D-Von Dudley helped turn the Dudley Boyz into one of the most successful tag teams in wrestling history, but he still believes WWE didn’t give them the recognition they deserved. The WWE Hall of Famer says he and Bubba Ray Dudley were regularly left out of promotional material, even when wrestlers further down the card were getting advertised.
During an appearance on the Duke LovesRasslin podcast, Dudley opened up about how he felt WWE promoted the Dudley Boyz during their time with the company. Despite everything the team accomplished, he couldn’t help noticing when their faces were missing from advertisements for upcoming shows.
“There was a lot of times in my career that I thought that the Dudley Boys did not get the recognition that we deserved.”
D-Von explained that whenever WWE advertised its live events, the commercials would feature major stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin alongside other wrestlers on the card. However, the Dudley Boyz weren’t always included, and he felt the company simply expected fans to know they would be there.
“And I say that because of when you look at some of the advertisements that was being done even in WWE um when they would say hey you know WWE is coming to town and so forth and so on. Get your tickets now and you would see you know the guys that throw a rock, Stone Cold, all the top names and then you would see some of the guys that were underneath them that basically were being advertised on the show or even their pictures shown or videos shown in the commercial that was being delivered to be able to sell the shows that were on.”
“I always felt that the Dudleys were never really put into that. You just assumed that we were going to be there, and I always felt slated about that.”
That didn’t sit well with D-Von, especially considering how far he and Bubba had come. The Dudley Boyz went from an unusual gimmick in ECW to becoming one of the biggest tag teams in the industry, and D-Von believes they proved plenty of people wrong along the way.
“Um, you know, and then and I know we’re not supposed to listen and read too much into people, what people say and things like that, but you know, damn it, Bubba and I have accomplished things that nobody thought we would be able to accomplish.”
D-Von then explained that the Dudley gimmick was originally created by Raven and inspired by the Hanson Brothers from the 1977 hockey movie Slap Shot. The characters were supposed to look like nerds outside the ring but become completely different people once the fighting started.
“The Dudley gimmick was a joke. It was always meant to be a joke. It was created by Raven uh from the movie Slap Shot with Paul Newman about the Hanson Brothers. They were nerds outside of the ice. It was a hockey movie. They were nerds outside of the ice when they weren’t on the ice, but when they were on the ice, they were killers. They were kicking ass.”
D-Von said he and Bubba took that concept much further than anyone expected. Instead of accepting that they weren’t supposed to become major stars, they turned the Dudley Boyz into a successful act across multiple wrestling promotions.
“That’s what the Dudley gimmick was about. We were nerds, we were what have you outside of the ring, but inside the ring we meant business. So I understand that, but Bubba and myself we took it to another level. We made those who said no, you’re not going to be anything in this business, and we said no, you’re a liar. We are. And this is what we’re going to bring to the table, and we never stopped fighting.”
Despite his frustrations with how the team was promoted, D-Von said meeting fans at conventions eventually helped him understand just how much the Dudley Boyz meant to people. Fans regularly tell him that watching the team helped them through difficult moments in their lives.
“It was only until I started doing the Comic-Cons and people coming up to the table asking for autographs and merchandise where I would always get, man, you guys don’t realize the influence that you had on our lives. You know, we were going through a rough time and things like that, and we would turn on the TV, we would see the Dudley Boys and the way your matches were done, it just it just brought joy to our hearts, our family.”
D-Von’s complaints about WWE’s recognition don’t end with how the Dudley Boyz were advertised. He has also called out WWE for leaving him out of Black History Month celebrations, despite his accomplishments and the influence he had on younger Black wrestlers. He has previously discussed going separate ways from Bubba Ray in 2016, although the two eventually reunited in the ring.
The Dudley Boyz were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018, but D-Von’s comments make it clear that getting that honor didn’t erase every frustration from his career. He and Bubba spent years proving they belonged among wrestling’s biggest names, and D-Von still remembers the times he felt WWE didn’t treat them that way.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
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