WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley has spoken out about racism that he experienced during the peak of his career in the 1990s.
D-Von initially brought up the topic a couple of weeks ago when speaking to his long-time tag team partner Bully Ray as well as former wrestler, Maven. When asked if he experienced racism, D-Von indicated that he didn’t experience it in ECW but once he jumped to WWE, he experienced it there “with certain top officials” declining to name anyone.
However, D-Von left little to the imagination that it was Jim Ross by speaking in a southern accent and referencing a “10 gallon hat” and a conversation where “someone” comes up to you and says they don’t like you due to the color of your skin. Bully Ray then confirmed the story, saying he was there and held D-Von back by his wrists.
D-Von then doubled down on his statement in an interview with VideoGamer.com, basically rehashing the story of a “certain higher-up” who told him to his fact that they didn’t like him due to his skin color.
He further hinted that it was Jim Ross who he was referring to stating that they work for “other organizations now” but adding that the person knows who he is and that he has no respect for him.
Dudley’s comments and indirect references to Ross obviously started getting people talking and this week, he spoke to Duke Loves Rasslin and addressed his claims.
“People were speculating that I was talking about Michael Hayes or they thought I was talking about Vince or John Laurinaitis. Lemme just make this perfectly clear. Vince McMahon has helped me become a superstar. Now again, I’m not getting involved in stuff that happened with his downfall of leaving the company. That’s not my business. But what I can say is that the man has been good to me. Has there been times when I got frustrated with him, whether it was talent or producer, absolutely. It doesn’t mean I hate the man. So no, he wasn’t one that did anything to me.”
“Michael Hayes did nothing but help me during my producer role to help me become a better producer, so no, not Michael Hayes. John Laurinaitis. A lot of people don’t like john and I understand that. And for reasons that they have, but again, John Laurinaitus took care of me as a producer. Never once did he badmouth me in any shape or form. So it wasn’t John Laurinaitus. And Pat Patterson. Hell no, it wasn’t Pat. Pat gave me and Bubba so much knowledge. He’s helped us, Patterson did, took us under his wing and basically taught us a lot of the right things to do and the wrong things to do in the business.”
“Did I come out and say ’10 Gallon Hat’ – yes. Did Maven let the cat out of the bag – yes. Was it JR – yes. I did have a problem with JR back then and I didn’t know why. I’m not angry at the man today. The man is going through some health problems, some health issues. And just to show you where I am and the place that I’m in. I pray to God to heal his body. But was I disappointed with that man when he said the things he said to me back then? Yes, I was. He can sit there and deny it all he wants. Bubba was there and Bubba said he remembers the incident. Paul Heyman was there, Spike Dudley was there and Tommy Dreamer was there. So you got all these other people who were there who aren’t black by the way and I say that because, a lot of people say ‘if they were black, they all stick together and they’re pulling the race card.’ No one is pulling the race card. The question was asked, and I got tired of people saying ‘who is it, who is it’.”
“I don’t wish that man any bad illness, nothing like that. There I was very hurt, very bothered by what the man had said on two separate occasions. And like I said about Hogan. I’m not asking you to forget what was said, but you have to forgive. And I’ve forgiven him in my heart. I’ve not talked to him, when I see him I don’t say anything to him. It’s not once that he’s come to and apologized to me for the things he said. And he might say he don’t remember – that’s fine.”
