Insight with Chris Van Vliet - D-Von Dudley: "Get The Tables", Dudley Boyz Reunion, One More Match, TLC Matches, Hardys

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

D-Von Dudley (@TestifyDVon) is a professional wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Orlando, FL to discuss The Dudleys reuniting at Impact 1,000 and why a reunion looked to be out of the question at one point in time, losing 85 pounds with the help of Diamond Dallas Page and DDPY, being open to one more match with the Hardys, his time in WWE as a producer, The Usos using the 3D as their finisher, the creation of "D-Von, get the tables!" and "Testify!", his scariest moment in ECW, the success of his YouTube channel, saving Maven from disaster and more!  Subscribe to D-Von's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@d-vondudley   Quote I'm thinking about: “The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.” - Vince Lombardi  Please support our sponsors!  PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux  SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup!  TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insightto get 10% off your order of Mitopure!   VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv  ROCKET MONEY: Download the Rocket Money app and enter “Insight With Chris Van Vliet” in the survey   HUEL: Get 15% off plus a FREE Gift for NEW customers with the code INSIGHT at https://huel.comMIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF  ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight  BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv  BLUECHEW: Get your first month of BlueChew for free with the code CVV at https://bluechew.com  PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at https://plunge.com  For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.    Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Fleet. Here we go. Welcome back, my friends, to another one here on Insight. It's me, the three numbers in the back of your credit card. CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you for joining us on this episode. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Hit a WhatsApp on that follow button wherever you're listening right now.

Yes. A was-up! That's the best way to support the show, and it also costs $0.0.0. When you think a tag team wrestling, the Dudley Boys are one of the tag teams that immediately come to mind. They're the most decorated tag team of all time with 24 tag titles in total, and it's been way too long since Devon was on the show. Great to have him back, and he's looking like a whole new man.

He had some issues with his health after a stroke in 2020, and the show. then back surgery that left him in constant pain. But he told me with the help of Diamond Dallas Page and DDPY, he's lost 85 pounds. Incredible. And I just love how many stories like that there are. DDP helping people just to live a better life. Amazing. And it's funny. We recorded this episode last week and he told me, yeah, I got one more match in me. And it would have to be with the Hardee's. And then on Sunday at Slammiversary, Bully Ray announced that it'll be the Hardee versus Team D one last time at Bound for Glory in October. So I feel like maybe he had that nugget of information and didn't want to let the cat out of the bag there. Devon tells some incredible stories during this episode.

He is hilarious. I know you're going to love this. Snap a screenshot and let us know that you're listening and tag us. He's at Testify Devon. I'm at Chris Van Fleet and Devon also has a YouTube channel that has exploded since it started six months ago.

He's at 164,000 subscribers right now, which is a massive number to get so quickly. Just search for DeVon Dudley on YouTube. I'll also link his channel in the show notes so you can subscribe to him. But here we go. Please enjoy this conversation

with the one and only Devon Dudley. You look great. Oh, thank you. I mean, I feel good. How much weight are you down? I was two, I would say about 80-something pounds. Yeah, I was almost 300 pounds. And basically what happened was I had an issue even after the back surgery where everything was tight. I couldn't walk, barely. I was walking with a limp. Like some of the old timers used to see who never really took care of their bodies and they paid for it in the And it got to the point where I couldn't even go out with the family without hanging on to something.

Then someone told me, you know, maybe you should try to call Dallas. Look at what Dallas did for so many people. And he basically helped out Scott Hall, Jake Roberts, you know, so many people. Butterbean was the last one that I had saw before I called him. I said, you know what? Let me call him. I called him, and I said, I said, Dallas said, I'm in trouble. I said, my back, the back surgery was supposed to make me walk straight, make me do things,

and it just is not doing it. And he was like, Devon, I'm going to send you something. I want you to not, I'm going to send you to DDP Yoga. I want you to do it, but I want you to watch it. And I was like, okay, what am I watching? He said, there's two documentaries on food, and I want you. to watch it. And I watched it and realized just how bad food is nowadays, how we think what we're doing is healthy, but it's not. You know, even when we call ourselves being on the diet, you know, it's not.

You know, some of the foods, because of the ageal HMO that's inside the foods. And when I started watching a documentary, I said, man, all this stuff leading to cancer, autism, you know, elderly dementia, you know, all of that stuff. Alzheimer's, yeah. Excuse me. And I didn't realize it how much, even stuff as simple as corn, because corn is not, when you eat the corn, and I hate to say this, it's not disgusting, but you ever eat corn and you poop and it's still in a solid state?

It's the same coming out. It's the same coming out. It's like, it's not real. So you think it's healthy to eat that, and it's not. I cut out so much stuff, wheat, dairy products, fried foods. I don't eat it no more. And I don't go out to fast food restaurants anymore because the meat is not real meat. So everything has to be organic or grass fed. And I enjoy it. It's hard because not everywhere is going to have that. So sometimes you do have to sacrifice

and, you know, get like a burger with nothing on it. Even though you know that meat's not good, you still got to do something. So you cleaned up your diet and you're doing DDPY? EDPI has been one of the greatest things I had ever done. It got to the point where even after the first two to three weeks, I was able to walk. The scar tissue in the body had loosened up, everything. And that's really what it was. It was the scar tissue building up on scar tissue.

Your body is healing, but it's also creating scar tissue. And when that scar tissue is created, once you start adding scar tissue on top of scar tissue, it's hard to move. It's hard to walk. So when you're stiff and you're trying to move, like a, and you're moving like a robot, that's basically what it is. He helped me to learn how to break all of that down and to get rid of it and not to have scar tissue build on top of scar tissue.

Yeah, you look great. Like, you look like how you looked 25 years ago. That's crazy. Well, you know, that and just for men helps too. But seriously, like you, like, you look identical. If you, we do a side by side of you now and you then, like, there's barely any difference. Just don't do it with the hair when I had hair. Because then you can definitely see the different then. No, but, you know, I feel great. You know, I take care of my body now. And, you know, I have three little kids. You know, I have seven kids altogether. Everybody knows about the twins, Terrence and Terrell, who's doing extremely well. They're in Booker's division now. They're working with Booker now. Realty wrestling. They're doing very good there. I have my son Matthew.

He's, so the twins are 30. My son, Matthew, is 23. My other son, Preston, he's 17 going on 18. And then I have the three younger ones. I have Talia, who's six, about to be seven. I have a Maya who's six and my 17-month-old son. Wow. Yeah. What a 30 to 17 months. It's crazy. Well, then you and I are in it with diapers right now. Listen, as far as I'm concerned, if I was 10 years younger, I'd have nine more kids. I just love kids. I love the stages. People go, oh my God, I can't handle it. I love that stage. So it doesn't bother me at all when I had seven. Now, understand, four are already grown and out of the house.

So all I have left is three. So when you hear the word seven, it's not like I have seven at one time or what have you. It's just that I spread it out, which was great for me. I talked to Bubba a few years ago when he was on the show and he said that there was no chance of you coming back. Right. That a Dudley Boys reunion was just not on the cards. Was your health that bad at that point in time? No, it wasn't my health.

It was two reasons. Number one, it was the back surgery. And that, I didn't know if I could because everything was, the back surgery was supposed to make things so much better. And the rehab helped, but it didn't help as much as I thought it was going to help. And what kind of back surgery was it? They had the fuse L4, L5, and S1. When they fused L4 and L5, they cut open some more,

and they saw S1 was collapsing. So they didn't even tell me they were doing three. They saw it collapsing, so they fixed it. And that didn't help? It made the pain running down the leg better. The hamstrings weren't pulling as much. But the awkwardness of walking and doing things was very... Like, for instance, you know, I can swim.

Not that old theory that all black people can't swim. But I was able to swim. I got in the pool, you know, and this was like maybe, say, four or five months after the back surgery. and I couldn't do my, I couldn't do my legs, couldn't do it. It was so hard. It was like somebody had an anvil on my legs and holding me down. And it was only until about maybe four months ago after doing DDPEY for what, maybe almost now two years,

that I was able to get in the pool and start now moving my legs where I could swim. It was very hard at one point. So that was a factor. That was a major factor. The stroke really wasn't a, a factor like everybody thought it was going to be because that was stress related. I was so stressed when I was a producer in WWB because number one, I wasn't ready to become a producer. I didn't want the producer's job. And I remember when the final night, when they said

farewell to the Dudleys, Triple H pulled me inside. He says, listen, you know, we want to bring you in as a producer. Would you like that? And I looked at him and I said, well, honey, I said, thank you. I said, but I'm not really ready to be a producer. I still have a more in the tank. And he goes, yeah, but the old man, you know, he wants both of you and, you know, and this and that more about, I said, okay, I get that, but at the same token, I'm not ready. And I asked him, I said, let me ask you a question. What happens if I say no? What happens if I say, no, I don't want to be a producer? And he says, well, we got to let you go, Yvonne. And I went, damn. And at the time, I was going through, I was going through a divorce.

my second marriage, I was going through a divorce, and there was a lot of stuff that was going on during that time, and I did not want to have to go to Japan and make a living and fly all over the place. So I just said, okay, and I took the producer's job. It worked for about a good year and a half or so. In other words, I didn't really care for it, I should say. Let me retract that statement.

I didn't care for it at all. I didn't want to do it, but it held everything together. And you're still getting a paycheck. And I'm still getting a paycheck. I got benefits. You know, I have insurance. I got everything. A 401k now.

I've got everything. And also, I imagine that, you know, you're with your friends. Right. You're, even though you're not in the ring, you're around the thing that you love and you're passionate about and you've known your whole life. Well, one of the things that I had problems with was the fact that would the people, would my friends take advice for me? It's one thing to work with them in the ring and to agree on certain spots to do in the

ring, but would they agree on, if I gave them advice on their match, would they do it? You know? And one of the hardest ones was the Hardys. Because, you know, we've been up and down the highway, you know, creating history. But yet and still now, you know, they're putting me in charge of their tag match and this and that. And that was probably one of the most awkward feelings. You know, hey, Matt and Jeff, how about we do this and this and this?

You know, especially when they had their ideas. But they were very cool about it. they, you know, sure, Devon, you know, or they would say, mm, divan, we were thinking this is any way we can combine it together. And that's what we did. So we made it work in that aspect. The whole new day and the Uso's rivals, you know, Vince saw enough to give me, you know, the opportunity to produce those matches.

Once I started doing those matches and even the Bludgeon Brothers, things started clicking. And there were every once in a while where it was like, I didn't want to do this anymore, but when I started working with these guys, it started clicking. And even the Hardee's, it started clicking. And I was like, okay, I can think I can do this producer's job. And I remember just one day going, man, this is great. And then the 24-7 title run when they were doing with Truth, Tazawa, Reggie, all those.

Those were all my segments. Vince gave me full blanche to do whatever I wanted to do. And it was successful because I let these guys be. them. I let them have their ideas and put it together in the same way that Vince would want to see it. So that way Vince would be happy, the boys would be happy, and I look like good. Are you at a point in your career now where you'd be ready to be a producer again? I would do it again. I've never worked with Triple H in that part of the business, but yes, I would come back as a producer and I would do it again. I spent seven good years.

as a producer in WWE. Had a great time, you know, and great moments. But there was always that urge to get back into the ring and to do something one more time. I don't want to be in the ring at 60 years old or 70, but I just wanted that one, you know, sendoff, something that would, you know, put the final nail in the coffin and say, okay, I did this, I'm complete.

Now it's time to just enjoy retirement. You know, so again, to answer, go back to the original question, the health wasn't a concern so much. It was more of what I wanted because I got comfortable in that producer's role. I got comfortable when not taking bumps, getting paid without having to be in the ring. And that was just a rewarding feeling. So what led to you being part of the thousandth episode of Impact with TNA? Well, Bubba called me as usual.

You know, hey, Devon, you know, we're doing a 1,000 episode. Do you think you can go again? And, well, that wasn't what he said. He says, Devon, let me ask you a question. Could you go again? And of course, my ego, yeah, of course I can. I could do it. None of a problem.

And when he said, I said, but why are you asking? He says, well, TNA is doing a 1,000 episode. And we were thinking about maybe doing one more match for the Dudleys. And I said, I could do it. I said, it's not a problem. I said, but I'm going to tell you right now, I don't want to do the what's up. I don't want to go up on the top rope and jump off the top rope

into some guy's crotch. Either you do it or we're going to find another way of doing it. Can you go on a second rope? I go, no, Bubba. Cannot go on a second rope. I'm not doing it. And of course, you know, when you watch the match, I did it anyway.

Yeah. And I remember when I did that, I went, oh. I was like, I ain't doing that no more. How did he convince you to do it? It was more of him saying and asking and then the adrenaline at the time. You know, it was like my ego got in a way, And I was like, okay, I'll do it.

Yeah, I can do it. I remember looking down at my family and I went, sorry. Jumping. But, you know. Do you regret doing it? No, I don't regret it because, I mean, again, nothing happened. If I would have got hurt, then yes. Is there moments where I feel like if I get back in the ring, I'm going to get hurt?

No, I don't. I have the wrestling school in Winter Park, Florida, which is doing extremely well. And the great thing about that is that I, roll around with some of the guys sometimes in the ring. So every once in a while I take bumps and I feel good when I'm in there. So there's no hesitation in how I think or feel about what I do in that ring now. But, you know, at 50 years old, I don't want to go in here and do it. Like I said, I'm 70 and 80.

That's not going to happen. If we were to do one more match, it would be the last one and that would be it. There is no one more more. Can you come back one more time? No, because, and I take it. tell us to everybody when they ask, I go, every time I do one more time, that one more time is over, let a year go by. Hey, you guys look great. You can go another match. No, we can't. Stop. There's a moment during that Dudley Boys reunion in TNA, where you get into the ring and you look

up and you go, thank you. Yes. What that moment mean to you? Man, I get emotional. It was where I came from. The back surgery, the stroke. And to be able to come back and to be able to do that was just, man, it was incredible. And I thank God. You didn't think it was possible? No. I didn't think anybody would give me another shot to do it. And that was something that really got to me.

So when I got in there and I looked up and said, thank you, thank you for bringing me to this moment. Thank you for getting me where I am right now. Because if it wasn't for the grace of God, I wouldn't have been there. If it wasn't for the grace of God, give me the opportunity to do DDPY, I wouldn't be there. Anybody that's dealt with what I dealt with, I'm telling you that DDPY is the way to go. You have to make the time. Stop trying to put all the weights on there and pumping out 50 sets or something. No, that yoga is the way to go.

And it was because of that. And that's why I was so overwhelmed with joy. seeing my family sitting down at ringside watching me, something that I never thought my daughter would see again. So it was just such a rewarding feeling to be able to get back in that ring and to do it again because again, without the grace of God, I wouldn't be here. So how many more matches might you have left? How many more years?

Oh, man. I would say if I was to do one, it would be one. One more? I would say one more. But we know how wrestling works. One more turns into another one down the line. Yeah. But I looked at it as if I say one more, it would be one more.

Because yes, I did say that for the 1,000 episode. But I realized that the training to get back into it when you're not like doing it full time, it's hard, especially when you get to your 50. It's hard. You know, your late 40s going into your 50s, it's hard. So I don't know if I want to train like that again. I don't know if I would want to go through that and take time away from the family, especially with the three little kids.

You know, I don't want to do it anymore. The money's great. I get it. But at the same token, the family comes first and foremost. So I think if I do do it one more time, which, you know, there might be something in the works. I'm not sure. But if I do do it, then that will be it. You know, it's like Michael Jackson, this is it.

You know, he said it, you know, right before he, you know, went on to the Staples Center to do his last whatever. He said, this is it. This is it. This is my final performance. And that's the way I feel. Would it have to be in WWA? I don't think the powers to be would let that happen.

Because I think they would put me, you know, the way WWEs now, they go through so much to get somebody to, you know, to a point where you have to prove that, you know, you're healthy. I mean, there's guys that have, you know, a cracked rib. you know, and they got to go through hell and back, you know, to try to get the okay to be able to come back. Would it be WWE? I would do it, definitely for WWE. WWE is my home.

It always has been, just like ECW. Those two companies have been my life. No other company would come before that. There was a tag team ladder match a few months ago in WWE, and there was a mystery team. And the Dudley boys were thrown around, the Hardy Boys were thrown around. I was like, if there's going to be a surprise, one of those would be fantastic. The Hardy Boys are still doing their thing week in and week out, and everybody knows you guys can still go too.

Right. You know, tables match, yes. Ladders match, those ladders hurt, man. They hurt bad. I remember when Jeff picked up a ladder, I would pray because Jeff, I tell Jeff all the time, I go, man, you hurt me, especially when we hung 20-something feet up in the air and I had to drop. and we always laugh about it.

I love the Hardee's. If I was to do anything in the ring again, it would have to be with Matt and Jeff. And, you know, I would say Edge and Christian too, but, you know, there are in the other, you know, organization, AW, and I don't think that would ever happen. When the opportunity came, when Edge left WWE and went to AEW,

you had Christian and Edge there, and then the Hardys were there. And it was like we were wondering why, you know, Tony, who is a huge fan of the business and always habit, why wouldn't he take the opportunity to get to be the one to put those three teams together and to do that? But he never did. So I think that opportunity is lost. But, you know, if I was to come back and do something, it would have to be with the Hardys. And those are the only two I trust.

even though I think Jeff is out of his damn mind. But those are the only two I would trust for my body on the line and they're going there one more time. You guys know that when it comes to health and well-being, I'm always looking for an edge. And that's why I've been taking mitopure for months now. Because I want to be the healthiest version of myself for as long as possible.

Like, I want to be in my 90s and still going on hikes or like still playing with the grandkids. Or I guess at that point in time, might be great grandkids. Here's how this works. Mitochondria is our cells power generators. They're a key influence in how we age. But as the years past, mitochondrial efficiency starts to decline.

And it starts to represent this big gap between the quality of life we expect when we're older and the one we actually experience. One way to think about mitopure is like they're the little Pac-Men in your cells chomping up the damage mitochondria that make you feel old and tired. and we're cycling it into new, healthy ones. For me, taking mitopure is really helped with recovering after a workout. I start to feel myself getting stronger with more energy and experiencing less inflammation. I think it's worth you checking out as well.

Timeline is offering 10% off your first order of mitopure. Just go to timeline.com slash insight. That's timeline.com slash insight. You said in one of your YouTube videos that the most painful move you ever took was the swan ton bomb. Oh, God. Jeff and you know it to be true. Oh, God. You know, sometimes Jeff can overshoot it a little bit where his back, his upper back, and his neck and stuff lands on you, which takes a lot out of you.

But the man, when he gets his whole back and his ass and it just comes down on you, good night. You're either shitting on yourself, farting, or passing out. Matt Hardy says those are crouton bombs. They're not swan tombs. No. And he's, listen, Matt testify. This is so telling the truth. Good God, there are times where Jeff wouldn't land on me.

I'd be like, oh, God, Jeff, why? And he was, sorry, DeVant. But have you seen his swanthons recently? Like, he's back in, like, 1999 form. Yes. He's landing him perfectly. Yes. And believe me when I say it, they still hurt.

How come it was always Devon getting the tables? Because it was my mess up. It happened. And I don't know why Bubba always is like, every time I tell the story, he's like, really? I was like, yes, I remember. We were somewhere at Roar, Monday Night Raw, and I had forgotten in the match to get the table. And he goes, Devon, get the table. And I was like, oh, shit.

You know, and I ran outside and got the table. And, you know, I had, you know, a little bit of those moments where I would forget certain things. I had so many things going on in my mind, not to mention just a match, but, you know, just everything in WWE. And he would say it again. He goes, Stefan, go get the tables. I like, all right, I got it.

So then the next few times he was saying it over and over again, I was getting mad. And I was like, okay, the first couple of times I get it. But now you're overdoing it. I'm not a kid. I'm not a baby. I can remember things, so don't tell me to get the tables. So we got in the back,

and he goes, why did you get so mad when I said, get the table? I said, because I understood get the tables when we talked about it in the back at what part of the match

I should do it in. So stop telling me to get the tables. And the next, he was like, all right, fine, just know that, you know,

I'm telling you not to get on you, but I'm telling you to just, so you don't forget. I was like, I don't forget. I'm fine. Stop. And he basically said, okay.

And then the next night, what happened? I forgot. And then he said, I go, okay, okay, I got it. And then some nights after that, Bubba started listening. And I guess it was picking up on the cameras that he was saying, Devon, get the table. And he goes, Devon, I think we got something here. And I said, what do you mean?

he goes, I'm going to try something out and I want to see if it works. And we did something to where we did the what's up spot. And then all of a sudden he went, divan, get the tables. And then it was like, people would pop the crowd. He was like, I think we got something. I was like, I think you're right. And it started from there. It was all because of a mistake that I forgot to get the tables. It's at the point now, and I love it. It's now a crowd moment. He'll say, Devon, then he points to the crowd. The crowd tells you to get the table. It's like one, Two, three. And you know what the funny part about it is he's tried to do that with other people,

you know, in the ring with them. And, you know, like truth, all truth, you know, I love him to death. And we've done it with him in terms of we've done that thing with him where I've given them the what's up and get the table numerous times. And he's watched it numerous times. So Bubba goes, you know how to do it, right? He goes, oh, I've been watching it for years. You guys are great.

I've been wanting to do this a long time. he gets in there and totally forget. You know, he was ready to get the table before bubble push him and say, get the table. He was just in that moment. And homicide, same thing. You know, we went over it like four or five times in the back in TNA, and he still messed it up.

He's like, Devon, I'm so sorry. He was like, I was just caught up in the moment. It just seems like, you know, I didn't realize how much the Dudley's really, really had an impact on wrestling. With, you know, the commandments, thou should not steal, thou should not kill, thou should not mess or F with the Dudleys, Devon get the tables, and what's up?

I didn't realize it. So when you have people, your peers, who watch you do it for years, and then when they have to do it and they tell you they got caught up in the moment, it's a special thing, you know, because it's like you work with, these guys, but yet they're getting caught up in a moment and doing it. Or you got guys that do it even when we're not in that organization, and yet they mess it up because they don't do it to a

tee, but yet they say, man, we messed up, man, we just, we got caught up in the moment because, you know, we wanted to make you guys proud. And we're so happy, you know, we're very happy, and I know I am. And I think I can speak for Bubba, that when people want to do things in honor of us to pay homage, we're happy. We thank you. Just like with the Uso's wanting to do 3D, I was producing one of their matches, and they had asked me about it.

And I was like, well, you want to do it tonight? They were like, no, not tonight, but we want to know if we can go forward doing it. I was like, hell, me and Bubba don't do it no more. You know, I'm retired, so why not do it? You know, and then WrestleMania, there was a WrestleMania. I think my last WrestleMania where I produced,

and I can't remember which one it was. It might have been in Dallas. Um, but I remember Dallas was 38 and 32. Okay, so it had to be 38. Okay. Because Bubba and I were in 32 against the Uso's. And, um, I believe Jay had said something about, man, D, I would love to do 3D, man. He's like, you know, would you be okay about it?

I said, Jay, I said, I told you before, we would love that for you to do that. I mean, you're paying homage to us. So, and you're keeping us relevant because you know people are going to say that's the Dudleys. So for those that might have. forgotten about us will now remember us. So we don't get upset, you know, like some people do if you put a towel over your head and you fold your heads. Wow. I love you, but that's ridiculous. And you know that. But they're paying homage. They're giving you respect. So I don't get angry or mad at that neither of this Bubba. We actually like it that they do that. Because,

again, they're giving us respect. They're paying homage. And, you know, we're proud. of it. The 3D was one of the most, like nobody kicked out of the 3D. It was one of the most protected finishers of all time. At what point along the way did you guys decide this is special and when we hit it, it's over. From the very beginning. I think Taz and Perry Sadden had instilled that in us because remember, they were the

teachers at the ECW training facility in Long Island at the time. and when me and Bubba came up with the idea of doing 3D there, they had said that. They're like, no one should kick out of this. This is going to be a special move that people will remember way after you guys are going. And they were right.

When I think it's been kicked out of three times, is that right? Yeah, Masato Tanaka. In ECW. In ECW, the, Chris Saban. Chris Sabin. Chris Sabin Alex Shelley in TNA. think that's it. And I think it, did Renee Dupre kick out because the spot got messed up or something like that? Not that I know of, no, I think Bumbo would have killed him. There's, there is one where

Bobby Rood kicked out in TNA, but it was after like, you hit it and then a whole bunch of other stuff happened and you went for the pin much later. Yeah, that was much later. So you give them time to, even though we had always said 3D knocks you out, you don't move, you don't even breathe, you know, but, you know, that's what you tell your opponent? Well, we don't tell them that, But we tell them, you know, don't move. You know, don't do anything except for public enemy. God rest, they so, you know, in Detroit, you know, we worked with them. And not only did they, they didn't kick out, but we hit 3D to put them down.

We started walking the back. They get up on the mic and start cutting the promo. And Bubba goes, and I'm ready to go back. I'm not even paying attention. Bubba goes, Devon, stop. Do you hear that? I go, no. And Paul came over.

And he was talking about it was. He was, that was great business and this and that. We can make a lot of money. He goes, Paulie, do you hear that? And I don't know, what is Bubba talking about? Now it's starting to register that grunge is on the mic talking. He had gotten up and whatever. And he goes, Paul, nothing personal, but we're going to go out there and whoop their ass now.

He goes, Devon, are you ready? And I, you know, I knew grunge, but I didn't know grunge, but I didn't have a problem with grunge. And his partner, I loved because he trained with Johnny Rods, you know, rock, And, you know, I was like, man, now I got to go out there and I got to do this. And I stayed with Rocco. You know, I let Bubba get with Grunge. And, you know, I'm just, I'm working with Rocco. I'm working because he didn't get up.

He was down. So I'm working with him. And Bubba is just beating the tar mess out of grunt. Stayed the F down. And Bob, so finally they're down and we sought to walk out and Grunge gets on the mic again. I go, oh, God. I go, you got to be kidding me. And we had to go back in the ring and do it again.

What went into Chris Saban, Motor City Machine Guns kicking out? Because that was a huge moment. Yes, because at that point, we figured the Dudleys were done. We were over. And that we were going to go singles. And what better team to do it at that time

than the Motor City Machine Gun? We felt that passing the torch to them was the right thing to do at that time. And they were hungry. They were ready. And we felt that, again, they were the team to do it. So we just wanted to make sure

that everything aligned with the decision that we made. We thought about it. We talked about it amongst each other. And we said, let's do it. Let's let them do it. Congratulations on the success of your YouTube channel. Like, it is blown up.

It got to 100,000 subscribers faster than I think I've ever seen a wrestling channel get to 100,000. I'm, you know, again, it's through the grace of God. I'm a very biblical person. And I just feel like it was all his doing because I didn't want to do it. Yeah, how to come together? I was at an autograph signing. And the guy who helps produce it, he came, his name was Nick.

And he said, hey, have you ever thought about doing a YouTube channel after he bought an autograph and all that from me? And I go, I thought about it, but I'm not interested. He goes, I think he would do very well. I was like, oh, okay. Because, you know, I've gotten propositions from people before about doing certain things and it never panned out. So I was just like, all right, well, whatever, man.

And game his card. And everything was good. And then he left and the autograph signing was over and I left the card on the table and it fell on the floor. So as I'm leaving and I'm getting going, walking towards the car, one of my handlers who was helping me with the autograph signing goes, Devon, he left this business card, you want it? And I looked at, I was like, oh, I don't need that.

So I, you know, I was like, I don't need that. Don't worry about it. He was like, all right, so you put on the table. I started walking and something kept saying, go back and get that card. Go back and get that card. And I wouldn't listen. I kept walking towards the car. And it was like something just smacked me.

I started walking and I kind of tripped. And I was like embarrassed, you know? I was like kind of embarrassed. And something said, get the damn card. And I kid you not, this is what exactly had happened. And I turned around and said, okay, let me get the card. So I go back and get the card and I get to my hotel room. The next day I leave to go to the airport to go back home.

And I called him. I said, hey, Nick, I said, you know, you serious about doing this YouTube channel? And he goes, yeah, I would love it. And I was like, okay, great. I was like, call me Wednesday. We'll talk. Wednesday comes. I start, I'm cleaning my garage.

And as I'm cleaning my garage, he called. with his friend Mike on the line, his other producer that helps him. And he says, yeah, we got all of these ideas. I was telling Mike, Mike, Devon, Devon, Mike. I was like, yeah, what's up? But I had some personal business that I was going through. It was on my mind, and I was just like,

you know, I'm not interested. But I'm going to entertain these guys anyway. They started talking and ideas. And you know how, like, remember Popeye with the school teacher? Won, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. So when they're talking, that's what's going on in my head. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You want to do this? You want to do this? Charlie Brown, right? Right, Charlie Brown. And I was just like, how do I tell these guys I'm not interested? And then all of a sudden, I said, look, guys, I was like, won't you call me next week? I'll have ideas for you, too, and we'll go over it from there. They said, okay, and they called me.

And they were, no, I'm sorry, right before we hung up, they were like, yeah, we'll come out to Florida and we'll set up a studio at your school if it's okay. I was like, yeah, okay, whatever. And we did that. And I just remember them calling and we were talking. And again, I'm brushing them off again. And finally they said, okay, well, we got our ticket when we're coming down. I went, what? I was like, yeah, we're coming.

Remember we talked last time? I was like, you're coming down for what? They go to shoot the YouTube. That's why we were calling you to get some ideas. I was like, oh, man. So now I had to really pay attention. Yeah. And this and that.

And finally, so to make a long story short, they come down and now I'm like interested because I see this set up the lights and all of that. So now it looks like a real, real studio type of place they made the school into. And I just said, okay, so let's do this. And when we did it, I talked to Maven and Maven who's having a huge success with his YouTube channel. And he goes, Deva, I think you have something. He said, I think you should go with it. And I was like, you're probably right, Maven.

I think you should. And then that's how everything happened. He just blew up from there. Did Maven talk you into it? A little bit. He put the final nail in the coffin for me to submit that I was going to do it and continue to do it. Because his channel is just massive now. Yeah, that bitch owed me.

He owes you? He owes me. What does he owe you for? I saved his life in England. What? We're basically out drinking, partying, and whatever. And Maven had way too much to drink. and he passed, I had to take him to his room, and he passed out.

I said, Maven, where's your key? I was like, give me your key, just in case you're not downstairs when the bus leaves, and I have your key in my pocket, I can come in there and get you. He gives me his key, he's passed out, just face first, right in his pillow, passed out, arm spread, everything. I was like, all right, so I go to my room. I don't even go to sleep because I'm like, I'm wired. Even though I had been drinking, I was wired.

I just couldn't fall asleep, but I knew I had to get up in two hours, three hours. So I went, took a shower, packed my bags and everything. I'm sitting down at my table in my room watching the news. And next thing I go, okay, it's time to go. I go, I get to the elevator, I go, maybe it ain't downstairs. So, because he's like three doors down from me. Something said, just go check. I go in, I put the key in, and he's still the same way I left him.

He's the same way. I said, Maven, get up. Huh, huh, what, what? I said, let's go now. I said, we got to be downstairs in 25 minutes. All right, Deva, all right, let me take a shower. I said, you're not taking a goddamn shower. I said, you're going to get up and get your stuff.

And I'm throwing stuff in his suitcase and everything, because I'm trying to make it downstairs before he's the last one down there. Last one down there on a WWB bus back then is the wrong thing to do, especially when you're a rookie. I just remember throwing everything in his suitcase. He goes, Devon, I got to take a shower. I go, no, you're not taking the shower. Let's go.

He goes, well, can I at least brush my teeth? I said, fine, go. So he goes, he gets in the bathroom. He's like leaning over the thing. I'm like, Mavin, if you don't brush your teeth fast, I'm going to brush it for you. And he's like, okay, Devon, okay, okay. And he's still not brushing fast. I took that, I said, give me a goddamn two brush.

I took it. I'm starting him. Blood's coming out because I'm hitting him. You're brushing his teeth. He's fucking like, like, Devon, okay, okay. I just spit this out. I was like, fine, spit it out. So now we get to the other.

We get downstairs, the door opens. We have to go to the front desk to handle all of our incidences from the room. Who's there, JR? Hello, boys. As I grab maybe, I go, don't you open your goddamn mouth. I say, don't you see a goddamn word? I swear to God, I will drop you right in front of JR. If you open your mouth.

He goes, I promise I won't say a word. I was like, if he says hello, just nod your head. And that's exactly what that. He goes, boys out last night. I go, no, JR. I said, we had a couple of drinks, and we went upstairs to our room, and that was it. He goes, okay, Maven, how are you doing?

I said, gnaud, motherfucker, nah. He just went, he was like, what's the matter? You can't talk? I was like, he lost his voice, JR. He's like, oh, okay, are you going to be okay to do the promo tonight? I said, he'll be all right. He'll be all right. Just the less he talks, the better.

We'll get him some tea and lemon and he'll be fine. He goes, all right, well, I'll see you guys on the bus. I said, okay. He goes, Devan, thank you. I go, shit, this ain't over yet. I said, now we got to get past JBL. So we get his stuff on the bus. JBL's not on the bus yet.

I put him way in the back. I put sunglasses on him. I said, just act like you're sleeping. He passed out. So, Maven, this is how Maven's getting you back now by having a successful YouTube channel. Absolutely. And I got to thank him for it when I see him. So you're at, I think, 163,000 as we're recording us now.

Yeah, 163,888. That is extremely specific. Yeah. I'm sure we'll have many more by the time we even stopped the cameras. But how quickly did you get to 100,000? Within four weeks. Four weeks? Four weeks.

And I was documenting it on my Instagram, which is Testified Devon. I would put up, okay, 50,000 subscribers, 70,000, 80, 90. And even as we led up to 100,000, I was documenting even at 50, 67. So until we got to 100,000, I was this document. I didn't understand. that getting to that number, how big that was. I didn't know because I didn't know anything about social media. And I still don't know too much about it.

But I knew enough that 100,000 at that point when people were explaining it to me that that was a big deal. You got the plaque over your right shoulder there. Black right here. So you know how long it took me to get to 100,000 subscribers? How long? So it took you four weeks. Right.

It took me seven and a half years. Really? Yeah, seven and a half years. Wow. started my channel in 2011 and I didn't get it till much later in 2018 and it's just like it's consistency right it's just chipping away at the whole time but you are on such a and I know you maybe can't appreciate it because you're in it right now but you were on this incredible trajectory and everybody watching this is going to now subscribe to your channel as well yes please like and

subscribe and leave your comments I do read them so like and subscribe and let me know what you think and what you would like to see. Well, the cool thing about the type of channel you have and the type of channel Maven has is you have stories forever. Like, you've been in the business for most of your life. Yeah. You're never going to run out of stories. Until the day I die.

Yeah. So you've got content forever. And it's just this other, like, great outlet to just tell your story. Yeah. I mean, I'm having a blast right now. Again, I didn't even think I would have a blast. And I just think about it. I almost didn't do it because I just felt like it

never work. Well, your thumbnails are perfect. Like, there's a lot of wrestlers who have YouTube channels, and their thumbnails are not so good. But your thumbnails, you can tell that it's professional. And I always say this if anybody asks me any advice for YouTube. I see thumbnails and titles. Those are the two things that get people to click on your video. Right. You could have the most incredibly edited video that tells the most amazing story. But if you don't have a good thumbnail or a good title, nobody's going to click on it. And that's one of the things that I give credit to the two guys, Nick and Mike, that basically helped do this. They are true professionals. And I told them, I said, what you have done for me in this amount of time, my loyalty to you will be there.

I said, I will never ever get rid of you. You will always be by my side. It's another like business stream, another revenue stream. Yeah, it really is. So you've got the wrestling school. You've got appearances and autograph signings, obviously, the YouTube channel. And what else do you have? I have the detailing. I have the detailing. business down in West Palm Beach. You own it? I own it. You're not in their detailing cars.

No, no, no. I have my best friend who I went to high school with. What's it called? It's called 3D Auto. Of course it is. And you can follow us on Instagram and all that. We're mobile. So we go to you.

You don't have to go to us. Could you imagine Devon Dudley shows up at your house? It could happen. To clean your Chevy? It could happen. Yeah, but we got people working for us to go and do that and things like that. It's becoming very successful. Well, congrats on all of that.

Thank you. A million is the next marker, the next plaque you'll get. Man, I was hoping 500. I won another one in between. Me too. I just got a million on my clips channel, but it took a while. But it's 100,000, a million, 10 million, and then there's very few channels. Wait, I'm sorry, I said it.

You said 100,000? 100,000. One million. One million. Then it jumps to 10 million. And then it jumps to 100 million. Those are all the plaques you'll get. Man, they can make something in between.

You'd think so. Gosh. But, I mean, if you're in a million, when you get a million subscribers, there's very few people to get that. Right. Far less to get 10 million. Like, if you're getting 10 million subscribers, like that is your job is this. What's the video that, like, really popped for you?

I mean, you did really well with The Undertaker. The other take it was a very, very good one. The one we did with Maven. We just did one about a few weeks ago with Mick Foley. That did good. And believe it or not, Stevie Richards. And I say that, believe it or not, is because what we were talking in the content wasn't as big as Taker or Mick Foley. But it was enough where the people liked it and was aboard it was, you know, all aboard on it.

So when are you going to bring the Hardee's on? soon. That one needs to happen. And then Spike Dudley. Spike has to come on. Yeah. You know, a lot of people have been asking about Spike and what is he doing this and that. He is happily retired with a family and he's doing his thing.

He was on my show a few years ago and I actually spoke to him recently about him coming back on my show. I mean, that guy's just so underrated. He really is. I mean, if it wasn't for Spike, Spike helped get the Dudley's over. In what way? The punishment, the brutality, you know. he was willing to take it. You know, when people saw what the Dudleys did, they saw us beat the hell out of Spike.

And as far as I'm concerned, he was like Michael Myers and Jason. No matter how you hit him, no matter what you did, he kept getting up. And that was Spike 110%. You know, he helped the Dudleys get over like there was none of the more. Anything we wanted to do to him, he was like, okay with it. What was the craziest bump that Spike took? I think the crazy, I think it was two. The one was in WWB on Smackdown

when we set up the table on the outside and we whipped them off and launched them from the inside of the ring to the outside through the table and he landed perfectly through the table. There's no way in hell I can have anybody convince me to take that bump, but he did it.

And then I think the second craziest bump was the first 3D. We nearly killed him. Because we were trying to perfect that move ourselves, and we hadn't gotten it down yet. And after we saw what we did the spike, I was like, okay, I know what I have to do on my part. And Bubba knew what he had to do.

What did you do wrong in the first one? I held him up too long. In other words, you know, I'd get him up, and instead of getting him up as I get him up and start falling backwards, I just stood him up like this. And then I started going backwards, but it was too slow.

Bubba was already coming down. As he starts to come down, Now I've got to force him down quicker, and Bubba grabbed him at the last minute and jacked his neck right into the mat. I don't think you've had Bubba on your YouTube channel yet, right? No, and I spoke to Bubba about that, and you might be seeing that very, very soon. That feels like it's such an easy one. It is. But, you know, it's the Dudleys, and nothing's ever easy with the Douglies.

You guys make it look easy. We do. And that's why we've had the magic that we've had for so long. You know, and I was looking at an interview that we did with WWW. where I said, you know, what he lacks in, I pick up. And what I lack in, he picks up. That's exactly why me and Bubba worked so well together, because we were able to counter off each other.

When you were on the road, who were you traveling with most of the time? Maven, Umanga, Eddie Fatu, um, Dawn Marie was one. Randy Orton, uh, Dave Batista. Every once in a while, me, because in ECW, me and Bubba drove together a lot. But then once we got to WWE, we kind of went out separate ways. Do you have any great stories about traveling with those guys? People love Umaga stories.

Well, I got two stories, one on Dave and Randy and the other one in Umanga. Fantastic. So I used to do, I used to do dip. And I used to dip all the time. And Umanga used to see that and I always want to try it. So we're in Minnesota. It's negative four degrees outside. and we are driving to the next,

I think we're driving to our hotel because we just did a live event. And as we're driving, Eddie looks over to me, he goes, Devon, let me try some of that dip. And I went, Eddie, no, it's not for you. He goes, what do you mean? It's not for me.

I said, Eddie, this dip is not for you. He goes, Devon, I could do it. Come on. Let me get some. And I said, Eddie, you cannot swallow this. He goes, oh, you can't swallow it? I go, no, Eddie. You cannot swallow it.

It'll get you sick like you wouldn't believe. Oh, I'm Simone. I can handle this. Trust me. I said, Eddie, he goes, Devon, come on. Mavin goes, Yvonne, just give it to him. And, you know, Mavin gave me that little wink. And I was just like, Nathan.

He's like, give it to him, Devon. I was like, all right, huh? Do not swallow it, Eddie. He goes, no, uh-uh. All right, they'll follow it. No, I'm good. I'm good. And about five minutes into the drive.

Now, remind you, it's negative 4 degrees. We're in Minnesota, dead winter. All of a sudden, I hear, and I'm looking at them, yeah, mm. And I'm like, what the hell? Next thing I know, I go, Eddie, what is wrong with you? He goes, man, it's hot in here. I go, you want me to turn the heat down?

He goes, yeah, can you turn it down? I go, yeah. So I turn it down. And all of a sudden, he goes, ah. I go, Eddie, what is wrong with you? He goes, man, it's really hot. He rolls down the window.

I go, Eddie, are you out of your mind? I was like, please stop. Roll the window up. He goes, Devon, I can't take it, man. I'm burning up. And he's sweating. I look over, he's sweating profusely. I go, you swallowed it, did you?

I said, didn't you? He went, it was by mistake. I was like, damn it, Eddie, I told you not to swallow it. He's like, Devin, I'm sorry, man. He's like, I need to spit this out. I said, hon, take my cup and spit it out. He spits it out. man divan i can't do it i said you can't do what he goes i'm hot divan i go he goes i don't feel

well i go damn it eddie i told you not to swallow that shit he goes i'm sorry divar i'm sorry i said damn and eddie so he goes can you pull over i go pull over 40 he goes i'm going to get sick i go eddie come on he goes devon i'm not joking i'm going to get sick maybe he goes divan please pull a car over i don't want any throwing up all over the car i'm like god damn and eddie i pull over. He's growing up like there's no tomorrow. Like he had food poison. He's just, it's everywhere outside on the grass. And he's like, I'm good. I'm good. Roland, I wonder. We get to the hotel. The next day, we're in the car, I put some dip in my mouth. He goes, I go, you want some? He goes, Yvonne, that's not even funny.

Fantastic. What about the story about Dave and Randy? Okay. So I am, I'm sorry, I am. I am. My son, Matthew, is being christening. So I took some time off. And I decided to go to New York to do the christening. We're all riding together. I'm like, I'm like, Dad, you know, I'm trying to keep everybody in line. Think about it.

Maven. Randy Orton, at his wildness, Batista, Dawn Marie. And there was one other person. I think it might have been Ray at the time. Ray, Ray, Ray, Mr. I'm not sure. But I remember right before the week I was supposed to leave, I looked at all of them. I said, guys, I'm not scoldingly like I'm your dad.

I said, but I'm asking you, please, please, do not get in trouble. Do not do anything that you know that you wouldn't do if I wasn't here. And they were like, no, Devon, we're going to be good, we're good, we're good. Because I felt like I was responsible for them. And it was like I felt the company made, you know, I was driving with them, so I was responsible. And so I just remember, I go, okay, guys. So we're seeing each other off because it's the last day of the tour.

We get up in the morning, we ride to the airport together. I said, okay, guys, guys, I'll call you during the week. I was like, please, please stay out of trouble. And Randy was like, no problem. You know, Randy being Randy, no problem. And I was just like, oh, God. I said, this is not good. So I leave.

I get a phone call. I'm at the christening. I get a phone call from Dawn Marie frantic. She's like, Devon, when are you coming back? I go, Dawn, what's the matter? She goes, Randy, Dave knocked out Randy. I go, what? He goes, yeah, they were in.

I said, what do you mean he knocked them out? They were in the ring and Randy, and Randy pissed Dave off. And Dave closed lying the hell out of him. I was like, where's, I said, where's Dave? I said, please put Dave on the phone. I said, Dave, what the hell happened? He goes, Rev, because he never called me Devon. He would always call me Rev.

He was like, Rev. He kept paint brushing me in the back of the head. I go, what do you mean he was paint brushing you? You know how Scott Hall does the paintbrush? I was like, yeah, he was like, well, he kept doing that to me. I told him to stop and he wouldn't stop. So I whipped him off and gave him a clothesline. I said, Dave, how hard was the clothesline?

He goes, well, he flipped inside out, but he got a concussion. I said, Dave, why would you do that? He was like, Rev, he wouldn't stop. I was like, come on, guys. I asked you guys to just be nice until I get back. I was like, and you guys couldn't do that? He was like, Rev, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

I was like, how was Randy? He goes, I don't know. He's got a concussion. I haven't seen him. I said, oh, damn. I remember speaking to Randy the next day, I said, Randy, I said, are you all right? he goes, yeah, I'm fine, Devon, you know, I'm fine.

I'm tough, you know, I can't. I was like, okay, how's the concussion? He goes, ah, I ain't worried about that. This was when Randy was at his crazy stage. I'm not worried about that concussion. I was like, Randy, you should worry about it because now you probably can't get in the ring for another week or two. He was like, ah, that's okay.

I look at it as a vacation. I go, oh, God. He goes, maybe I'll ask Dave to do it again. I was like, Randy, please don't do that. I said, please stop while you're ahead. He was like, Devon, don't worry about it. We had fun. You should take off more often.

I go, no. I go, we won't have a crew if I do that. People might not actually know this, but you were a real reverend. Yes. That wasn't just a gimmick. No, it wasn't. Even had the preacher rag here in case you started sweating. Yeah, I got my collar and everything downstairs.

I've married people. I think I was about to do a christening and it got canceled. But, yeah, I've been doing all of that. And, you know, I go around, you know, when I teach at schools or what have you, it's kind of like I'm doing my sermon. in a sense, you know. I haven't done it in a real pool pit yet, but I've done little things here and there.

So when you were doing the character, Reverend Devon, you were a reverend at that time? No, I wasn't a reverend then. It wasn't until after. It wasn't until after. And, you know, again, my faith in God is strong. Both of my parents are reverends. My father was a reverend before he passed away.

He became a bishop. My mother got ordained in 1987. and became a Reverend, and then she got her document degree at the theological seminary up in Jacksonville, I believe it was. And now she's Dr. Reverend Renee Washington, Hughes Gardner.

So is that where Testifier came from? Testifier actually came from Paul Heyman because Paul Heyman knew my background of being a preacher's kid. And he took, and I've said, this numerous times he took my character from Hope Fiction, Samuel L. Jackson, and Mr. T. because I loved Rocky 3. So he combined those two together. And that's when he said,

you know what? Let's make your tagline testify. Because it coexists with your background and your beliefs in God. And I said, okay, I said, let's do it. And it just took off from there. With the commandments as well, because I had a little bit of problem doing the Dow Shannot not F with the Dudleys because, you know, biblically speaking, I shouldn't say that.

But, you know, and I remember when I told my father, I said, you know, about the gimmick, he said, you know what? Let me tell you something, son. Don't listen to anybody. You go do what you're doing. But when you're done hooping and hollowing

in that ring, bring it to where it really counts. And that's in the pool pit. I said, okay. And, you know, I hope I made them proud because, you know, again, and I go around speaking the word of God. Am I a man that has followed every rule in the book when it comes to the Bible? No, I've fallen just like the next man.

And I'm still falling in certain aspects. But my belief is strong. You know, when I do mess up, I repent. And, you know, I ask God for forgiveness. And I try not to make the same mistakes. We saw you in the Trick Williams' diss video. Like you're at the pulpit. Yeah.

You're doing the whole thing like you're right at home there. Felt great. And, you know, I did actually a whole sermon. They had to cut it, though, because they had to make it for the video. But I said, you want me to come up with a line, like a line for like the offering when you give the offerings? Because when a lot of Baptist churches, right before they give the offering, they did announce the offering. They do like a scripture. And it comes out of Malachi, the book of Malachi, where it talks.

talks about tides and offerings. And I remember it because I heard it so much. And it was kind of like one of those things where I said, hey, you want me to say this? You want me to be able to put this with what we're doing? They said, absolutely. And because we ran out of time with doing what we were doing, they weren't able to use it. But hopefully one day the whole video comes out, trickle put it out, and, you know, the unedited version of it. And then people get to see it one day. Is your forehead from one particular spot, or is it just a lifetime, a career of resty? It was a lifetime of New Jack, Boles Mahoney, and Haxel Rodden. Busting you open the hard way?

Busting me open the hard way a lot of times. There is one big scar here right near your eyebrow. Is that from one spot? No, that was actually from here. I had taken, I was dealing with, I think it was either my knee or what have you. And I had taken some medication, and it made me drowsy. So my stupid behind decided to get up out of the bed, take my plate and fork and everything,

and bring it into the sink so I could, you know, make room on my nightstand. And as I'm walking, my legs gave out and bam, right into the cement floor. The whole career of wrestling. Yeah. And you're busting yourself open like that. Yeah. I mean, come on. You can't get any better.

You can't tell a better story than that. Was there one particular spot with balls or with New Jack where you were like, man, maybe we took this a little too far? Not necessarily. I mean, there were matches in ECW that went a little too far, but I don't think that what we did in the ring, we ever went too far. I think the matches I had with Mass Transit,

I think went a little too far. I understand New Jack's way of thinking at that time, and why he felt how he felt. But I think he took it a little too overboard with what he did. And that's never cool. You know, when you do things like that, it's never okay. And, you know, I felt bad for Matt Stratton at the time, you know, but, you know, what could I do?

You know, because back then, you weren't supposed to open up your mouth if you were a rookie. And if you did, you would get the snobbit out of you. And at that point, I couldn't say anything. You know, but if he had been trained the proper way, he would have known to keep his mouth shut when you're in the locker room, especially when you're talking to a veteran. And he didn't do that. And that was the only, that was the one thing that I wished could have changed and could have been different in my career. And I wouldn't have seen what I saw. What's the scariest moment you've had in the ring?

I think that was a scariest moment. Really? That was one of the scariest moments because when I saw how he got cut, the kid and the blood came out. made my body heat up. And I remember just sitting down on the floor on the outside, just going, what the hell am I doing here in the CW? You know, another time was we had a live event and Edge backdrop me over the top. And he asked me before I did it in the back.

He goes, can you take a backdrop over the top? And I was like, yeah, I could do that. That's not a problem. But I panicked in mid-air. and I held on to the, I held on to the rope and it catapulted me back into the apron and my lower back hit

and my whole body went numb. I couldn't feel my lower legs. I thought I got, I thought I was paralyzed permanently. I tried to get up and walk. I couldn't get up. My whole lower body was paralyzed. Man.

And, because I had jawed a nerve really, really bad. And I just remember going, God, please get me up. Edge came outside and he goes, what's wrong? I go, I can't feel my legs, and she goes, shit. I said, just do me a favor.

Help me get up. Throw me in the ring, cover, and I'll get my arm up, and then just hold me and put me in the headlock. I said, it'll come back. I hope. And it did. And Edge did exactly what I asked him to do. And, you know, nonetheless, nobody knew anything different.

Are you still scared of heights? Petrified. Still. Still. How is one of the most iconic names when we're talking about, talking about TLC matches, scared of heights. When you have Vince McMahon in the back, he's writing those paychecks, and you know the world is watching, you suddenly get over your fear real quick,

and you just go, you know what, if I'm going to die, I'm going to die. Was the scariest moment when you're up there with Jeff and you're both hanging on? Like, is that the, you're scared of heights and you're however many feet above the ring? Is that the scariest moment? That was the scariest moment I think I ever had, because, You know, again, Skate Heights, there's nothing underneath you. Yeah. And Jeff is kicking for dear life.

He is not stomping. And I'm screaming. If you ever love me, you would stop because the ladder is not moved. And when Edge goes, what's going on up there? I go, this son of a bitch keeps kicking me. I said, move the damn ladder now, Edge, move it. And he was like, all right, don't look down. I said, what?

I said, oh, God. And there's no way to control your fall from that. There's no way. So what I did was, like I told this story, held on. And I was like, okay, and I had to block Jeff out. I blocked him out. He's kicking. I had to block him out. I'm like tightening my core that I'm feeling every blow he's kicking me with. And I just go, okay, one, two, three, and I just let go. I let go. And it was like, you know, when you get in a movie theater and somebody's jumping out of window and it gets

quiet and all you hear is, you know, you don't even hear anything. You just, the guy is wound in his arms. That's what it felt like. Until I hit that map. and it was like, boom. That was it. It's a wild moment. It really was. It's also really crazy that when you think of tables, you think of the Duddlies. You think of ladders, you think of the Hardys.

When you think of chairs, you think of Edging Christian. I can't think of that in modern day wrestling, where there's something that's so specific that's attached to a person or to a tag team. When did tables become your thing? I think the minute we put Terry Reynolds through the table, but even more cemented it with May Young. And then it just went off from there. When and how did you guys get paired with Stacey Keebler?

They had nothing for her at the time. And they had, I think, exercised everything they possibly could with her. And then the idea was, well, let's put it with the Dudley's. You know, let's see if that works. And it did. It really did work. I mean, I used to love watching her and Bubba go at it. It was great.

But she used to get on Bubba's nerves so bad. Oh, it was great. Their first interaction, Bubba is, it was like the makeup station. Yeah. And there was a big mirror there. Bubba is doing something. He's getting his whatever makeup done. I don't know.

But he's fixing his hair, here. And he basically sat in front of the mirror. Stacey not realizing it is really oblivious, walks in front of him and start fixing her hair. And then she walks away. Bubba's just like, you're kidding me, right? And that started everything between those two. Oh, it was great.

Was there an element of bringing her in where you're like, well, we've already got something that works. Something different, that may change up our dynamic. I think, I know I felt it was like it was great because we never really had a manager, except for Joel Gertner and Sign Guy. But to have a female manager that looked like her, I thought that was going to be great.

Now, I don't know. I think Bubber wasn't too thrilled with it. But then I think he realized all the stuff he could do with Stacy, and that was when his attitude changed. I think there was a certain stretch of time where you guys became everybody's favorite tag team because they love Stacy. They love Stacy.

Listen, it doesn't hurt to have two ugly guys being represented by the hottest chick in the country. company at the time. It worked, right? It worked. It worked to a T. With you guys having the success you had in ECW, did you think it would translate to WWF?

No, I was petrified. Me and Bubber, when I remember when we got the phone call to go, I got cold feet. I didn't want to go. It got to the point where I basically was just like, I don't want to go. And Bubba was like, what do you mean you don't want to go? I'm like, I'm happy in ECW, let's stay here.

And he was like, no, he was like, I want to go, Devon. This is something that you've always said that you wanted to do more than me. How is the tables have turned where now it's you having cold feet and I want to go? I remember we got into a little bit of it and we wound up hanging up on each other. And we got done. I went on my terrace and I was smoking a cigar. and my first wife, my ex-wife came outside and said, I don't understand what your problem is.

And I said, what are you talking about? She goes, all your life you thought about going to the WWE, now you don't want to go, it makes no sense. What are you scared of? I'm not scared of nothing. What are you talking about? You are scared. You're scared that you're going to fail.

She was like, I'm going to tell you this. You don't take that. opportunity and go now, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. And she walked out and I sat there, finished my cigar and I was like, she's right. I called. Bubba and I said, you know what? I'm sorry. I said, let's do it.

As we made the phone call and we said, okay, we're ready to go. How was the conversation with Paul Heyman? It wasn't as bad people thought it was because it was the night, the infamous pay-per-view. What was it? Heat wave, no, not heat wave. The one where we told, where we caused the riot, which was just about every night. But this is in Dayton, Ohio.

Just sounds like ECW. All the way. Yeah. And we told him after the match that WWB had contacted us and wanted to know we were interested in going. And we did it after the match because we didn't want Paul to think that we're going to come in and half-ass work that night, that we still want to be the Dudley Boys and give everything that we needed to give

that night. And it was almost like he knew because we found out about the working relationship that Vince had with him back then at that time to help fund ECW and get us out of financial problems. And he just, we were like, Paul, listen, we don't want to go. We'd rather not go. We'd rather stay here. So our contract's up. So why don't you give us a dollar more than what you're giving us?

We're not asking for a dollar more. He kept saying, I can't compete with their money, Bubba. I cannot do that. And we said, we're not asking you to compete. We're asking you to just give us $1 more on what we wanted. And that's it. And we'll stay. He wouldn't do it.

Because at that point, he knew that he had to let us go. and the working relationship between him and WV.E. and Vince, if they said we need the Dudleys or we want the Dudleys, we had to go. And so many people were leaving ECW at that time. At that time. All of the biggest names, Taz had recently just left. I think Mike Awesome left. Well, he went to WCW.

Yes, but a lot of big stars had left. And I guess Paul saw the writing on the wall. He did. He was like, it's time to go. You guys got to go. You have to spread your wings. He's like, you need to go and do this. Well, what a career you've had.

Yes, I have. What an incredible career. Like I always said, thank God. It's through the grace of God. And, you know, I've been, you know, I haven't done everything, you know, like I should have in terms of biblical through my career. But, you know, God is a forgiving God, even when you mess up. And I've messed up along the way a lot of times. But yet he's forgiven me. He has made me successful and made me the person who I am today. You got some great stories on your YouTube channel. Again, everybody who's watching this. this needs to go subscribe.

We'll get you to 500,000 soon. Then the gold play button, that's a million. That'll be next. That's what I want. I want that gold one. Yeah. It's got to be as big as the silver one in the back. So the gold one used to be like three times the size.

Really? It used to be way bigger. And then I recently got the gold one. I'm like, I'm obviously grateful for it. I'm appreciative for it. But what happened to the size? Yeah, what happened? Well, hopefully they go back to it by the time.

If they do, I'm getting a new one. I'll wrap this up. with the question that I ask at the end of every interview because gratitude is such a huge part of my life. What are three things in your life, Devon, that you're grateful for today right now as we're sitting here? The three things I'm grateful for is my family, my kids, their health, my health. That's one, my career, still being as active as it is right now, even though I'm not wrestling. and, you know, my faith in God and how he's been there for me and he's never left me. And he still has me going.

Thank you, sir. Thank you, my name. You're a legend. I try. All right, there we go. So many good stories in there. Thank you for listening to this episode and for listening all the way until the end. Make sure to check out Devon's YouTube channel and hit a 3D on that subscribe button for him.

Man, that Umaga story. was just fantastic. May he rest in peace. What a great story. Follow Devon, snap us screenshot, and let us know that you're listening to this episode, Tag Us. He's at Testify, DeVon. I'm at Chris Van Vleet, and we'll wrap this up with a quote from Vince Lombardi. The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall. Be great and be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more instant. site, Sonia DeVille joins us on Thursday. We'll see you right back here for that one.

Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand.

He's the spitfire of Sports Smash. Ticket manage you of it, get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.