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The River City Wrestling Con is happening June 8th and 9th at
the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, FL Visit
rivercitywrestlingcon.com For more information and tickets.
I'm telling you right now brothers and sisters, this is
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Guests scheduled to appear include The Icon, Sting, Trish
Stratus, Devon Dudley, Big Vito, Legrazzo, Lita, Booker T, The
Hardy Boys and so much more. But get this, it will also be
live wrestling action. Fishing Pro wrestling champion
Tiffany Nieves takes on Ruthie J We also have Scotty Sosa.
We also have the gold medalist herself, the suplex Queen
herself, Tiny Funnelly. She'll be in action once again
folks. World Golf Village St.
Augustine, FL June 8th and 9th The River City Wrestling Con
River City Wrestling con.com For ticket information, check it
out. That's right.
You're locked in this. Is what we have here, folks.
To the only show that matters, the Queen of the Crop.
Duke loves wrestling and there is no one that does it better
than your host. I have come.
Here to chew bubble gum and kick ass.
And I'm all out of bubble. Brothers and sisters, welcome
back to Devon and the Duke. This is the limited podcast
series hosted by myself. Duke loves wrestling and of
course, the Hall of Famer, our favorite brother himself, Yvonne
Dudley. How you doing there Devon?
I'm doing good man, just one day at a time.
Tired as all hell. Just came back from the road,
was in Altoona, PA Very, very good show there.
And then, of course, I was in Berkeley.
I think I, I always pronounce it wrong.
Yeah. Berkeley, West Virginia.
So I was at Frizzle's production and it was fantastic.
It was. That was a really good turn out
there. Shout out to our friends over at
Frizzle. Certainly they they do a good
job. They keeping you booked and busy
huh? Yeah, they really are.
And I said I got to make some time for vacation.
That's how much that, you know, I'm just going, going, going
constantly. But but that's a good thing.
And I'll never say no to any of that, you know?
Hey man, listen out of sight is out of mind.
So the more you stay out there, the more people continue to to
request you. That's good stuff there.
In fact, you got the River City Wrestling Con coming up June 8th
and 9th. That's at the World Golf Village
down there in Florida there. You.
How do you feeling about that? I feel good.
I mean, I've heard there's, I mean, a lot of people down there
and I can't wait. Try to pump this out as much as
possible. In other words, get the word out
and let the people know that we're going to be there.
Frizzle production along with a host of other wrestling
superstars. We're going to be there and just
really make, you know, make this worthwhile.
You know, I want everybody to come out and come say hello and
show your love and support because we're going to do the
same thing when you do come out. So I'll be there from, I
believe, from 10:10 AM to 6:00 PM.
Wow, that's a full day right there listen folks, you you
heard the commercial right before you heard our voices here
River City Wrestling con.com. You want to get your tickets in
advance. I'm telling you the walk up
business is going to be crazy. This is already pretty much sold
out. I mean they're they're
approaching 90% already sold out.
So if you want to get your tickets ahead of time to make
sure you can see Devon Dudley, Booker T, Sting, Trish Stratus,
the whole 9 yards there, then you definitely want to go to
River City Wrestling con.com, get your tickets.
It's going to be a hot day. It's going to be an exciting
day. It's going to be a fun time
there. So definitely folks, check it
out. You know, Devon, some some crazy
stuff has happened just in the past week since we last
connected here in the world of pro wrestling.
But one of the things that is pro wrestling related but has
crossed over, so to speak, is this issue with the Jacksonville
Jaguars. One of their players was accused
of sexually assaulting a woman on an aircraft.
And we know that the Jacksonville Jaguars is owned by
Shah Khan and his son Tony Khan is one of the executives of the
company as well. And they are the owners of All
Elite Wrestling. So there's your wrestling
connection there. Now Tony Khan a couple weeks
back referred to the WWE as the Harvey Weinstein of pro
wrestling. Now with these these rape
allegations that have turned into a legal mess, what are your
thoughts on the the cons here? Shad Khan, Tony Khan,
Jacksonville Jaguars, AEW ownership?
What are your thoughts on them having to deal with their own
rape scandal in one of their companies?
Well, you know, I don't think it was the father that's, you know,
meant any ill harm verbally towards the WWE.
Of course, it was Tony taking shots.
And like we've said before, not only myself, but other people in
the podcast, why are you concerning yourself with the WWE
when you should be concerning yourself with AEW?
You know, forget the WWE. You do your thing.
Stop worrying about the WWE and what's going on over there.
It's almost like he's trying to make this into a WCW, WWE/F
rivalry again. It just doesn't happen.
You don't have the star power like that to do that, I don't
think. And you know, 'cause back in the
day, you know, it was different. You know, you had Flair, you had
all of these guys that really, really were household names and
pro wrestling and future legends and Hall of Farmers way before
their time. You know, Tony doesn't have that
roster. So why would you do it?
Like, why would you even try to attempt to go after the WWE is
beyond me. And the thing about it is be
careful of what you say about somebody because as you can see,
the same thing that he accused or made fun of the WWE for now,
his football team is on the hot seat.
And again, you know, we don't know.
The guy is allegedly saying that it's false and it's not true,
but he'll have his day in court just like Vince McMahon will.
And you can't go around saying that you're the Pepsi of the
wrestling world and WWE is the Harvey Weinstein or Weinstein.
Now, let me say his name. You can't say that knowing
what's going on in your homecourt, especially with the
major football team, why would you even attempt to go that
route was beyond me. Again, worry about you and your
company and getting your company to be the best there is out
there as opposed to worrying about what somebody else's
company is going through. Not to me.
The WWE is doing quite well right now, Tony selling out
everywhere, whether it's live events, whether it's TV's.
And you know, I said this before and the ATW fans can get mad if
I say this, but think about it, you and I talked about this.
WrestleMania sold out both nights.
Over 80,000 people, correct? Absolutely.
And now you. And then both nights are that
sad Saturday and Sunday, and then Monday Night Raw, they sell
out again, you know, same area, same town, same everything
selling out back-to-back to back, you know, three times in a
row in the same state, in the same building.
I mean, even though Monday Night Royal was the building right
next door, but still that's unheard of.
They did that. AW is not ready to do anything
like that yet. They can't sell out 80,000
back-to-back two nights in a row and then go, do you know, 15 to
20,000 seat arena and they got rid of half of the stage so they
can make room for more seats to be sold and they still sold it
out. So until AEW can do that, I
think Tony Kahn shouldn't be saying anything.
Worry about your own company and stop worrying about what the WWE
is doing again. Now it's coming to bite him in
the behind for saying what he said.
So, you know, whether he looks at it that way or not, now you
have a a sexual case against somebody in your homecourt.
Now what are you going to do about that?
Well said. Well said.
It's just bizarre. I mean, sometimes I feel like
the left hand is not really communicating with the right
hand when it comes to that whole business situation that they
have over there. Case in point, AEW world
champion Swerve Strickland. OK, this is a man who has been
AW champion for about what, six weeks now or so?
He just came out with a statement where he stated that
now is more likely than ever would be the best time for AEW
and WWE to work together. Now I ask you this Devon, if
you're calling WWE the Harvey Weinstein of pro wrestling, does
it make sense to have your world champion put out to the media
that he would like to for your company to work with the WWE?
We Does that even make sense? This is what that's what doesn't
make sense and This is why people are laughing at Tony.
You know, all you die hard hardcore ATW fans can disagree
with me, tell me to shut up, mind my business or what have
you. But This is why it's being
looked at as Tony being a big joke in the resting world.
Now he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut and leave well
enough alone. WWE is not saying anything or
taking shots at them. And if if it is, it's so minute
but not even remotely coming close to saying anything.
You know, like he said or like anybody else said.
So here it is. You got your world's champion
swerve actually saying it would be great to go into business
with WWE. The only thing is I don't think
Tony can handle a guy like Triple H and doing business with
him. I just really don't think so.
And I, I, I don't know, I could be wrong, but I don't know.
I don't see it happening just for the simple fact that the
three occasions that I've met Tony and how he is, I mean,
look, Tony's a nice guy. Don't get me wrong.
Everybody will say that about Tony when they meet him.
He's a nice guy, he's good hearted.
But Tony doesn't know the wrestling business like he says
he does. He knows it from a fan's point
of view. He has no idea from a promoter
side, and that's what scares me about it because I think
everybody, and I speak for a lot of people, they want to see AEW
succeed. They want to see AEW prosper.
And if Tony keeps opening his mouth and saying dumb things
like that, it's. Not going to.
Happen, you know, it's just not going to happen.
And I'm hope somebody's putting the muzzle on them and, you
know, keeping him quiet just because he doesn't need to poke
the bear, you know, you just don't need to do that.
Tony, you know, leave him alone. You know, just leave it alone.
Michael Jackson made a song like that.
Leave it alone. That's right.
Just stop dogging me around.
Of course, you know, great song. Great.
So in fact, Marvin Gaye, Don't mess with Mr. TT stands for
Trouble, You know, leave that man alone.
You know, maybe because Tony feels he's got so much money
that, you know, he can go around and say whatever he wants, you
know, but Ted Turner thought the same thing.
And you see what Vince did to him, although, you know, Ted was
leading for a while. He made mistakes along the way.
And I believe I saw a documentary where Hogan had said
he, I think Hogan said he had two TV's in his locker room, one
with WCW program and the other one with WWF at the time
programming. And he pretty much was watching
how things were going on in WWE and pretty much saw the tide
starting to turn. And he says, boys, you better be
careful because Vince is coming now.
He has that fire back up in him to actually try to take over
this this war that's going on now.
So you better be careful because Vince is coming now.
And sure enough, that's exactly what happened.
And you know, people have to understand too.
Don't sleep on Triple H Do not sleep.
Don't take his kindness for weakness.
You know, if Hunter has to be a shark, Hunter will be a shark if
he has to. But for you to sit there and to
think that he's not going to do anything or say anything, you're
a damn. Fool.
Well, well said. And and Speaking of which, I
mean, look, triple HI, got to tip my hat to you, brother.
You were able to not only were you able to get Jordan Grace,
you know, the TNA Knockouts champion, you're doing a
crossover with them. So there's a collaboration
there, which is cool. You had her on NXT and now she's
going to be part of the upcoming paper PLE, which is great.
Not only that though, you went out and you found one of the
biggest names in music today, Sexy Red.
She was a part of NXT last week. She's going to be part of the
PLE. And you know, I want to get your
thoughts on this Steve, on, you know, NXT traditionally is going
to do like a point 21.22. And in the in the demo for their
rating, they did a .42 in their demo with Sexy Red, who was
actually advertised. So to put it in perspective, I
mean, she's somebody who does over 20 million streams per
month of her music and her audience, you know, primarily
are young adults. So the fact that she was able to
bring a significant portion of her own fan base to tune into
NXT, she was a difference maker there.
What are your thoughts on that, Devon?
Just about doing that type of collaboration with a big star
like Sexy Red. I think it's a genius idea.
You know, you have to understand the rap world has always loved
pro wrestling. You have a lot of rappers that
basically, you know, mention, you know, a lot of wrestlers and
their lyrics and things like that, and they go on record
saying they were wrestling fans. I can't begin to tell you how
many of these new artists that I've met over the years and said
how they used to watch the Attitude Era.
They loved the Attitude Era and this and that.
They love the Hogan and Andre era.
That was their shit back then. Oh my God, you don't know.
I was so hyped up. I was so good.
And when I saw you at you and Bubba and Edge and Christian and
the Hardys do your thing with those TLC matches, oh man, you
know, you hear it all the time. So those wrestling fans in the
rap world that might have left wrestling for that little bit of
time, now it's coming back because of her and she's
bringing that fan base, which is huge.
And even those who don't even watch wrestling, I've never even
seen wrestling, are now watching it because they're watching her.
And guess what? That's bringing in ratings.
I got to tell you, I I tipped my hat and you're absolutely right.
And keep in mind in October, NXT is moving over to The CW, now
The CW Network. They draw traditionally a high
percentage of people of color audience, especially black
audience, and they're younger people.
So to start tapping into these artists or, you know,
celebrities in general who can maintain that demographic for
you, it just makes sense. Well, you know.
I'm sorry, but I. Also think that, you know, Vince
tapped into other cultures, the Latino culture, the Indian
culture, the Japanese culture, you know, in terms of bringing
stars that represent those race of people.
And, you know, it was always huge.
And we, I think African Americans across the board felt
that Vince didn't do enough for the black community in terms of
promoting Black Stars and things like that.
Sure. The New Day got the rub.
Absolutely. You know, what do you say?
The New Day, The Rock, you know, things like that.
Yeah, But the way they like, for instance, Jinder Mahal, you
know, I remember the big push that he got, you know, leading
up to him winning the title and how big it was and how they were
really trying to get that India market and they were really
trying to press forward with it it.
And even with Rey Mysterio, with the Latino market, you know how
they were just pushing so hard to get those those people coming
in to watch it. And so when it came to African
Americans, a lot of black people felt that Vince didn't do his
due diligence. He did.
He didn't do what he was supposed to do in terms of that.
I also feel, you know, now with Triple H coming aboard, he's
doing that. He understands that he's
basically doing what he has to do to hit every kind of market
there is to hit, especially nationality wise.
My hats, my hat goes off to Triple H.
He knows what he's doing. And listen, you might as well
just sit back and enjoy the ride because it's going to be a fun
one. Absolutely.
I mean, when you look at it, Bad Bunny, Logan Paul, Sexy Red, if
you just look at those three key figures right there and the
following that they have, it's tremendous.
They, they're bringing that to the so, so for any wrestlers out
there, by the way, who say, well, why do you have to have
these folks from outside of wrestling come in and they're
taking a spot and this and that. Let me tell you something.
Those folks have a following and a loyal following that spends
money and watches programming and goes on social media and
generates money for them in that way as well, watching videos and
tweeting and talking and snapchatting and all that stuff.
If you're not doing that, then you need to take a step back and
understand, thank the stars for the house.
OK, you know what a Bad Bunny is?
One of the Is that literally the biggest music icon today?
Thank you Bad Bunny for the house anytime you show up in the
WWE. Absolutely.
And I think people got to understand that it's not about
taking the spots and. This and that in order for like
for instance, there are people with that young lady coming in
the NXT. Sexy red, yes.
Red I'm sorry, I I don't know the the art.
Of today, a lot of them. She she's out of your
demographic. Diva on mine too, but it's sexy
red. You know I'm Big Daddy Kane.
And on and run DMC, you know, Hey, don't make me.
I'll go even further. Curtis Blow.
Here we go. Here we go.
You know, but no. But you know, even, you know,
people that follow, you know, red, you know, basically who
don't watch wrestling. Now we're going to watch
wrestling because she's on the show and that might be something
that, you know, sparks their attention and go, Oh my God, I
like this. Oh, this match is great.
And now I'm gonna start watching every week because of her.
So it's definitely a cross promotion.
She might be helping out a little bit more for the WWE than
on her side. But again, it's their, the
publicity, they're doing it and you know, it's getting out there
and it's very positive right now.
Sure is sure is shout out. Hey, listen, I'll say it.
Thank you for the how sexy red the fact that you were able to
deliver all of that extra audience and they got to see
Trick Williams, they got to see Lola Vice, they got to see the
best and the brightest of NXT. Thank you sexy red for providing
that. You just put a lot of money in a
lot of folks pockets. That's good stuff there.
You know, I'm a big I'm a big fan of the storyline between.
Trick and Lashley, I love it. Oh, my God, Last, oh, last
legend. She, she first of all, you know,
she is a a legend in the NCAA. She she has a bunch of different
records and rebounding, what have you from Mississippi State.
And she made it to the Final Four actually last legend there.
So she she is a super athlete in her own right.
Did you know that about her history there?
Yeah. We've talked.
Remember I was in NXT. That's right.
I talked. We, we, we talk somewhere.
I'm not gonna say a lot, but we did, you know, talk a little
bit. And I remember asking her,
'cause I had heard about her playing basketball and she went
into detail and told me some of the things she had done.
And I was, I was amazed because I didn't know that.
And, you know, it was like NXT never really put that out there,
I don't think. And if they did, I might have
missed it at the time. But I, I, I didn't know it until
I spoke to her. So, you know, again, everything
that they're doing, you know, they say wrestling is a male
soap opera show. And they got me hooked with that
story. You know, all the things that's
going on between those two. And I'm like, I can't wait.
I'm intrigued to see what they do next with this story.
Well said. And listen, you know what?
Is that an example of black love?
OK, it has been. What's that?
I said I say that all the time. Black love at its best.
Black love at its best, and it's something that, quite frankly,
we haven't seen a lot of through the years in pro wrestling on
this scale. So the fact that they're even
writing a storyline like this is just tremendous, and it's
wonderful to see it develop, right?
And you know, this is what I'm saying, they're touching base on
stuff like that and they're hitting it.
So they're getting that demographic from the African
American community. But you know, is AEW doing that?
And I don't see that there, You know, I don't see that there at
all. It's it's one of those things
where I think they better start stepping up before they all
starts taking notice and then calls power on it.
You know, Tony again, and I said this last week, you know, he
needs the right people in the front of him to help him because
right now it is just not working.
And I hope to God that the light bulb comes on with somebody over
there that can really help him get everything going because we
would hate to see AW Fold or anything like that.
Not saying that they would, but we would hate for them to really
drop dramatically. I love the fact that they are a
number two company and I love the fact that they're really
trying to make strides to be the best and I hope they really
succeed. But they got a clean house
first. Well, listen you you just coined
a phrase right there. Drop dramatically.
And unfortunately, that's exactly what happened with one
of your former rivals, one of your best rivals in in your
entire career history, Adam Copeland, the man known as Edge.
He was in a situation recently in AW where he was standing on
top of the steel cage. And I don't know what he was
trying to do. It wasn't a splash, it wasn't
anything like that, but he literally jumped from that cage
and dropped like a rock straight down.
And unfortunately, he he broke some bones in his leg.
So he is going to be out for the foreseeable future.
A couple of people weighed in on this.
Booker T is waiting on this, saying he doesn't know why the
hell he even took that bump. Your brother Bubba, Bully Ray,
he he's waiting on this and said, brother, you don't have to
do this. So I'm going to ask you, the
Hall of Famer, Devon Dudley, literally one of Adam Copeland's
biggest rivals, greatest rivals. We saw it on the WWE Rivals show
on A&E. And for all you folks that have
on demand, definitely I encourage you to check that out.
WWE rivals, that is the Dudley Boys versus Edge and Christian
versus the Hardy Boys. Definitely want to check that
out. But Devon, what do you think
about Adam Copeland taking a bump like that at at his age and
just the fact that he got so banged up as a result of it?
Well, you know, when you get a certain age and you're still
wrestling in this business, it's like you don't have, Especially
when you've been as successful in this business as Edge has
been. You can't really expect your
body to hold up for as long as it's been holding up.
You know Edge has to realize. That those days are over, man.
We can't just jump from the edge like that and then expect
nothing bad to happen. But here's the deal.
Also, Edge realizes that and he went, he went to Twitter and he
pretty much said that, you know, his body was like, no, wait a
minute, what are you doing? You know I'm going to put you
on. Freeze mode right now so you can
understand, you know, that we can't do that anymore.
You know, we're not those 2530 year olds that, you know, was
hanging from ladders and hitting each other and doing that.
Listen, yeah, it was almost like when Sting did that dive on the
thing. You know, he's a 60 year
something year old man. He was diving, you know, out of
the Raptors and it was just like Sting wide.
Don't do that. You don't need to.
You are over more than enough to have to do that.
And that's where I feel about Edge.
You know Edge don't need to do that.
Anymore, you know, but I think Edge realizes that now, you
know, And he said that in the video that he put out on
Twitter. So, you know, I think Edge
realizes it was a mistake. But listen, I've been with
Edges, You know, when your body gets a certain way and then all
of a sudden it starts to tell you, no, we can't do that
anymore, then, you know, you kind of listen to it to a
certain degree. And then, you know, the next
time you're out there, you start feeling good.
You're like, yeah, I got this, I got this.
Hell, let me go up there and do it.
And they do it because they feel like they can.
And it's only until the end of that move when you realize you
fucked up, you know, And it's one of those things where, you
know, I'm sure Edge realizes that now.
I don't think we will see Edge do anything like that again, but
again, I hope a speedy recovery, Edge, I hope that you're right
back in the driver's seats where you belong.
And you know, again, kudos to you, man for even attempting to
do that. But I'm sure it won't be done
again like that 'cause like I said, I think you learned your
lesson and now you know you don't have to do it.
You don't have to do it that put that on AT shirt.
Seriously, you don't have to do it.
The the experience that Adam Copeland has, the amazing mind
that he has all the battles he's been through throughout his
wrestling career to take a risk like that.
You're on top of a what, 15 foot high steel cage and you're
jumping off of it. Just come on, brother, we we
don't want to see you do that and we hope you get well bested
Adam Copeland and edge Beth Phoenix, the whole family there.
We hope you get well, brother. That's just that's heavy.
Absolutely. Look on the What was it?
The 1000 episode of TNAI Went up to the second rope to do what's
up? And when I landed, I went, oh,
maybe I shouldn't have done that.
Maybe it's me to do that. You know, I mean, that was the
2nd rope that wasn't nearly where Edge was.
But even that little bit, you know, I was like, Oh yeah, no,
ain't going to do that no more that.
But every once in a while, you know, me and Bubba will do a
match. He'll be like, so we're going to
do the what's up tonight? I go, no, he goes, you can't do
it at all. I go, Nope.
I'm not even entertaining the idea of doing that anymore.
Even if I'm the even from the second rope.
Not even from the second rope. I wouldn't even do it from the
first rope. Listen, I, I think the last
time, at least one of the last times that you did the What's up
was here in Boston. It might have been 20/16/2017,
your last WWE run at I think it was ATLC pay-per-view and you
were in a, in a match, an extreme match, you Bubba.
Tommy Dreamer was in that match, I believe, and might have been
the Bludgeon Brothers. You know, God, God rest his
soul, Brody, He might have been in that match with Eric.
I remember you guys doing the What's Up.
That might have been one of the last times you ever did that
move man Wow. No, the last time we did it was
on the 1000 episode. OK, OK, OK.
So that was it. You never did it again.
No, never did it again after that.
Wow, wow. Well, there it is.
You. Know, again, it's just one of
those things where you really don't have to do stuff like that
anymore. You know, you've done enough in
your career where the people know we've got fond memories of
it and you know, you enjoy it. Sometimes you just got to know
when to fold them, you know, like that old know when to hold
up, know when to walk away when it's done, you know, And I've
learned quick. I've learned quick.
So. Whoever thought they'd hear
Devon Dudley quoting Kenny Rogers The Gambler?
OK, here it is. I didn't know you were a country
music fan, man. Listen to this.
Yeah, I no, believe me, I'm not. But you can't understand.
He was big back in the 80s. You know everybody you know when
growing up in Brooklyn, NY, everybody knew who he was.
You know he. Had some faint.
He has some very famous songs along with the movies that he
did that made the songs even more popular.
So can he? He was.
He was known in the projects. Don't think, don't sleep on it.
He was known in the projects. Well, certainly didn't hurt that
Lionel Richie wrote. Lady, that Kenny performer.
I think that might have been his biggest hit.
And my loved that song. Oh loved it played it over and
over again until the damn tape ran out.
It was she loved that song lady. It was a very very good song.
It actually just really put him in another atmosphere when he
did that song. For you young bucks that don't
know about the the song lady from Kenny go to YouTube check
it out. Very love, great song.
Great song and again, written by Lionel Richie, Sir Lionel
Richie. He he literally is, I think he's
knighted officially by the King of England, you know, in the in
the face of his his charitable organization.
So Lionel wrote that song for Kenny Rogers specifically.
Kenny took it as his biggest hit.
Beautiful, beautiful. Listen.
They don't write music like that anymore, Devon, Where where you
you actually can love on somebody, you know?
Listen, they don't write songs period, like they used to do
back in the day. And you know, when I listen to
like everything is sex, you know, it's either sex, money or
whatever it, it's not the same. Don't get me wrong, I'm not
saying our generation didn't do that 'cause we probably started
this generation into doing that because of what we did, but we
also knew how to have fun with our music.
You know, it wasn't so much. Pressure like it is now.
I don't know, I just, there are some songs of today that I can
get just a lot that I just cannot.
I'm stuck in the 80s, I'm stuck in the 90s.
I'm stuck in the early Millennium, say from 2000 to
2007. I'm stuck in that air.
And you know, I'm OK with that. I'm OK with.
That, at least, it was the best. Yeah, and not to mention, like
when I'm in my car and I listen to satellite radio, I'm either
listening to Joel Osteen, which I'm not afraid to say that I
love. I love listening to his
messages. I listen to, you know, Dave Le
Greca and Bubba, Tommy Dreamer and Mark Henry on Busted Open
Radio. But music wise, the groove on.
So I love the old school. I love the I love the old school
music from back then because to me that was when I was growing
up, that was when music was at its best.
Man, did you? Were you somebody that used to
watch a video Soul on on BET? Absolutely.
Oh my God. Donnie Simpson, brother.
Yes, I was there watching it and loved every minute of it and
then never knew that one day it would all end it.
Will. Be over.
You always thought it would always be there.
You just never saw the ending of it.
And you know, it's unfortunate now because when I look back how
I felt, I took advantage of that time.
In other words, I didn't really appreciate it because you always
thought it was going to be there.
But again, you never know about things like that.
Who would ever thought it would disappear?
I was just on Instagram and saw all of these restaurants, these
well known restaurants that a lot of them are going to be
shutting down to the point where they're going to be non existent
anymore. You know, Red Lobster was one,
Pizza Hut was one. They're getting rid of a lot of
their locations, Subway, a lot of the major, major restaurants
that we know, the franchise, they were actually getting rid
of some of them and to the point where eventually they'll just be
gone. Well, listen, once, once they
got rid of Filene's basement and Woolworths and things like that.
When I was a kid, man, I knew that it was over.
Yeah, and I remember Woolworth. I remember that very well.
I haven't gotten over that, man. Certain things you just, it's,
it's like certain sounds, certain flavours, certain
atmospheres. You'll never experience that
again. It's such a trip, man.
Like I'll never experience that again.
I tell my I tell my kids, I tell a lot of the kids at the
wrestling school. DDAI say you guys have no idea
the time you missed the 80s and the 90s.
You know, you have no idea. I'm not, I'm not hating on this
new generation, but I'm like, you have no idea the fun, the
way how music was done, how just everything was invented.
You know how we went from the 1930s and 40s, fifties and 60s
and 70s to the 1980s, just creating, you know, the
Internet, all of that stuff, just new, you know, video games,
just everything, everything was invented in the 80s and the 90s
that we use today that we would have never thought in a million
years, you know, that we would ever do without.
Or I don't know. It's just, it was just an
amazing time. Well, think about this.
We had a period in life where Michael Jackson, Prince, Super
Mario Brothers, Arnold Schwarzenegger, all of this Hulk
Hogan, all of this was happening all at the same time.
Yeah, let's not forget Whitney Houston.
Whitney Houston. Oh, listen, I remember because
my father had it. I remember he had the record,
her first album, and she had that short, like really, really
short slicked back hairdo. And she looks so beautiful in
that album cover. She looked like a damn Angel,
brother. Oh my God.
Oh. I I remember, and I remember
when she first came out, I was a little upset at Whitney because
I had saw the video for the first time, the greatest love of
all. And I was like, wait a minute,
that's not her. She don't sing that.
That's George Benson, you know, and I was just like, wait a
minute, you know, why is she covering George Benson's song?
That and, and she's getting the credit for it.
But I was young. I didn't know any better, you
know, So I mean, again, it was just a beautiful time back then.
And you know, like you said, all those stars that you you just
mentioned, I mean, it was just, it'll never be like that again,
unfortunately. Man, you messing me up now,
Devon 1996 Harbor Lights. I saw George Benson and Kenny G
talk about a back-to-back lineup.
George Benson and Kenny G perform at the same concert
there. And in fact, George Benson,
everybody was yelling out Broadway.
When he did Broadway, he brought
the damn house down. Oh, yeah.
And you know, a lot of these, this new generation can't even
fathom music like that. You know, I was playing.
There was a there was a Cardi B song playing at the school.
And one of the students looked at my son and said, your father
knows that song. And he went, yeah.
And he was like, and I started singing some of the lyrics.
And she goes, oh, my God. And he's singing the lyrics.
I looked at that person. I said, listen, understand one
thing before there was Cardi B, there was MC Light, there was
there was money, love, you know, there was the real Roxanne.
You know, there was all of these other females that blew them out
the way out of the water. But yet they got their start.
People like Cardi B and them from listening to artists like
that from back in the day. So don't look at me as being
old. I remember people that you would
never even have thought of. So I was like, you know, I might
be a little older, but don't sleep on me now.
Don't sleep on experience baby. That's.
Right, like some of those comedians.
Go watch out young fella. That's.
Right. But I will say this.
Because I keep trying to bring it up and I keep forgetting my
memory goes blank. Too many head shots.
I I was on the plane coming home today and I happened to look at
the documentary. The documentary on Netflix, The
making of We Are the World. Oh yes, love it, love it.
It was a fantastic watch. If you have not seen it, I
suggest you go on Netflix and take a look at it.
Especially our generation. I don't know if the new
generation will understand like. Our generation will because we
lived it. We were there.
You know how important that song really was.
And then think about it after the after the American of Music
Awards, all of those stars that were in that song left the Music
Awards and went straight to the studio at like midnight started
and didn't get out of. There till like.
Four, 5:00 in the morning. And these were big main people
with the egos and stuff like that, you know, So who would
have ever thought that Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Lionel
Richie would have gotten all of these huge stars during that era
to come and to do that? And I almost forgot because I
remember this very well. But then I but I had forgotten
because it had been so long that at 7:50 AM the world.
All around the world played that song at the same time.
In other words, when 750 hit, everybody around the world
played that song, got together and started singing it in unity
across the world. It was like, that's how big that
song was and how it helped raise over $80 million for the
starving people in Ethiopia. It was an amazing time.
Back then, we could just do a podcast of talking about the 80s
and 90s and I guarantee we'd be as big as any other podcast out
there because you have a lot of people reminiscing about what we
talked about. It was just truly a great time.
When Netflix does things like that, I'm instantly glued
because I missed the time growing up.
I missed the 80s, I missed the 90s.
It was such a great time and you don't have to worry about
nonsense. There wasn't disrespect,
respectful people to the point where how a lot of people are
now. It was a different world, a
different time back then. You know, it's funny that you
say that because everything that you just said to, to wrap up
your comment was embodied in Diana Ross in that documentary.
If you remember correctly, she was she, she literally started
break me down crying. Yeah, right.
Because of all the stars that were there under one roof for
the occasion. And she didn't want it to end.
Like literally this is one of the greatest moments of her
life, to be around everybody in one place, collaborating and
just enjoying each other's company.
Right up in Hella Belafonte. I didn't realize.
I mean, I knew the history of him, but how important he really
was to the African American community.
And I don't think our generation gave him enough credit for the
things that he has done for civil rights movements and all
of that. And he was so instrumental also
in that song and doing what he did.
And for everybody from that was in that room that night to start
singing his song. I mean, you know, people say I
ain't singing that song. I got my own hit music, but they
were singing song to pay tribute to him at that particular time
when everybody's tired, hungry, want to go home, just got off a
tour. What am I doing here?
They were all giving tribute to Harry Belafonte.
And it just showed me how important people that, you know,
people like him were back then and how, you know, inspiring he
became as an artist and as a person.
Very, very well said, very well said.
They were singing Dao Dao. That's right.
I, I wonder about something, Devon, because you bring this up
and now you're, you're, you're making me have some recall here.
There was a scene in that Netflix documentary, We are the
World in which Bob Dylan, who at that point is a legend.
He, he's cemented, he, he is certified.
There's no question Bob Dylan is a legend already, right?
One of the greatest folk singers, songwriters, whatever,
everyone covering his music, there was a scene where he just
wasn't getting the melody and he needed a lot of assistance in
doing his part. And Stevie Wonder, who was very,
very, despite the fact that he was blind, he was very good at
mimicking everybody. So he helped Bob Dylan
understand the melody and then Lionel Richie and and Quincy
Jones and and a few other folks, Al Jarreau, what have you.
They, they assisted Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and want to
make sure I give the boss credit as well.
They assisted Dylan in feeling comfortable and secure enough to
be able to deliver on his part in that song.
What we saw in that moment though, Devon was one of the
biggest stars in the history of music, having a very insecure
moment and needing support and his peers being there to help
him and guide him into a safe space.
Well, and the thing about it was when you're watching the
documentary, you see the uncomfortableness in his face.
It was almost like, I don't belong here.
I don't belong here because. He Can't Sing like the rest of
these folks. Right.
He, like you said, he was a focusing and that's totally
different range of singing. And you know, like again, you
got Cyndi Lauper, Kenny Loggin, the guy from Air Supply, Britt,
Bruce Springsteen, Ray Charles, you know, Michael Jackson, I
mean, unbelievable, you know, the stars.
And I again, I hope nobody gets offended because I'm leaving out
some people, but it was just an amazing time.
And I wonder because I don't know if the question was ever
asked, You know, Prince basically was asked to be there
and they, you know, they got in touch with Sheila E to basically
get in touch with Prince because Prince and Sheila E were very,
very tight. And, you know, they were like,
can you get him to come down? And she's like, I don't know,
I'll try. And she called him.
And, you know, he just wasn't having it.
He was, he didn't come down. And I wonder, you know, I wonder
if he ever regretted not coming down there.
No one ever knew that this song was going to be as big as it
was. You know, no one ever knew that
it won album of the year, record of the year.
It won all of that the next year at the at the Grammy Award.
So nobody knew how big this song was going to be.
And again, everybody took time out of their schedule to go do
this. And you know what the great part
about it was all these egos in that one room did it all for
free. Great point.
No one point they knew what the course was and they went out
there and they did it. And it almost made me tear up
when I was watching it because I'm like, man, think about this.
They all got together. They didn't have to be there.
They could have made excuses in their busy lives, especially
after the Music Awards. Why?
Why do we have to go there? We have our own field, you know,
stuff to deal with. But they put their egos at the
door. Quincy Jones wrote something
down a piece of paper. So when they first walked in,
they looked at it, it said leave your egos at the door.
And that's exactly what they did.
They left it at the door. They created history that will
never be forgotten. And now this documentary, I
think is going to do extremely well on Netflix.
And I'm so happy that the powers that be did what they did with
this 'cause it was truly a great watch.
Shout out to Netflix once again the we are the world Netflix
documentary absolutely worth checking out folks.
I checked it out Devon checked it out.
We want you to check it out as well.
And don't forget Monday Night Raw is moving over to Netflix
starting in 2025 S how fitting Netflix delivering on all this
top notch content. The fact that they're doing
something like the We are the World documentary and they
thought enough of a pro wrestling to actually buy the
rights of Monday Night Raw. So it's pretty awesome to just
think about that Netflix is going to be part of the family.
So shout out to Netflix. Thank you for all the great work
that you do and we can't wait to see what happens next for sure.
Absolutely. It's, it's interesting, Devon,
that we go down this road of nostalgia and, and think about
life because at the end of the day, that's what we're talking
about. We're talking about life.
And you and I had a conversation couple weeks back and I, I
talked to you offline about this before we started recording
today and asked you if it was OK if we brought it up on air
because you had a situation where you had a tremendous
health event in your own right. And quite frankly, Devon, we
almost lost you. Yeah, yeah, we, I had a stroke
November 13th of 2020. And I was always embarrassed to
talk about this because, you know, I'm Devon Dudley.
I'm supposed to be strong, fit. I'm too young to have a stroke.
I'm nobody should ever look at me in that light, you know?
And over the years since the stroke, I realized that that's
not the case. You know, everybody, nobody's
is, is Superman, you know, everybody's human and they're
going to go through their stuff. So I finally accepted it.
And I was like, you know what? Don't be afraid to talk about it
because talking about it, you could help somebody, you know, I
didn't like talking about it because the dirt sheets made it
seem like I was dead. I was dying, you know?
And but I was, you know, and I got angry for them putting it
out there 'cause I didn't go into great detail about it back
then, but I just thought they took it just a little too far
when they put the news out there.
But yeah, I my blood pressure for a long time, I couldn't get
down. I was very stressed, you know,
when I was a producer for the Vince regime, 'cause it was a
very, very stressful time for me during then.
You know how, Vince? Ruled things and did what he did
but. It, it caused my blood pressure
to just constantly, constantly stay up.
Couldn't get it down to save my life.
And I started getting signs of it.
You know, I was getting dizzy certain, you know, points of the
day. I would, you know, I would walk
down the hall and basically start feeling dizzy.
Had to grab the wall a couple of times and it was the stroke
starting the form but I didn't know that.
And finally I went down to Hollywood, CA with Alexa Bliss
and Charlotte Flair. WWE asked me to go down there
with them to help produce their scene with NBC for the new Punky
Brewster show and I said yeah not a problem.
I remember saying goodnight to both Charlotte and Alexa because
we have to go get COVID tested. And it was like the minute you
got off the plane, you got to go get COVID tested.
Then you go and do something, you got to get COVID tested
again. I mean, it was crazy during that
time how many times we got COVID tested just to go across the
street, it seemed like. And so we said goodnight to each
other. I went upstairs, I called my
wife, I ordered some Panda Express.
And I remember after I was finished, I told my wife.
I said OK, I got to get up in the morning.
I got to meet Alexa and Charlotte downstairs at 8:30 in
the morning, so I'm going to go to bed.
So, you know, it's a long day for me.
I'm really excited because it's the first time that WWE trust me
to go out there and to, you know, look over Charlotte and
Alexa, who were two, you know, the biggest stars at that time,
woman wise. And I'm going to produce this
segment on an NB Sheets NBC show that's about to be rebooted.
Punky Brewster. And I remember saying goodbye to
my wife, going to the bathroom, leaving the bathroom.
Now, usually in my hotel room, I locked the door and I put the
latch on there. I've done that since day one.
But as I'm walking out of the bathroom, something kept yelling
at me. Take the latch off the door.
Don't lock the door. And it kept volume because I was
like, I was going to ignore it because I was like, no, I always
lock the door. Don't, don't stop.
And as I'm getting close to the bed, something said, take the
latch off the damn door. And I'm just like, somebody was
talking to me. I'm just like, what the hell
sounds like F it's going to it's going to mess with me.
So I might just take it off. So I took it off.
I got up my recollection. I got up at around 4:00 that
morning to go to the bathroom and I went to go step out of the
bed and I couldn't feel my legs but I thought it was one of
those things where you basically laying in the bed and sleeping
your legs fall asleep on you. So I got up to walk to the
bathroom and fell completely face first on the ground and I
was like what the hell is going on?
And I tried to get up, could not get up for the life of me didn't
know what was going on. So I had the army crawl to the
bathroom. I army crawled to the bathroom.
I had to, I mean with every possible strength I had to push
myself up on the toilet to get up on as I can go to the
bathroom and the phone rings, my cell phone rings and I'm not
answering it. I'm sitting up there telling
myself get up, get up, let's go, let's go.
I couldn't get up. And finally there was a phone by
the toilet in the bathroom. And so the phone rings and the
front desk goes on. Mr. Hughes, your wife has been
trying to call you. Please.
She wanted to make sure that you were OK because I had given her
all my information also earlier that that the day before for
some reason. And I, I couldn't understand for
me why. And I remember giving her, you
know, them saying that. And I said, tell my wife I will
call her back. You know, I'm being stubborn at
this point. I'm like, tell my wife to leave
me. You know, I'm fine, don't worry
about it. Relax.
I will answer the phone. I'm just, I'm in the bathroom
right now and I'll call her back.
And I remember hanging up the phone on a guy 'cause I was, I
was, I was pissed. And I hung up the phone and she
calls the cell phone again. I don't answer, I don't answer.
Finally I was like, you better do something.
So I wanted to go try to get up, to get up the toilet, and again
I could not feel my legs. So I kind of put myself down on
the ground. So the army crawling back to the
bed and the phone just kept ringing, ringing, ringing.
And then it stopped. Then I finally got myself up on
the bed. The phone rings again.
My wife is constantly calling. It rings again.
And I realized that I must have rolled over and kicked the phone
off the bed 'cause now it's on the other side of the bed on the
floor. I was like, you got to be
kidding me. So I reached down, you know,
trying to get it and it took a little bit for me to get it, but
I reached down actually and got it, picked it up and I answered
it. I was like, hey, I was like,
didn't I was going to call you back.
She's like, what's going on? What is wrong with you?
How come you got to answer the phone?
And I told her what was going on.
My wife's an RN, she's a registered nurse, so she knows
you know things when when I tell her what's going on with me.
So when I told her what was happening, she goes, sweetheart,
you're having a stroke. She's like, we don't we we got
to get you to the hospital. I said, I'm not having a stroke.
I'm not going to no hospital. I'm fine.
I have to meet Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair downstairs so we
can do this, this scene, you know?
For for the. Punky Brewster reboot show.
Babe, you're having a stroke, I'm telling you.
So I got mad and hung up the phone on my wife and 'cause it
was like, how dare you tell me I'm having a stroke?
I mean, this is how stubborn I was, you know, And I don't know
what was going on in my head and why I was reacting like that,
but I was very angry. And it was like, I don't know.
And as to this day I still don't know why I acted that way and.
She. Called downstairs and told the
friend that she said, listen, my husband is being stubborn, He's
having a stroke. Somebody needs to get upstairs
now and get him. And they were kind of like,
brushing her off. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And that's when she said, listen, if someone doesn't go
upstairs right now, I will sue not only this hotel, but I will
sue everything around it. I'm warning you, if my husband
dies, this, this, this hotel's unreliable for it.
So they said, OK, fine, We'll send somebody like a Wellness
check form. So they came upstairs, knocked
on the door. They said, Mr. Hughes, I was
like, what do you want? I'm still acting stubborn.
And they said, your wife called. I said, damn it.
I said, would you tell her to stop calling?
It was like, yeah, well, they want us.
She want us to check 'cause she thinks you're having a stroke.
I said I'm fine. They were like, well, can you
open the door so we can see you, please?
And that's when I had to check my my ego and pride at the door.
And I said I can't. I said, you guys don't have to
come inside. I said I can't feel my legs.
They came inside. They will.
They said we got to call 911. They called 911.
The ambulance came. They put me on a gun and all
that. They said, Mr. Hughes, you're
having a stroke. And I looked at them like they
were crazy. I was like, I'm too young to
have a stroke, 45 years old. There's no way.
They're like, no, Mr. Hughes, you're having a stroke.
We got to the hospital. They told me that if my wife did
not call when she did and do what she did, that I would be in
a wheelchair permanently while I'd be in a nursing home or
dead. And you know, to this day when
people question, you know, why does Devon always put his wife
on social media, you know, his love for her and this and that.
God, we're getting tired of it. Because I say because if it
wasn't for her, I would not have been here.
If she wasn't so adamant in making sure that I answered that
phone and spoke to her, I wouldn't be here today.
And so I'm very grateful for everything that she does.
Even when I get, even when we get into our little fights and
arguments and you know, I get pissed and what have you, you
know, I always think back to me being in California and almost
dying and not being here. I would not, I would have never
met you. We would never be doing this.
And I would never, I would have only had two kids that my, my 2
girls, my, my second son would not my fifth son would not have
been born today if that would, that would have happened if I
would have died. So I'm very grateful to my wife.
I'm very grateful to the hospital and the young nurse
that took care of me during that time.
I'm also very grateful for Stephanie McMahon, who I was
pissed to at the time because Stephanie called me and I was so
grateful about it. You know, I was very, very
grateful about it. And you know, she left me two
messages because I didn't answer the 1st 2:00 because I was out
of it. They had to run a stint through
the grind to the left side of the brain to break up the
stroke. And so I kept constantly missing
her calls. And, you know, she was just
giving me such encouragement and things like that.
So when I was going on my podcast and thanking her, I made
the mistake and said I was infatuated with her as opposed
to I forgot the word I was going to use.
Infatuated. I was grateful or what have you.
Like I, I, I really liked her a lot, but liked her in a
respectful way. And of course the media, you
know, dirt, she's all Devon's in love with Stephanie.
I'm like, no, man, I'm not in love with Stephanie like that.
I'm disinfatuated. I was, I was like I was saying I
was infatuated with her as a person, how she handles herself,
how legit she is and how smooth she is.
I was like, you know, she is probably one of the most nicest
people in the position that she was in that I had ever met.
And I was honored that I could call her my friend.
And for her to talk to my wife and to to leave those voice
messages on my cell phone to give me the encouragement to
fight through what I was going through.
It was truly amazing. And that's why I'm very grateful
for people like Stephanie McMahon and Triple H.
And I will always be that way because of how they were during
the time of the stroke. And of course, my beautiful
wife, Taylor. So, so let me start with
Stephanie McMahon. Shout out to to Stephanie and,
and Triple H and I, I agree. I mean, I, I understood when you
originally made that statement, the point that you were making,
to be treated with such humanity and care and respect and to be
treated like a human being, not just a, a number, not just So
what, what can you do for our company, but legitimately to be
treated like a human being, like a friend, like somebody who
matters. Stephanie McMahon knocked it out
of the park, man. And it was genuine.
To this day I still have those voice messages.
I never got rid of them. That's a big deal.
So, so absolutely the utmost respect and appreciation of
Stephanie and Triple H for just showing the the compassion and
again, the humanity that you show D Von and his family during
one of the probably the most challenging time ever for these
folks. And if I'm not mistaken, I got
to remember my wife. But I believe some flowers were
sent too, like that's the house. So, you know, again, you know,
I'm a, that This is why I said on another interview, I'm a
Triple H guy. You know, it's not anything
against Vince McMahon. I'm not saying that at all,
especially now with the truck, with what he's going through
right now. But I'm just the hunter guy.
He was the one that hired me as a producer, you know, and you
know, he was the one that really, really helped me when
things were not going well. And so I will always be grateful
to him for that. And ironically, when he went
through his own health challenges, thank God that he
was paid it forward, the humanity in the, in the, in the
respect and appreciation that he showed you.
He got that right back in return, and he certainly needed
it. Absolutely.
And I remember because I called Stephanie and I, you know, you
know, was checking on, telling I was, you know, wanting to check
on Hunter and see how he was doing.
Because no one really knew the full story about what was going
on until Hunter released it himself, you know, So we didn't
know what was going on. But, you know, I didn't.
I did the same thing Stephanie did for me.
I left a voice message that she didn't answer.
And I didn't, I didn't really expect her to answer.
You know, her husband is, you know, going through what he's
going through with this and that.
So I was very grateful in that aspect to be able to return the
favor. Unfortunately, you know, the
situation that he went through, you know, didn't want to.
I was hoping to never have to return it like that.
But I was very happy that I was able to, you know, show my love
for him and and Stephanie and the family because again, they
didn't have to do what they did, but they did.
And I was very grateful for it and I will always be grateful
for it. So you know, what if the dirt
sheets want to go and say stupid shit like, oh, Devon's
infatuated with Stephanie. Yes, I'm infatuated with
Stephanie and I'm also infatuated with Triple H in a
good positive business way and A and in a friendship way, not in
a rude way like these guys tried to make it out to be.
You know, I'm just very grateful for how their their friendship
and their love that they showed me and my family during my most
vulnerable time. And it was like they took that,
you know, I'm in my hospital bed.
They they actually took the I wasn't in the house.
I'm sorry. I had just fresh out of the
hospital. They took that and turned it
around and made it into something that it wasn't.
And, you know, I never really got to express how I felt during
that time until now being on the show with you.
So, you know, I, you know, I hope I never have to go through
that again. I hope he has to never have to
go through that. And none of our families will
ever have to deal with that ever again.
That is amazing Devon, just a such a inspirational story and
and so much that you've gone through.
I wonder, here we are now, three years later, how does Devon
Dudley feel today? Well, you know, I feel
fantastic. You know, I did the 1000 episode
with Bubba for TNA, and training for that was a little hard.
And I say that not because of the stroke or even the back
surgery I'll get into, but it was because I hadn't taken a
bump in almost seven, maybe eight years, although I had been
still in the gym and training rehab, doing all of that.
It's a different animal when you're training to get inside
the ring. And it took a lot out of me.
But you know, we did it just for what we did for the 1000
episode. We did it.
I got a clean bill of health from my neurologist.
They've been, they had been checking to make sure that
everything was under control. And I'm happy to say that they
said that I won't have to worry about it no more in terms of
blood thinners and all of that. I don't have to take that
anymore. They do put a precaution in for
aspirin because an aspirin a day will help that continue to be
like that and everybody should be taking an aspirin a day.
Believe it or not, but in my case the blood thinners all the
other medication I am clearly. Off I again have a clean bill of
health and. You know, they said even if I
wanted to get back in the ring, just no chair shots to the head.
I can't do that anymore. But other than that, if I wanted
to wrestle again, I can get in there and wrestle.
There are no, there's nothing stopping me from doing that now.
Real quick on the back surgery, it was like almost eight months
later after having the stroke, then my back went out L4L5 and
S1 had to be fused. And you know, all the years of
doing what I was doing and ECW, all of that took a toll on the
back. And you know, it was degenerated
disc disease, which a lot of wrestlers have, believe it or
not, had no idea until I started poking around and asking
questions. And it was like I was told just
about everybody who's been in the business as long as I have
or even longer pretty much has that.
And it's like, wow, because our bodies weren't made to do this.
Our bodies were not made to jump off ladders, to take back bumps
on a mat with metal beams on the bottom of it and and boards.
You know, it wasn't made for that.
So eventually your time will come.
Terry Taylor like to say that you will always allowed a
certain amount of bumps before your career is over.
Well, I had reached my certain amount of bumps.
Not saying that my career is done, but in terms of doing what
I used to do, the flying and all that, you know, as you get
older, like we said earlier, you don't need to do that stuff.
You need to hit the greatest hits and that's it.
Go home. And that's exactly what I'm
doing now. So if I'm in the ring with
Bubba, you better get back. Guarantee it's the greatest hits
without the what's up. We're going to switch that
around. Bubba will come off the 2nd and
not the top and I will come more and I'll be holding the legs
now. And you know, we're perfectly
cool with that. At least one of us is still
doing it. As far as the war dance go, I'm
trying to teach Bubba how to do the war dance with the Testify.
You know, when you do the sign of the cross, that's a hard task
in itself, but Bubbles got enough rhythm to do that.
But All in all, I just want anybody to know that I'm very
blessed and happy and thankful that I had a full recovery from
both the back surgery and the stroke.
And I'm back to almost 100% again.
The feeling that I had that that I the left, how do I say this?
Me only having 35 to even 40% on my left side, I could say
probably is back down to nine. It's probably back to 95% still
with those little things here and there which that comes with
it. But other than that, the health
is doing great. And again, thank you to all of
the fans, all the powers to be in WWE that were there that
helped me and, you know, helped took me, Let me take my time and
coming back and do what I do Thank you.
And a big shout out to Triple H and Stephanie McMahon for being
in my corner during that time of need.
Thank you so much. Deep.
These are the moments that
define character. You know, it's, it's when
everything is going great and all that good stuff.
Yeah, sure, everybody can be the hero.
But in these times of challenges, literally life and
death, how you treat people will make a lasting impression.
And certainly Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, they they
stepped up and they knocked it out of the park.
And you know, Devon, you did as well when Triple H was was going
through his challenges with his heart issues and what have you.
So that's, it's beautiful And, and you know, I wanted to make
sure I, I tabled that and, and, and make sure it made that clear
there. And now let's get to the main
event. Devon, your wife Taylor is a
tremendous person. And I know you and I, we, we
joke about it offline and I always remind you that she's a
pretty popular person because she's so gorgeous.
She's absolutely gorgeous. Everyone loves her fans, people
in the business, they always talk about how gorgeous Devon's
wife is and how it's amazing. You know, Devon, really he, he
did a great job there. He's got a gorgeous wife.
But the fact that she is so great at her job that she could
talk to you on the phone and just listen to your symptoms and
automatically know what you're going through and then have the,
the, the presence to be able to motivate people to check on you
and especially save your life. Let me tell you something,
brother, All you could ever do for the rest of your life is
honor that woman, right? Oh, yeah, And that's what I do,
You know, hands down I honor her.
And, you know, she's my life support.
She likes to say I'm hers, but she's more mine than than
anything. And, you know, very happy.
And sometimes I wonder, like, how the hell did I get a woman
like. This.
You know, it's like, it's incredible, but yet you know,
she's, she's my everything. She's my.
Rock. And no, you know, no man or
woman will ever come in between that.
I love a shout out once again to Taylor Missus Devon, you are
absolutely appreciated. Thank you.
Like Devon said, he wouldn't be here with us today having this
wonderful conversation if it wasn't for you and your presence
of mind and, and, you know, being cool under pressure, being
able to do the right thing, make the right decisions to help save
your man's life. That's just we love.
We, we thank you and appreciate you for that.
Seriously. Wow.
We covered a lot of bases here today, Devon.
Yes, we did. I'm, I'm.
I was like I'm having fun doing this.
Anyone listening right there, if you're having fun listening to
us, hey, we want to hear from you.
So you know Duke loves wrestling@gmail.com.
Certainly Duclas Rassel and all your social media.
Devon what? What's the social media they can
reach out to you at? They can reach out to me on
Testify Devon on Instagram as well as Testify Devon and it's
spelled DVON, no hyphen or no E on Twitter, you know, So Testify
Devon on Twitter, Testify Devon on Instagram and my Facebook is
private. It's only for my family and
friends that I put up a lot of private pictures that I don't
want the public to see or know. So I make sure that, you know,
my family, who I don't get to see all the time, back in New
York, back all over the United States, because everybody's so
spread out that at least they get to see what's going on in my
life. And a lot of my friends from
high school, junior high and all of that.
So, you know, they can contact me there also, you know, we have
the wrestling school, DDA, Devon Dudley Academy just ready to
produce, you know, the future stars of the business and really
trying to really just do what we got to do.
And once again folks, the River City Wrestling Con OK June 8th
and 9th if you want to meet Devon Dudley live, this is a
perfect opportunity for you. The weather is going to be
fantastic. I mean, come on now, St.
Augustine, FL, you can't beat it.
Join D Von and the whole crew there.
Everyone's going to be there, from Sting to Booker T, Trish
Stratus, leader, the Hardy Boys, you name it.
OK River City Wrestling con.com For more information so you can
get your tickets ahead of time. Guarantee that you're going to
be there. Certainly.
Listen, D Von Dudley, as always, man, I appreciate touching base
with you. And the fact that we get to have
these, these intimate conversations for the world to
hear is just truly a blessing. And for all you listening out
there, join us next time on Devon and the Duke because, you
know, we're going to talk about what's current.
We're going to tell some great stories.
Most of all, we are going to remind you about how precious
life is and why you need to celebrate it now.
Devon, take us out, brother. Well, you know again.
God bless you, the fans that have been in my corner taking
care of me and, you know, showing me the love that you
have over the years. All I got to say is Oh my
brother, testify. Till next time, be kind to
yourselves and be kind to others.
Take it away. Tony Shivani.
This is Tony Shivani, and we're definitely out of time on Duke
Love. Blessed.