By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Insight With Chris Van Vliet with guest D-Von Dudley
Host: Chris Van Vliet
Podcast available via Podcast.chrisvanvliet.com
On potentially returning to WWE: “I’m not interested. I’ll be honest with you. I had a great run. You know, I had a seven year, I’m sorry, eight year, including the year that we came back. And then the producing years, I had a great time. I did, there was some stressful times working behind the scenes. But, you know, again, I basically did what I was supposed to do there and my time is up. I believe God puts you in places where he needs to put you for that time being and I think that’s what happened with this. Now here’s what I’m also going to say, you know, when we left in 2005 the first time it didn’t, it didn’t sit right with me. It didn’t sit right with me at all. And even though we went to TNA, we went to Japan, we did what we did, it just didn’t sit right with me. So, I basically always felt that we needed to go back and we needed to leave the right way. And so, I felt this time we didn’t leave the right way.
“There’s nothing left in the basement for me, talent wise to go back, or producer wise. I’m okay. You know, I said in my tweet interview, which I messed up a couple of times, some of the verbiage, because my hands are too big when I’m starting to type and I didn’t bother to look at it again. But you know, I think, you know, Vince, I think Triple H, Stephanie, and the whole McMahon family for allowing me to come in there. And to do what I did; I have no hard feelings. I have none whatsoever. We agreed to disagree towards the end. And that was when I knew that it was time to leave. You know, a lot of it was autograph signings and things like that. But, you know, again, they allow, you know, their talent to do certain things and things like that, or their employees. And then there’s other points that they don’t allow to do it, you know, whatever.
“I just felt that I should have been able to do certain things outside of the company, if the company was not working at the time. So, you know, again, I was told no, and that was made public with the ECW arena, I got pulled from that show. And it caused a little bit of controversy. And then, you know, there was another issue. So, my thing was, you know, again, agree to disagree. You know, I don’t have any ill feelings but I’m done. I think I think I’m finished. I’m not gonna say never. Because in this business, you never say never. I do know that. But at the same token, the way I feel right now, there’s no reason for me to go back.
“There’s nothing there for me anymore. You know, everybody who I came up in the business with talent wise is pretty much almost gone. And, you know, and this and that, but, you know, again, that shouldn’t matter, because you’re not there for friends. They have to make money and to have a job. But at the same token, I just feel that that’s not the right fit for me. So again, I thanked them for the opportunity that they gave me since 1999, up until, you know, January 23 of this year, but it’s just not for me anymore.”
On there being no heat between himself and Bubba Ray Dudley: “It might have been on me because I said, somebody asked me would, you know, we see the Dudley Boyz, I did an interview. They said, would we see the Dudley Boyz back together? And I said no. Because at that time, I had a stroke, my back was giving out on me, and I spoke the truth. I said no. I said, because I can’t do it anymore. I said, but here’s the deal. Bubba is still doing his thing, and I’m doing my thing as a producer. So, he’s doing his thing, and I’m doing mine. So, we’re separating, we’re going our separate ways and doing our own thing and we’re happy doing that. But just because I said that doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s animosity between us. You know, are there things that I didn’t agree with? Yes. Are there things that he didn’t agree with me? Absolutely.
“But guess what, we squashed it, whatever that little disagreement was, and we’re, and we’re together, but we would never apart. That’s the thing, we were never apart. We had it, we were agreeing to disagree on certain things. You know, and like every other tag team or any other brother, you know, you do your own thing for a little bit. I do my own thing for a little bit. And guess what? We were united again, no different. Listen, Bubba likes to use analogies, and I heard him say it on your show a couple of times KISS, you know, you know, when KISS took off the paint and all of that they weren’t as big as they were once, they took all that off. And they started getting rid of members in the band and this and that because of whatever demons that they might have had, so they had to replace certain members. But then all of a sudden when they put the paint back on, they were able to bring everybody back together. Even those that had demons in the past and they would have bring them back together and form the group KISS.
“Not taking anything away from anybody that filled in the void when those members were gone, but I feel like Bubba said, we’re like KISS, we’re gonna put on the face paint one more time. And we’re gonna do it. And when I say we put on the face paint one more time, autograph signings, things like that. Is there a possibility for the Dudley Boyz to ever get back into the ring again? I’ll put it this way. I can say yes and I can say no. And I’ll say this, in terms of like I told Bubba, I said, you know, the only thing is, I don’t know about going up on the top rope and doing a Wazzup no more. I say because, you know, I don’t know how much my back, I’m not willing to put my back at risk like that. There are certain moves that I would have to fix. A 3D would be great, I could do a 3D no problem.”
On his sons being a part of the AEW roster: “They’re doing their thing, they’re doing their thing, they’re still doing Dark in AEW. They’re having a good time. And, you know, they’re just enjoying themselves, which I’m very, very happy with. I’d rather them be with AEW right now, then probably go to NXT or WWE. I mean, you know, in my opinion there’s so much going on over there right now that I just feel like they might get lost in the shuffle somewhere. And things like that right now, I think AEW is the best fit for them. I didn’t always think that, you know, because I used to work for the company, WWE, and all the turmoil that’s going on right now started. So, I just, you know, figured probably maybe that WWE was the best fit. But I’m a very biblical person, to the point where I feel God does everything for a reason.
“And if they had a couple of tryouts, and they were told no. And, you know, they were told not right now, but you know, we’re definitely gonna be looking at you in the future, then there was a reason for that, because long and behold, look, what’s going on there now. You know, there’s so much disarray, I like to say that’s probably going on, because no one knows what’s going on. You know, is Vince back. Is he not back? Is Triple H in control. Is he not in control? You know, I mean, it’s one thing for people to come out and say, you know, business as usual. You know, I’m still going to be whatever. But is it really the case? I don’t know. I don’t think anybody knows, except for the people that are working within the company.”
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