D-Von Dudley said he used steroids for approximately three years during his TNA run and that the weight he gained contributed to the knee problems he has dealt with ever since, but pushed back on the idea that Vince McMahon or any promoter should be blamed for wrestlers using performance-enhancing drugs, speaking in an interview with DJ Vlad.
D-Von said he ballooned to nearly 315 pounds while using steroids and that the damage from carrying that weight while wrestling was significant. “Carrying all that weight around hurt my knees because I wore knee pads and braces my whole career,” D-Von said. “You can’t do that and expect nothing to happen. I don’t blame TNA. I blame myself. I indulged in that stuff. Nobody put a gun to my head and forced me.”
D-Von said he stopped after looking in the mirror and thinking about his children as other wrestlers were dying from enlarged hearts and related health issues. “I look in the mirror and go, ‘D-Von, you don’t want this. You want to be around for your kids. You want to see your sons walk down the aisle on their wedding day. You want to play with your grandkids. You need to cut this bullsh*t out now,'” he said.
When asked about New Jack’s comments calling McMahon a “piece of sh*t” for wrestlers dying under his watch from steroid use, D-Von disagreed with placing the blame on the promoter.
“There were guys in the WWE at the time that didn’t take steroids. There were guys that didn’t do drugs. If you allow yourself to do it, you can’t blame the promoter. He didn’t force you to take it,” D-Von said. “Vince never told me I had to use steroids. He never told me I had to party and go out. If I did go out and party, I did it on my own.”
D-Von acknowledged the pressure to look a certain way but said the choice ultimately belonged to each individual. “If you weren’t the size, you weren’t going to get pushed. That’s something you have to put in perspective. How bad do you want it? Are you willing to go that route to use steroids? The choice is up to you,” he said.
D-Von said he was never addicted to steroids and that his drug of choice during his WWE years was White Zinfandel, which he called “the most girliest drink you could ever drink,” until he started hanging out with The Undertaker and switched to Jack Daniels.
In the same interview, D-Von described the original TLC matches with the Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian as “magic” and said all six men were motivated to prove they belonged in the main event picture alongside Steve Austin, The Rock, and Triple H. “No one in that locker room had an ego at that time. We all knew we had a purpose, and that was to prove to Vince McMahon and everybody else that we belong there,” D-Von said.
D-Von also revealed that the Dudley Boyz were brought to WWF through a three-way phone call arranged by journalist Blackjack Brown, who connected Bubba Ray Dudley directly with Vince Russo while the Dudleys were still under contract to ECW. “Because at that time, you couldn’t talk if you’re under contract to any other wrestling promotion. You had to do it in another way, and that was the other way,” D-Von said.
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