D-Von Dudley Reveals Which WWE Star He Advised To Leave TNA, Talks Vince McMahon And Paul Heyman
2018 WWE Hall of Fame inductee D-Von Dudley was recently a guest on the Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia podcast. During his interview, Dudley discussed the influence Paul Heyman and Vince McMahon had on his career.
After starting his career in ECW as part of The Dudley Boyz alongside Bubba-Ray Dudley, D-Von was one of Heyman's most prized superstars. The Dudley Boyz were a massively popular act in ECW, and that translated when they made the jump to WWE. Dudley said the combination of tutelage they received from Heyman and McMahon is what helped them become the superstars that wrestling fans across the world fell in love with.
"All the promos we were able to shoot and to be good at it is all because of 'Dr. Frankenstein.' The Dr. Frankenstein I am referring to is Paul Heyman. He was the creator. We would like to say, Paul Heyman was the one that found and created us, but Vince McMahon molded us into the Superstars that we are today. We are grateful for both men, number one, ECW and Paul Heyman changed the face of Professional Wrestling and helped start the Attitude Era, and of course Vince McMahon, who is the master," Dudley said. "He is the 'Yoda' of Professional Wrestling and Sports Entertainment. I am not just saying that because I still work for the man as a backstage Agent, but when you look at what he has done and where he has brought Professional Wrestling. Whether you like him or not, you see that he has changed Professional Wrestling. Pro Wrestling was that thing that you never talked about, if you did it was only among the selected few. Now, it is one of the biggest things out there and now everybody loves Professional Wrestling."
Dudley also discussed his mentoring of WWE superstar Xavier Woods. As a member of The New Day, Woods is a part of one of the most popular acts on the roster today, but that wasn't always the case. Dudley explained that Woods was unhappy during his time and TNA, so he gave him advice on making the jump to WWE.
"Xavier Woods was in an organization [TNA Wrestling] that I am not too keen on. This organization treated him bad, and Xavier told me that he may have a chance to go to WWE, but he may not and he doesn't know what to do. We sat and talked for about 40 minutes; till this day he thanked me for making that phone call, and I believe it was Terry Taylor who was helping doing the hiring at the time, not sure who was in charge, but he basically thanked me for helping him make that decision in going to the WWE," Dudley said. "I am not saying that there wouldn't have been a New Day without Xavier Woods, but each individual brings something to the table, and I believe the success of all three of them with the charisma and personality is what made New Day who they are today. So, I was very happy when I came back to WWE and Woods was there. I had forgotten all about it until he reminded me that I was one of the reasons that made him go back and have that conversation with WWE."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.