D-Von Dudley is well-known for being one-half of the WWE Hall of Fame Tag Team, The Dudley Boyz alongside his onscreen brother, Bubba Ray Dudley.
The duo first teamed together in the mid-1990s in ECW and went on to be a dominant force in the company, winning the Tag Team Championships a record eight times.
In 1999, the duo joined WWE and went on to have acclaimed and innovative feuds with The Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian. The three teams were the cornerstone of the companies Tag Team Division during the Attitude Era and took part in the first Triangle Ladder and TLC matches as well as bringing Tag Team Tables matches to WWE.
By the time they finished in the company, Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley had won various incarnations of the Tag Team Championships an incredible 10 times. They were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018.
The duo also saw a lot of success on the independent scene as well as a lengthy tenure in TNA – now IMPACT Wrestling – where they also won numerous titles between 2005-2014.
Triple H denied D-Von Dudley’s request to appear at ECW reunion show
With all of the accolades the pair have, it’s no wonder they are in high demand. One such request came from Tribute to the Extreme, an ECW reunion event taking place in Philadelphia.
After agreeing to make an appearance at the show, however, D-Von Dudley had to pull out as Triple H threatened to fire the star – who currently works backstage in NXT – if he went ahead with it.
Now, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has shed some light on the situation.
“WWE did pull Devon Hughes (D-Von Dudley) from the event, both the live show and the convention. He was scheduled to be in the corner of Bubba Ray for his match with Matt Cardona.
“He went through John Cone in talent relations who reportedly approved of the booking and he believed based on his contract, since he’s not a wrestler, that he was able to do things like that.
“Bruce Prichard nixed the booking and it ended up on the desk of Paul Levesque. Hughes has said he was going to do it because he gave his word on it and Levesque didn’t give approval and he was basically told if he did it, he’d be fired, so he didn’t do it.”