“It left a bad taste in their mouth” - D-Von Dudley opens up about the Dudley Boys' WWE departure
D-Von Dudley has revealed why he no longer does business with Bubba Ray. The pair seem to have had a falling out following their previous run with WWE.
The Dudley Boys were one of the most successful tag teams in the history of WWE. Along with the Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian, they brought tag team wrestling to the forefront during the Attitude Era.
D-Von Dudley was a recent guest on The Cut Pro Wrestling Podcast to discuss his historic professional wrestling career. When the subject of The Dudley Boyz' departure from WWE in 2016 came up, D-Von revealed Bubba Ray's stubbornness led to the team's departure.
“Well, Bubba didn’t want to play fair. And I know Bubba will have his own opinion about what happened, but again, that’s the majority of it. They gave us both the contract. I signed it. He didn’t want to sign it and it left a bad taste in their mouth,” D-Von Dudley said. “And by the time he was ready to sign it, some time had already went by. Let me give you a timeline: when Shane McMahon came back in Detroit, that was when I signed the deal. That was in March. So the deal actually came to us in February of that year. Now they’ve been trying to get us to sign it and Bubba wouldn’t sign it."
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He went on to reveal the reason why WWE did not want to renew their contracts:
"Now all of a sudden we go forward and I’ve signed it and he hasn’t because there’s still things he felt he had to take care of on his side. By the time he got through that, the company was like, ‘Nah, we don’t want it anymore. We’re not dealing with the headaches.’ And they decided not to do it," revealed D-Von.
D-Von Dudley talks about the importance of the opportunity the Dudley Boyz had
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D-Von Dudley wanted to continue his WWE run with Bully Ray in 2016 but could not make his partner sign the deal to make it happen:
"It wasn’t like the WWE did a bad thing by us," D-Von Dudley continued. "Let me put it to you this way – they gave us a contract that was great, and at 44 and 45 years of age, I even told Bubba, ‘We need to take the money and just go. We’re not gonna get another opportunity like this again. We just need to sign this contract and do another year. If you don’t do another year after it, don’t do it. I’ll go on my own.’ But I couldn’t make him sign it.”
D-Von Dudley now serves as a producer for WWE as Bully Ray is a host on Sirius XM's Busted Open Radio.
Thanks to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription of the podcast.