D-Von Dudley is clarifying his past discussions with AEW and Tony Khan, stating that he never intended to wrestle for the company. On the Devon and the Duke podcast, D-Von responded to chatter surrounding his previous talks with AEW, making it clear that his health was the primary reason he didn’t sign.
“No one is burying Tony Khan. What I said was that I did not want to wrestle. I was only six months out of back surgery, so I would have put my body in more pain, and I would have hurt my body even more if I would have gotten that ring”.
D-Von explained that his only motivation for speaking with AEW was to help his sons, who were trying to get into the company at the time.
“The only reason why I even went to AEW had those three meetings in the first place was to help my sons. Because they were there, they were trying to get into the business through AEW. And I figured maybe if I went there to help them out, like Billy Gunn was helping out their sons, then they would have a chance, you know, a clear chance. But apparently, that wasn’t the case”.
“So when he kept asking me about wrestling, I said, Tony, I really don’t want to be just a producer. I don’t want to be behind the scenes in me. I don’t want to be in front of the camera anymore, you know. And I meant that, you know. But you know, for whatever reason, Tony wanted me to wrestle and still be a part of it. Okay, whatever. So I said, Okay, fine, I’ll do it, but it’s got to be a six-man. I can’t I can’t wrestle like that anymore. Right now, because of my back, I’m just fresh off a back surgery. There’s no way”.
D-Von Shoots Down “Sleeping” Rumor
Host Duke Loves Wrestling mentioned a rumor that someone in AEW was trying to “plant a story” that Tony Khan passed on D-Von because he was caught sleeping backstage. D-Von shot that down immediately, explaining that he was kept waiting for hours on all three occasions he was there for a meeting.
“Okay, number one, no, that’s not the case. Number one, that’s one. Number two, I was sitting around waiting to have a meeting. You know, I get there like I said, I think 1-2 o’clock, and I’m sitting there, waiting, waiting, waiting, yeah, I’m bored. I’m saying hello to everybody that I know there, that’s about it. But then once I’m sitting down watching it, yeah, I close my eyes. Was I sitting up there snoring and all of that? No, was I sitting up there with my eyes closed? Yeah”.
“No, I wasn’t sleeping, like I took a pillow and just went to bed. No, I’m sitting up there waiting for this man. And then again, I get there at 12. I didn’t wind up seeing him. It’s about two, two, maybe three o’clock in the morning on all three, on all three occasions”.
Ultimately, D-Von stated he was the one who walked away and is happy with his decision. “I said, No, you know what? It’s better if I just stay, stay where I am, stay put. And thank you again, because I know that right now. There’s all this stuff that’s going on right now, including the YouTube channel, everything going out there, doing autograph signings at the school, I would have never been able to do all that working for that company. You know, for those that work for the company, God bless you. It’s great, but it’s not for me”.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit the Devon and the Duke podcast with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
