By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
D-Von Dudley accused Jim Ross of telling him that he did not like him due to the color of his skin. D-Von commented on the matter on the Devon and The Duke podcast. “Was it JR? Yes,” D-Von said. “I did have a problem with JR back then, and I didn’t know why. I’m not angry at the man today. I know the man is going through some health problems, some health issues. And just to show you where I am and the place that I’m in, I pray to God, you know, can heal his body. But was I disappointed with that man when he said the things he said to me back then? Yes, I was.
“Now he can sit there and deny it all he wants, but Bubba [Ray Dudley] was there, and Bubba said that he remembers the incident on my podcast. Paul Heyman was there. Spike Dudley was there. And Tommy Dreamer was there… I don’t wish that man any bad illness, nothing like that, though I was hurt, very bothered by what the man had said on two separate occasions.
“And like I said about [Hulk] Hogan, I’m not asking you to forget what was said, but you have to forgive. And I’ve forgiven him in my heart. I have not talked to him. When I see him, I don’t say anything to him. There’s not once that he’s come to me and apologized for the things he said. And he might say he doesn’t remember, that’s fine. But out of respect for the company… I’m not putting WWE in a bad light. Because a lot of times, we don’t know the people that we hire.” Check out the full podcast below or via YouTube.com.
Powell’s POV: Details of the alleged incident surfaced when D-Von was asked in a recent Videogamer.com interview about racism in WWE. “I dealt with that certain higher up that told me to my face, they don’t like me because of the color of my skin,” D-Von replied. “And they work for other organizations now, and this person knows who he is. I have no respect for that person. I don’t really care for him. Now that he’s not in the position that he once was, I just really don’t care for him.”
This is the first time that D-Von has called out Ross by name, though he hinted that he was referring to Ross when he and Bubba Ray Dudley (a/k/a Bully Ray) were interviewed by Maven two weeks ago. D-Von said he believed the incident occurred in 1999 or 2000, which would have been during Ross’s run as WWE’s Head of Talent Relations.
Bubba confirmed during the Maven interview, which can be viewed below or via D-Von’s YouTube Page, that he “did experience firsthand” D-Von having to deal with racism once, and said he thought that something may have happened had he not been there to grab D-Von’s wrist and hold him back.
Ross had not addressed the matter publicly, nor did he reply to my request for a comment before this story was published. Ross deserves the opportunity to tell his side of the story, but the allegations are ugly to say the least.
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)
So he was told by a higher up that the higher up doesn’t like him because of the color of his skin, yet he did and said nothing about it. And now that that higher up isn’t a higher up anymore, now he doesn’t like him.
Sad
A different time and a different company. D-Von came from ECW and therefore needed to prove himself to the skeptical WWE locker room. If you he complained to management, there’s a chance the company would have investigated, but there’s also a chance that they would have come up with a reason to let go of the the Dudleys. WWE didn’t operate like normal companies. Everything was based on the whims of Vince McMahon.