D-Von Dudley ranked opponents from his career in a tier list on his YouTube channel, placing wrestlers from S tier (loved working with) to C tier (dreaded working with). The most memorable stories involved The Sandman’s drinking, JBL’s stiffness, and a brutally honest assessment of Vince McMahon’s in-ring ability.
The Sandman: “Never Again” When Sober
D-Von’s most detailed story involved The Sandman and the widely held ECW belief that Sandman wrestled better drunk than sober.
D-Von said Sandman tore his pec muscle during a match where Sandman took a wooden ladder, placed it on D-Von’s chest, and did a somersault over the top rope onto it. After the match, Sandman apologized backstage. D-Von asked what happened.
“He was like, ‘Man, I just need a beer.’ I was like, ‘Well, go have one.’ He goes, ‘I haven’t had one all day.’ I said, ‘Wait a minute, you were sober when you got in that ring?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, I was sober. I hadn’t had time to go to the store. I had to come straight to the building.’ I said, ‘Never again.'”
When they were booked to wrestle again two weeks later, D-Von checked on Sandman’s condition first. “I said, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ He goes, ‘What do you mean?’ I go, ‘How come you’re not slurring your words like you normally do?’ He goes, ‘I haven’t had anything to drink.'”
D-Von said he immediately gave a handler $100 and told him to buy two cases of beer and bring them directly to Sandman before the show. “I said, ‘Sandman, drink up, or I’m not going into the ring with you.’ And sure enough, he got the drink and he was drunk, and we had the best match we had ever had.”
He gave Sandman a C tier rating. “Without the booze in your system, you hurt me,” D-Von said.
Vince McMahon: “God Awful in That Ring”
D-Von did not hold back on his former boss. “I love Vince to death, I really do. But man, Vince was god awful in that ring,” he said.
D-Von said McMahon would tell wrestlers exactly how he wanted them to perform, but could not deliver on his own end. “He was very unorthodox. You can’t tell the boss that – you would get fired or you’d be sent home,” D-Von said.
He acknowledged McMahon’s self-awareness. “I think deep down inside he knew he wasn’t that good. He never claimed to be a wrestler. He just claimed to be one of the greatest promoters that had ever existed in pro wrestling.”
McMahon received a C tier rating.
JBL: “Stiff as Hell”
D-Von separated JBL and Ron Simmons into two very different experiences despite being tag team partners as the APA.
“Stiff as hell. If they didn’t like you, they would kill you,” D-Von said of the team. “I was glad that they liked us, but just because they liked us didn’t mean they wouldn’t stiff us.”
D-Von singled out JBL’s Clothesline from Hell as particularly dangerous. “That Lariat – because you would clean knock somebody’s head off his shoulder, and I felt that many times,” he said.
He also took a shot at JBL for mocking his top-rope diving headbutt. “I’m tired of you making fun of me every time I jumped off the top rope going for the What’s Up spot. You said I looked like the Hindenburg getting ready to crash. So the hell with you, Bradshaw.”
JBL received a C tier. Simmons, by contrast, received the S tier. “Farook barely touched you,” D-Von said. “A complete gentleman, took care of me, never hurt me.”
Bob Holly: Liked by the Locker Room or Else
D-Von confirmed Bob Holly’s reputation as someone who would physically punish wrestlers he felt had not paid their dues. “If you didn’t prove yourself in that locker room, and if you didn’t pay your dues the way you should, then Bob would just beat the holy crap out of you, and he knew he could do it and it would never be a problem,” D-Von said.
D-Von said Holly tested the Dudley Boyz repeatedly before accepting them. Once he did, he was fine to work with – except for the stiffness. “Bob, little too stiff, cut the s**t. And Bob would just sit there and laugh at me. He goes, ‘Okay, Devon, not a problem.’ And then the next night, he would hit me even harder.”
Holly received a C tier. Jim Ross, on the latest Grilling JR, separately predicted Holly will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame within two years.
New Jack Could Actually Wrestle
D-Von revealed that New Jack, known exclusively for his hardcore brawling style, actually knew fundamental wrestling. “Before the doors used to open, New Jack used to come in the ring and roll around with guys,” D-Von said. “He used to show us that he could do a hip toss, arm drag, body slam, some of the basics. And we all were like, ‘What? He knows a hammerlock? He knows a hip toss? What the hell.'”
D-Von said New Jack kept those skills hidden on purpose. “He would say, ‘Oh, you think I didn’t know how to do that? Fooled you,'” D-Von said. He added that he believes New Jack’s matches would have been even better had he incorporated those fundamentals.
New Jack received a B tier.
Jeff Hardy: Great Chemistry, Dangerous TLC Matches
D-Von split his Jeff Hardy rating by match type. For everyday tag matches, the Hardys received an A tier. For TLC matches, a C.
“The chemistry that you and I had with your brother and Bubba was unbelievable. No other tag team has ever come close to having that type of chemistry,” D-Von said. But the TLC stipulation was another story. “Jeff’s gonna have me hanging 60 feet up in the air again. He’s gonna kick me, and I’m telling him to stop kicking me, but he won’t stop. Damn it, Jeff, stop kicking me.”
Eddie Guerrero Told D-Von He “Passed With Flying Colors”
D-Von shared a personal moment with the late Eddie Guerrero after a singles match on SmackDown. “Man, did he guide me through that match, and I knew that it was going to be a test for me, being in there with someone like Eddie,” D-Von said. “Eddie told me I passed with flying colors. The minute he told me that, I knew that I had became somebody in this business.”
Guerrero received the S tier. “A true professional wrestler can adjust to anybody’s style in the middle of that ring. And that’s exactly what Eddie did,” D-Von said.
Chris Benoit: “A Machine”
D-Von addressed the Benoit topic directly. “I told them, I said, I want it in there. I don’t give a damn what people say,” he said.
He praised Benoit’s in-ring work without reservation. “When I tell you he was a machine, he was a machine. He would do those German suplexes and land you exactly how you should land. Absolutely perfect,” D-Von said. “He was hard hitting, forceful, and he made you work when you didn’t want to work.”
D-Von acknowledged the tragedy but separated the in-ring ability from the rest. “A tragic story about what happened, absolutely. But I have a lot of respect for his ability and what he had done in the ring.”
Benoit received the S tier.
Full Rankings
S Tier: Rey Mysterio, Triple H, The Rock, The Undertaker, Ron Simmons, Eddie Guerrero, AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit
A Tier: Jeff Hardy (everyday matches)
B Tier: New Jack, Big Show, Shane McMahon, Bubba Ray Dudley, RVD, John Cena
C Tier: Jeff Hardy (TLC matches), Maven, Bob Holly, The Sandman, JBL, Vince McMahon
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