong, but that’s what I’m hearing. And if that is the case, then you can’t really fault Triple H.”
Even with all that said, D-Von admitted he was still scratching his head over Raw’s decision to leave the women’s division on the sidelines. WWE has spent years building one of the deepest female rosters in wrestling, making the lack of a single match even harder to understand. Asked whether women were ever intentionally pushed aside during his own time backstage, D-Von didn’t hesitate.
“Women on TV have always shown to be the biggest ratings… The women are now looked upon not just so much on their beauty, but now on what they’re doing in that ring, and they’re athletes.”
He then rattled off names like IYO SKY, Bianca Belair, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley, arguing that today’s women’s roster has more than earned its place at the top of the card.
“We’ve got the superstars. IYO SKY. I like Bianca, her character in the ring. It’s tough, it’s rugged, it’s in your face. When she walks down the aisle, you know it’s a woman you can’t mess with because she’ll probably kill you. Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Liv, Rhea… all of these women. I just feel that there’s something behind the scenes. And I’m sure it was noticed. Believe me when I say it, I’m sure it was noticed.”
D-Von hadn’t solved the mystery of why Raw went three hours without featuring a women’s match. What he did make clear, though, is that he doesn’t buy the idea that Triple H simply woke up and decided to leave the division off the show.
“You can’t tell me they didn’t take that into consideration when they decided that wasn’t going to be the case. Something had to have triggered to basically say, ‘No, we can’t have that right now. We just have to bite the bullet on it.’… I wouldn’t really blame Hunter because, again, there are more higher-ups than Hunter. It’s not like when Vince was there. Vince was the end-all, be-all.”
D-Von isn’t asking fans to like what happened on Raw. He’s simply asking them to consider that there may be a lot more to the story than anyone outside WWE currently knows. Until someone explains why the women’s division disappeared from a three-hour show, he’s not ready to make Triple H the lone scapegoat.
Do you agree with D-Von Dudley, or should Triple H still be held responsible for Raw’s handling of the women’s division? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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