D-Von Dudley said Hulk Hogan’s leaked racist rant broke his heart because he idolized Hogan as a kid growing up in the projects and thought he was going to be “the black Hulk Hogan,” but that he eventually forgave Hogan face to face because his faith required it, speaking in an interview with DJ Vlad.
D-Von said he built a good friendship with Hogan while they were both in TNA and that the leaked recording devastated him. “I idolized that man as a kid. I did everything he said to do. Say your prayers, eat your vitamins, train. To hear that broke my heart,” D-Von said. “How do I even see him again and even respect him as a man?”
D-Von said Hogan approached him and apologized multiple times, asking for another chance. “He said, ‘D-Von, I promise you, I am not like that. Give me another chance. All I’m asking for is forgiveness,'” D-Von said.
D-Von said he avoided Hogan for a long time but eventually confronted the situation directly. “Usually I would go the other way because I didn’t want to have nothing to do with him. But I said, no, I’m gonna walk right in his path,” D-Von said.
He said Hogan asked if D-Von had ever been in a bad place where he said or did things he did not mean. D-Von said that landed with him. “I told him, ‘Hulk, I forgive you. I don’t forget it, but I forgive you,'” D-Von said.
D-Von said his decision was rooted in his faith. “The Bible says if you can’t forgive your brother and sister, then I will not forgive you come time of judgment day. I’m not going to be a hypocrite and sit up here and try to preach the Bible but yet I don’t take heed to what the Bible says,” he said.
DJ Vlad noted that Hogan passed away exactly 10 years after the tape was released and he was fired from WWE. D-Von said he did not know that and called it “powerful.”
D-Von also said without Hogan, there would be no WrestleMania and there probably would not have been a WWE. “He was the first pro wrestler to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He helped launch WrestleMania. He brought Mr. T in. Him and Piper and Orndorff started a phenomenon,” D-Von said. “If there was never a Hulk Hogan, there would be no WrestleMania.”
In the same interview, D-Von said the greatest feeling of his career was hearing fans chant his name when Bubba Ray returned to WWE in 2015 without him. D-Von said he was hurt and felt left out when WWE brought Bubba back alone as a test to gauge interest in a Dudley Boyz reunion. “It was like, that was better me not being there and have them do that than me being there,” D-Von said. He said six to seven months later, the Dudley Boyz returned together on Raw in Brooklyn to an even bigger pop.
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