INTERVIEW WITH FORMER WWE SUPERSTAR D-VON
- 09/18/2005 (2:07:28 pm)
- Georgiann Makropoulos
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| Former WWE Superstar D-Von Dudley | |
| Interview & Transcript A special thanks to Patrick Kelley from the Weekend Warriors of Wrestling for writing this fantastic transcript! He's one half of perhaps the greatest tag team of all time. He revolutionized the wrestling business by bringing hardcore wrestling to tag team wrestling and taught the WWE what it meant to be extreme. He's D-Von Dudley and he's this week's guest on the Wrestling Epicenter! Listen in Streaming Media :: Download to Desktop NOTE: This and all interviews are in Real Audio format. If you do not have a Real Player, you can download one free by clicking here. It's free and is a relatively small download. D-Von Dudley - James Walsh and Chuck D. welcome D-Von to the show. James says that he hopes we all can call him D-Von for a while longer to which D-Von jokingly replies “That’s my name, they can’t take that away” -The interview begins with his ECW career. First question is how he and Bubba cam to be a part of the original Dudley group. D-Von replies with “Big Daddy Dudley soiled his royal oats pretty much everywhere” He then goes down the list of all The Dudley Boyz and said that he and Bubba came into that group. He said that he and Bubba were the ones that gelled both with the crowd and in the ring. - D-Von says that he was trained by Johnny Rodz and he says that his ultimate dream was to go to the WWE (WWF at the time). He then says that he was a huge Hulkamaniac, and that led to his dream. He trained with Rodz for a few years, and then one day Rodz called him up and asked him if he would like to go to ECW. D-Von said he enjoyed the ECW product and accepted the job, but in the back of his mind he was thinking “These people (ECW) are crazy” He didn’t want to do it at first, but Rodz felt he was ready. He joined up with Saturn and Razz, and they felt he was ready, and they had him set up with The Dudleyz. - D-Von grew to love that atmosphere in ECW. He says the ECW roster was like one big family. Their intention was not to beat out WWF or WCW, but to prove that weren’t just a small Indy fed. He says that with all the stuff they went through, it was only natural that they would become a family. He says that when he and Bubba got called up to WWE, he says he remembers getting cold feet and saying “I don’t want to leave” Bubba called him up and says that he didn’t think he could go to WWE. Bubba ended the phone call with “When you want to grow up, give me a call” and hung up on D-Von. D-Von then spoke with his wife and she said that it was his dream and that he shouldn’t let nerves get in the way of his dream. - D-Von says that them winning the tag titles for the last time was a huge shock. He says that the internet had grown and that the fans of ECW knew they were leaving. However, when The Dudley Boyz beat Balls Mahoney and Tanaka, the crowd went into to shock and cheered them because they never thought D-Von and Bubba would win the tag titles again. - James brings up Bubba’s comment from the ECW DVD “Paul just give me one more dollar” James asks D-Von to clarify and he says that originally they didn’t want to leave. Because of that, they went to Paul Heyman’s office and told them that they got a call from WWE. Paul said “I can’t compete with their money” and The Dudleyz then said that they only want Paul to show that he wants them to stay, even if it means only giving them one more dollar. Paul said no and let them go to WWE, and D-Von feels he wanted them to go there and become big stars, but at first he felt rejected by Paul. - The Dudleyz made one last appearance for ECW before the company went under. When asked about whether or not he knew the company was going to go out of business, D-Von said he didn’t know they were going under. He knew they were in financial trouble, but they had been before and felt their appearance would help out. He thought the company could be saved. The Dudley Boyz took no pay that night and told Paul to take any money made on that show and use it to save the company and pay the boys. - When asked about the atmosphere in WWE, he said that Tommy Dreamer put it best “Welcome to the real world” in reference to WWE. He says in order to survive that you have to be fully ready. - When asked about the rabid fans and whether or not he would insult the wrong guy, D-Von says that he and Bubba were fearless. He says ECW made them feel “Immortal” and they dared anyone to jump that railing. Chuck then jokes about Joel Gertner, and D-Von laughs, but then says that he was a great fun guy. He then says that Joel never wrote a thing before he hit the ring. D-Von then reveals that Joel’s nickname was “Junior Paul E.” - When they first made it to the WWE, D-Von was fearful that he and Bubba would be misused. He says being in WWE was like being in a “big pond as a little fish” He was confident though that if WWE just let them be The Dudley Boyz they would do fine. He then brings up Public Enemy’s WWe stint and how unsuccessful it was. D-Von then felt that he and Bubba had something to prove, especially in their feud with the APA. He says it was kind of scary because both Bradshaw and Faarooq were big guys. He says one night, he and Bubba took an ass kicking, and they earned a lot of respect from the WWE locker room. - When asked about roughing up the new guys, D-Von says he has no problem with what guys like JBL and Holly do. He says he’s a huge fan of both guys, and the incident with The Blue Meanie was just something personal that exploded in the ring. He says that some young guys come in with bad attitudes and guys like Bradshaw and Holly knock them back in line. D-Von says that he’s surprised by the attitude of some of these Independent wrestlers. - Chuck then brings up that “business is business” and asks if what they do is unprofessional. D-Von responds saying that what JBL and Holly do has been happening since the 70s and the 80s, only nobody heard about it. He says that guys like Andre, Big John Studd, Don Muracco, and King Kong Bundy used to rough up the young guys all the time. D-Von then says that if Andre the Giant didn’t like you “You were done!” He says that Bam Bam used to fight for his life against Andre. - When asked about the internet, D-Von says that it hurts and helps wrestling. He says that in terms of merchandise, it’s much easier to get off the net. He also says it’s great to interact with fans online. He then says the downside is that there are false stories on the websites, and that is certainly wrong. He says that 95% of what was written about him and Bubba was not true at all. - When asked about the Hardcore style in the WWE, he says that with the other tag teams they brought in a lot. He says that he loved working with The Hardyz, Edge and Christian, and the APA, and they all worked hard to make their matches work. He says that ECW in itself opened the door for guys like The Dudley Boyz, and WWF Attitude became the norm. He says that Paul Heyman and Vince working together led to the Attitude era, and they collaborated to stop WCW. - When asked about the Reverend D-Von character, he says that he enjoyed it. He was a little nervous about being split from bubba, but he turned out liking it. He says that the character was getting over, and Bruce Pritchard (Brother Love) helped him out, and both of his parents had experience with ministry, so he knew what to do. D-Von enjoyed stuff with Vince, and said all their stuff was usually done in one take. He says what happened to the character was that Paul Heyman took over the booking and pushed the envelope with it. D-Von says that his new character could go “a little down south, but not too far down” but Paul never knew when to not push the envelope. He says that Paul made him read from the script, but he feels that Reverend D-Von was a character that needed to improvise. In a funny bit, D-Von says that he would read the script given to him and say “I can’t even spell half these words, much less pronounce them” - James then brings up the time he went to Ted DiBiase’s Christian Wrestling Federation and how they had somebody come out and give a sermon in between matches. This reminds D-Von of a funny story about the Reverend character. D-Von brings up how he told D-Von to ask for donations after every promo. He says it was all Heyman’s idea and that Heyman gave him this look after saying “trust me” and he knew that Paul E was dead serious. He says at one show he got a ton of money, and laughed about it with Vince after the show. - He then says this also gave Batista some exposure. He remembers seeing Batista in OVW and saying he was even bigger back then. He then says that when he was introduced to him, somebody jokingly said he was his new bodyguard and D-Von said “Thank God!” He then says that Batista was a little rough around the edges because he didn’t get to do a whole lot in OVW, but he did want to learn. He says he progressively learned from him, Triple H, and Flair. D-Von then says that Batista always thanks him, and that he hasn’t let the success go to his head. - When asked about ECW: One Night Stand, he feels the WWE did the right thing by letting the ECW guys do their thing. He says that the fans would not have accepted a watered down WWE version of ECW. He then says that this experience can never be topped because the fans wanted it so badly that the energy for it can never be duplicated. Chuck then says it was a rush to see some of the ECW guys again, and D-Von says it was a rush to see a lot of those guys again. He says it would have been great if Raven and Shane Douglas could have been there, and even “that idiot New Jack” would have been good to have. He says that New Jack added a lot to ECW, and that will be the last time he ever puts New Jack over. “Other than that, he can go to hell” - James then brings up the New Jack interview where he said that The Dudleyz stole his gimmick. D-Von says that New Jack was upset that they started wearing the camouflage, but D-Von says that many wore that before him like The Zimbabwe Express and The Bushwhackers. He then says that the reason The Dudley Boyz changed their look is because Shane McMahon decided that they looked too “ECW-ish” and he wanted to have a more WWE look. He says the new look was their idea. D-Von then says that New Jack has never been anywhere huge and is only an Indy worker. The biggest place he ever was ECW, and that he doesn’t even know what it’s all about. He says a lot of the stuff they did in their entrance, their pyro, and their music was all Shane’s idea. - Final word on New Jack is that he doesn’t give “Three craps about him” - Chuck then asks D-Von about the current status of tag team wrestling, he feels that the WWE has always been a “singles man” company. He says tag teams were never the major focus, but they always played a big role. He talks about how the teams of the 80s would put on great matches and main event house shows. He says that The Dudleyz, The Hardyz, and Edge/Christian took it a step further by interacting with main eventers like Austin and Rock. He feels that the problem was that once all those teams were gone, they didn’t have any teams to step up and take their place. He says that when Hogan left, guys like Bret, Shawn, Rock, and Austin were ready to step up and take their place. He also says it is bad to put two singles stars together to form a tag team. He then brings up the London/Kidman team and how they were rushed to the top when they should have been built up as good underdog stars that the fans could believe in. - He then praises The Road Warriors saying that what they did for tag team wrestling was great, and that he feels the tag teams like The Dudleyz took over where they left off. - When asked about working with TNA, D-Von says that they have a great chance to take off. He was very hopeful of them when he was in the WWE that they would take off, and he says that he saw their last PPV and that it “reminded me of ECW” D-Von says that there is an awesome chance of him and Bubba going there. - He then says it would have been great if Matt Hardy didn’t resign with WWE and went to TNA, and The New Age Outlaws reunited, and then The Dudleyz show up with all these new teams like AMW, The Naturals, and Team Canada, it would have been awesome. - James and Chuck wishing him the best of luck, and hopefully The Dudleyz do well wherever they go. D-Von says TNA is a possibility, but so is Japan where he would love to duplicate what The Road Warriors did. BTW - Team 3D will be in Japan last week of this month for one week and then back again next month. Is TNA in the future plans for one of the Best Tag Teams ever ??? |
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