Across a career that spanned the 1990s, 2000’s and 2010s, D-Dudley and his partner Bubba Ray became one of the most popular tag teams in WWE history.
The pair won WWE tag team gold on ten occasions and also enjoyed considerable success outside of the company. While Bubba Ray continues to wrestle as Bully Ray, D-Von’s in-ring career is all but over after more than major surgery to repair the damage caused by an incredibly physical career.
After winding down, D-Von began working as a producer, a role he held until announcing his departure in January 2023.
During a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, the WWE Hall of Famer dismissed rumours that he could return to the company, explaining that he’s happy with what he achieved both inside the ring and out.
“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.
D-Von Dudley Admits To Disagreements With WWE Management
D-Von went on to reiterate that he has no ill will towards the company or upper management but did admit that there were a couple of disagreements that signaled it was time to leave.
“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 I thank Vince, I thank 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 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, 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 there was another issue.”
The veteran added that while he can’t rule out ever going back, he has nothing left to do, and is happy to move on.
“So my thing was 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.”
D-Von Dudley hasn’t wrestled since teaming with Bubba Ray at an independent event in December 2016. His most recent WWE outing came at SummerSlam in August of the same year.
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