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Brothers and sisters, welcome back.
Welcome back to another wonderful edition of the Devon
and the Duke Podcast. It's a limited podcast series
hosted by your main man. Duke loves wrestling.
And of course, one of the greatest of all time, the Hall
of Famer himself, Mr. Devon Dudley.
How you doing that Devon? I'm doing all right man, I'm
just trying to see who else I can piss off this week.
Listen, man, we, we don't, we don't trend it online the last
two weeks in a row and we don't stirred up the dirt sheets.
I I think they're, they're trying to assemble their army
and they're going to, they're going to start typing fast and
angry at us. Devon, what do you think about
that? Well, you know, I don't know
why, because, you know, it's not like what we said wasn't true,
you know, and going back to the Will Washerman thing, and not to
get too deep on that, but I didn't say anything bad about
the man. All I said was what people were
telling me. No one's bad mouthing them.
I'm just saying something was brought up and I said, well,
this is what this, you know, these are what these people are
saying. So I don't know him from Adam
and I and I expressed that I don't know him from Adam.
So don't get mad at me, maybe go to AEW, find out who doesn't
like him and who says that stuff about him and get on them.
I'm only reporting what was told to me.
Ain't nobody bad mouthing that man.
And God damn it, ain't nobody bad mouthing AEW of anything I
put over AEW and this slump that they're in.
I'm hoping they get out of it because the WWE needs
competition, and if AE W is that competition, then God bless
them, but that's what they need. And so we've already learned
that without competition, the wrestling business is going to
go flat. It's going to suck.
So with now there's a place for somebody to go, you know, thanks
to Tony Kahn. And again, I don't badmouth him
either. All I say is he's not.
I don't think he was qualified enough or capable enough to be,
you know, the head Booker of the company because he's so much of
a fan. And sometimes when you're a fan
and you know, this, it clouds your judgment on things.
You can't make rational decisions in pro wrestling in a
company and and expect it to be, you know, just it's going to
you're going to hit home runs. It's just not going to work that
way. Sometimes.
Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it doesn't.
But you know, again, you're looking at it from a fan's point
of view and it's just not going to work that way.
Sometimes it does, depending on what it is, you know, or
sometimes when you have to make the decision of, you know,
dropping a hammer on somebody because of the fact that, you
know, they broke the rules or they didn't listen or they were
out of line, you know, can you sit there and make the rational
decision to suspend to fine and all that now, yes, I've heard
that he's done that, you know, in the past few months.
I think the first thing was the whole thing with the CM Punk
thing, you know, I think that started everything.
And then of course, Jungle Boy, I don't know his real name, but
you know, that started, you know, that was the second one
from what I heard. Now, I heard Britt Breaker has
gotten fined. I don't know how true that is,
but you know, I found out that she's gonna fight.
So he's starting to go a definitely in the right
direction. We're trying to get control of
his company. But again, you need somebody
that's a wrestling mind that knows this business inside and
out that can do that. One of the greatest assets, I
think that would have worked when his contract was up with
WWE would have been Paul Heyman. You know, I think he would have
been great. I think that place would have
turned around so fast. Oh my God, I don't think the
wrestling world would have known what hit them.
I think, I think that would have been a huge, huge thing for AEW
if they would have been able to get Paul Heyman.
But they weren't able to do that.
So I don't know. What are the rest of the mind
out there that can really help Tony to get that place to where
it needs to be other than a guy like Paul Heyman?
I agree 100%. And I'll tell you, when we look
back at Paul Heyman's speech at the Hall of Fame, he made it
abundantly clear that you try to cancel him.
He's going to come back 10 times stronger if you if you don't
heed his, his advice, he's going to find a way to reinvent
himself even bigger. And I agree.
If, if he would have been in charge of booking an AEW, that
company would legitimately be competing with the WWE as
opposed to the abysmal ratings that they have and, and, and the
abysmal attendance, live attendance that they have at
their events. And I'm just going to throw it
out here, folks. And let's call it what it is.
Ever since Will Washington was hired in AEW, they have had a
complete downturn. It is it's been fascinating to
watch how far they have dropped from wherever they were.
And I'm not saying that that's Will Washington's fault, but it
is something to keep in mind, folks.
If this, if this guy who's just as qualified as I am and I'm not
qualified to be booking wrestling, he's he's part of the
booking committee and all this nonsense here.
If this guy is going around telling wrestlers what they need
to do and how they need to do it and all that nonsense, it's no
surprise that the company is doing worse than it's ever been
doing. So I'm I'm with you on that,
Devon. I agree 100%.
Again, I just feel that that place has such good potential.
They have the right tools. They have everything they need,
especially in terms of talent to get to where they need to be in
terms of in terms of being a number two company.
You know, they definitely have what it takes.
But again, he needs somebody like a Paul Heyman that will
come in there and help him to get that place where it needs to
be. That's all he needs.
I mean, I'll be honest with you. He get that and he's off the
race. But again, who who is that
person other than Paul Heyman? I just don't know.
Well, whoever they were, he's had enough variations in that
company. You look at a Jim Ross, you
start going down the line, ARN Anderson, Dean Malenko, you've
had so many different minds that if you were to combine them, you
probably could have been OK, at least a lot more competitive.
But it's clear that Tony's not listening to them.
So, and, and you've heard them say that, right?
So. I've heard, I've heard them say
it, but I also feel that, you know, Malenko, Anderson, all
those guys, you know, Paul is very strong.
His demeanor, his presence is very, very strong.
And if anybody can be heard and made heard and make sure you
hear him, it's Paul. I just don't think the names
that you said could do that. They're great minds and the
business. And yes, if you put them all
together, they would definitely, you know, 'cause you know, havoc
in a good way in terms of getting the the product where it
needs to be. But I just don't know.
Again, Paul is just the guy. Agreed 100%.
You know, it's funny, I was talking to Phil Marks over at
the Pro Wrestling Times podcast. Shout out to those folks.
They're great folks. Listen to the show here as well,
which is very nice of them. They asked a question that I
want to get you. I want to get this answer from
you directly here. When you were in the process of
negotiating with AEW, trying to figure out if it would make
sense for you to be part of the company, you letting them know
that you would prefer a behind the scenes role.
You feel that you could help out in that way.
You did not want to wrestle. Ultimately, when we take a look
at what they've done, they brought in Christian, then
eventually they brought in Edge. They brought in the Hardy Boys.
When you reflect on this, Devon, do you think there could have
been a long term plan to get the Dudley boys in AEW?
And you were the first domino that they were trying to to
drop, so to speak. And then they were going to try
to pull Bubba in as well. Yes, I mean, wait, what are you
trying? What are you trying to get at?
Well, just again, reflecting on who they've brought in, was Tony
trying to assemble his own TLC, his own nostalgia?
You know it was he. You know, that could have been
the case. You know, you had the Hardy's,
you had both Edge and Christian in the company.
The only ones that were left of course, was Bubba and myself.
I do know that he doesn't care for Bubba pretty much.
And because he got questioned about something on the XM Radio,
busted Open Radio about the referees and I guess Tony took
offense to it and he never forgave Bubba for that.
And so he's got to beef with Bubba.
I think anybody that has a has something to say to try to help
the company, not hurt it. There's always going to be riff
with Tony. And I think Tony has to
understand, don't take it personal.
You know, criticism about the company is good in a way.
You can't get everything positive.
There's got to be something that has to be criticized that you
can basically, you know, try to correct and make better.
Again, I'll say it again, you've got phenomenal talent over
there. No question in my mind.
The talent over there is great, definitely on the same level as
the WWE. It's just that storylines and
things like that, you know, WWE is killing it right now.
It is one of the hottest tickets around.
And for that to be, you know, you have to put in perspective
what are they doing, right? And the other company is not
doing the same thing. Not or not because I don't want
to say wrong, but what are they doing that WWE is doing?
What are they not doing? I should say that WWE is doing,
you know, and that's one thing that has to be put in
perspective. I don't understand why, you
know, when you know, you told me, you said the ratings are
down. The the events, the live events
are down. You know, if you see this, then
something's got to tell you. You know we have to correct
this. Well, it something has to tell
you if you're somebody who's serious about managing and
growing that business and ultimately, you know, making
money, which clearly Tony Khan has proven that that doesn't
seem to be his business model. Regardless of what anybody else,
his surrogates, whether it be Meltzer or some of these other
folks, whatever they want to say, clearly that's not what
he's doing here. He just looks like a man who
doesn't understand how to build a business.
It's it's really crazy to me. We're in the month of August at
this point, Devon, January is right around the corner, right?
New Year's right around the corner here is only a few short
months away. And AEW still does not have a
American television deal. WBD let their exclusive window
for negotiations expire, which means that Tony Khan can talk to
any company he wants, any network he wants to try to land
a deal. But it still hasn't happened
yet. What is your read on that?
Because I, I got to be honest with you as as a fan, as a
person who's been a fan for over 41 years and and who's consumed
so much of this information, I can never recall a time where
only a few short months away, a major wrestling company still
doesn't have ATV deal. I can't recall a time of that
happening. And then they survive it.
Like you said, no company has really ever survived, you know,
cutting it this close to not having the deal.
I don't know how. I don't even know how to report
that on how to see on that. You know, hopefully he's got
something up up his sleeve that he'll be able to pull out at the
last minute or maybe he's playing chess and he's finally
do a strategy. I don't know.
I, I hope they get it. I hope they get ATV deal because
if not, it's going to be sad. It's going to be real sad
because that if they don't have ATV deal, they're fucked.
You know, that's the bad of mind.
They're they're messed up. They're done.
And I hope and pray that they do because if they do, that means
we can see more AW and we just get to see new talent that WWE
feels is not ready to be on their show.
But now they can be on AW show. So hopefully that changes
leading up to January and hopefully we'll see them on a
new deal. Now in comparison, you have WWE,
they secured all their, their television distribution deals.
In fact, they they got deals, you know, at least through the
next 10 years when you really look at the fine print here.
So they're rocking and rolling. There's no, there's no question
about that. And there was no greater example
of this than what they've done over the past week on both
Smackdown and Raw and even NXT. When you take a look at these
storylines. We got the next chapter in the
Bloodline saga. Roman has come back, he's
challenging solo. We got to figure out who the
Tribal chief really is. You have all that going on and
then on Raw you have Judgment Day and Liv Morgan, Mommy Ria
Ripley, Don Mysterio, Damian Priest is involved.
You got Finn Balor who turned on Priest.
You have that whole storyline that has so many different
layers and that has been built over time as well.
Just in general, what are your thoughts about the the the
health and the vitality of WWE, especially with these
storylines? Well, who's running the company?
Paul Lebec. What era did Paul Lebec pretty
much have the most success in? The Attitude Era.
Exactly. When you think about the
Attitude Era which has come and gone and a lot of people would
love to see that come back, but it's not just for reasons that
we all know. I mean, you know, you can't go
X-rated again. I'm sorry, the the attitude era
was all X-rated and I ain't talking about just nudity
either. But no, but you know, remember
back then, everybody from the bottom card to the top card had
a storyline and that people were into they invested in.
And so with that being said, This is why that the storylines
that are going on today is the history is repeating itself
here. The guy who worked in the most
successful error in pro wrestling is now running the
company and pretty much doing it the same way he did when he came
up in the Attitude ever and did what he did and became Triple H.
You know, he became the game. So if the formula is not broke,
then leave it alone because it doesn't need to be fixed.
And I think that's what a lot of people were trying to say to
Vince when he was in power. You know, if it's not broke,
don't fix it. You know, leave it be.
It doesn't have to be fixed. You're doing great.
But it could have been also ideas that weren't fresh in the
mind of Vince anymore. You know, he won the Monday
Night Wars. That took a lot out of them
because he almost lost his company.
And then to stay afloat, he, you know, which is what he did for
about what, three or four years later after buying WCW?
And then ratings started to drop.
And then he had to bring in a new generation of guys and then
get the fans to get used to these new guys.
You know, it was the same way with the attitude ever.
You know, we had to get people to invest in the new characters
that were being brought in, and that was it.
So to answer that question again, look who's running the
company. And if you think he's not using
the same formula, you're crazy. He's got to use the same
formula. And it works and it's proven
that it works. And with Paul Heyman by his
side, you're damn right it's going to work.
You're damn right it's going to work.
No, no question about it. I mean, it's, it's just
fascinating to see how excited the fan base is about everything
going on 'cause there's so many different layers.
Once again we talk about the bloodline that in and of itself
can it carry the company? And it really has in a lot of
ways. The judgment Day situation has
finally kicked it up into high gear and it's like this is must
see TV now. And oh, by the way, you have
this other storyline between CM Punk and and Drew McIntyre.
They're literally fighting over a, a bracelet, not even a title,
a bracelet. And then you got Seth Rollins,
who's in the mix and that as well.
It's like they can't miss at this point.
Just just fascinating stuff man. It's totally, it's, it's
incredible. It truly is incredible.
We have WrestleMania 41, April 20th, 2025.
It's going to be happening in Las Vegas all the WrestleMania
coming up. I said I will be there.
You will be there. OK, so we're going to we're
going to have Devon Dudley in the house.
Stone Cold Steve Austin has already made it clear that he
said he wouldn't go to WrestleMania again because he
doesn't want to do the traveling.
But since it's going to be in Las Vegas and that's where he's
based now, he guess he will make himself available that weekend.
So you got him possibly being in the mix somehow.
You have The Rock, You have John Cena on his retirement tour.
This has the potential to be the biggest WrestleMania of all
time, right? There's a part, there's a strong
possibility. Look, every time they put on a
WrestleMania, it could possibly be the greatest one of all time.
And again, I love to say that the one that people talked about
that was the greatest was the one that I was involved in,
which was WrestleMania 17. You know, story.
I mean, every match on that card was just so damn good.
And the storylines were just impeccable.
I mean, it was just incredible how good those storylines were.
Absolutely, absolutely. And folks, if you haven't,
because you know, we have a lot of younger fans who listen to
the show and shout out to you for sure.
Even people who took time off from watching wrestling and they
finally found their way back. Check out WrestleMania 17 if you
haven't seen it before or if you haven't seen it in a while.
Legitimately top to bottom, one of the greatest pro wrestling
events in the history of pro wrestling.
It's just amazing, amazing, amazing.
For sure there. Interestingly, Devon, we had
Laci Evans, you know, Macy Estrella on the show last week
and just a wonderful conversation between you and
her. And I was kind of like a family
on the wall for the most part, which I appreciated because it
was just great to hear two friends express themselves in
appreciation for each other. I was pleasantly surprised at
the positive feedback that was received, and I know that Laci
has received some of that feedback as well.
Folks have tagged her on Twitter and what have you, letting her
know that they enjoyed the conversation.
What are your thoughts on last week's conversation with with
Laci just in general? I thought it was great.
I thought it, you know, answered a lot of questions that a lot of
people had about her and some of the questions that were said in
terms of what type of person she was, you know, and things like
that, because she was put through the wringer.
You know, people were really talking smack about her because
of things that they didn't know, that they might have read the
dirt sheets or or got false information from somebody else.
And I was very happy and to say that we were able to clear a lot
of that up and give her the platform to actually really
express her feelings. Do you have any advice for these
folks out here, especially people who were just starting
off as media? You know, we, we, we keep
talking about the dirt sheets and what we don't like.
Do you have any advice about how to do it the right way from a
perspective of a person who's in the business and you're the
person being reported on? What's your advice for anybody
who wants to cover pro wrestling?
Get your facts straight. That's first and foremost.
Before you print, make sure what you're printing is accurate
because if not, you're going to be known as the acquirer and you
don't want that. You know you want to be
considered legit and you know, if anybody needs to hear the
truth or wants to know the truth, they can get it from you.
So my thing is, again, just make sure that before you print that
story, that everything that's being said to you and what you
written down has to be legit and it has to have backup after
backup of what they're saying is true.
Indeed, indeed. I agree as well.
Get your facts straight. Take the extra time to do a
little bit of research, reach out to the people that you're
trying to report on and try to get some type of understanding
of what's reality instead of making up your own narratives.
That's definitely my advice for sure.
I, I was, I was catching you up on this whole thing about soft
ground wrestling in Uganda. It's a story that I've been on
top of since February. These folks went viral, you
know, people wanting to be pro wrestlers and they were filming
each other, you know, slamming each other around in dirt and
what have you. That's what, where the soft
ground name comes from. And it seemed like a, a, a cute
story and people rallied around them and they, a GoFundMe was
set up and $10,000 was raised within a week.
And then couple, you know, about a month or two later, then
another 25,000 was raised for them.
So there's been a lot of support in the community.
Well, unfortunately, come to find out the guy who's running
it is a scam artist and unfortunately it was wrestling
media that made it possible for him to execute this scam so
effectively because they were reporting on this thing as being
legitimate instead of doing their due diligence like I did.
And some other folks did in the end, including the guy who wrote
the article with bodyslam.net. Want to make sure I give him
credit. He did a very good job and very
detailed job on that story there.
But just from a general standpoint, Devon, what are your
thoughts on media pushing GoFundMe and, and, and pushing
these these fundraising efforts just from a general standpoint?
Yeah, I think the bottom line is you just got to know your facts.
You really do. You have to know what you're
putting out there before you put it out there and something like
that. You know, this scam, they're
they're good scam people all around.
And just when you think that you know, what you're giving, you
know, putting yourself, getting yourself into, you really don't,
you know, even the smartest people get food.
So you have to be careful. I think that's first and
foremost and know what you're getting involved with, you know,
before everything starts to, you know, hit the fan.
For sure, for sure. My heart goes out to anybody who
was negatively impacted by this. Certainly the folks who are are
aspiring pro wrestlers. I have no issue with you.
You know, the guy running it. He's the one who's the issue,
not you. So we want to make sure you
know, that, you know, no one's coming down on you.
But there are some issues that need to be cleared up with this
Bombash. Daniel, the guy's name is some
serious issues there. Sad news to report, Devon.
We, we, we lost a member of the pro wrestling community this
past week, the taskmaster himself, Kevin Sullivan.
Yes, legend in the business, you know, great mind in the business
and what have you what what are your thoughts on Kevin Sullivan?
One of the greatest minds that ever hit the wrestling business
had a unique gift and helped so many people along the way.
Not only the people that he wrestled with, but the up and
coming wrestlers. You'll never have another guy
like Kevin Sullivan again, one of the greatest minds of all
time and, you know, was able to take, you know, his character
and what he was doing and make it mainstream.
I mean, he he was such a great talent and he will definitely be
missed. Rest in peace, Kevin.
To the family and loved ones that Kevin Sullivan, you know,
heart goes out to you. Certainly it is.
This man was a legend. In fact, here at Fenway Park,
they actually put up a message on the scoreboard there and
would have you condolences and and remembrance of Kevin
Sullivan that tells you how big this guy was.
Definitely a big loss for the entire wrestling and
entertainment community, no no doubt.
Speaking of loss, and this is kind of interesting here,
Mercedes Monet, the the woman formerly known as Sasha Banks,
she has gone on YouTube and revealed that she is now
divorced and she's been separated from her husband since
2020. Now, this guy, he, he has been a
gear maker in the WWE. And according to Mercedes,
despite the fact that they were separated, she didn't want to
let Vince McMahon know because she was afraid of how he would
react to it. So they actually pretended to be
together for years, despite the fact that they were separated.
She's been burying this guy, this this now ex-husband.
And it's it's really, really interesting to see this here.
What's your take on airing your own dirty laundry like that,
Devon? Well, you know, it saddened me
to know that she, you know, was getting divorced or is divorced
now. I know both of them.
Never had a problem with either one of them, especially, you
know, Mercedes, she actually calls me dad.
You know, she looks at me like a dad father to me.
And, you know, whenever we, you know, speech like, hey, dad, you
know, hey, you know, this and that.
And I'm like, hey, baby girl, come on over here and give your
daddy a hug, you know, things like that.
And, you know, not to mention whenever you know, my wife and I
would have a kid, you know, say, hey, I got to see my new
brother. Hey, I got to see my new sister,
you know, so she was like family to me.
You know, I just wish that people would realize that you
don't need to put your air, your dirty laundry out in public, you
know? And, you know, my two divorces
that I had, I always made sure that I never, ever put my
business in the street. And because you just don't want
people to have their own, you know, views or opinions on
what's going on in your life when they don't know the whole
story. So you have to be real careful
on, especially on social media because you got a lot of whack
jobs out there as it is. You don't need more these whack
jobs getting involved in your business.
Agreed 100% and and certainly my heart goes out to the both of
them. I hope that they continue to
find happiness in life. Certainly, I think we all could
have done without knowing as many details about their split
as has come out. But you know, such is life.
I guess everybody does things a little differently.
I, I, I wonder, since we're on the subject here when we talk
about Sasha Banks and, and you're a guy who has been in the
business so long. You were a fan growing up.
You are an excellent trainer of talent.
We we've seen that and and and your wares there, you know, your
students have gone on to be so successful in the business.
Where does Sasha Banks, Mercedes Monet, where does she rank in
your opinion all time when we talk about some of the greatest
female wrestlers of all time. Oh, I think I think probably one
of the top five. I mean, next to Charlotte and
Becky and you know, just that they, she, she really knows how
to perform. When it's time to perform, she
puts her working boots on and she goes, you know, there's no
question. I'm very proud to say that
during the time of all those women coming up from NXT and
coming to the main roster that I had a chance to work with each
and every one of them. And it was such a pleasure to
work with them. I had no bad feelings, no
nothing on these women. They were great to work with.
They knew what they were doing. It was less of me having to say
what they had to do. In other words, you know, some
talent you have to hold their hand and, you know, get them
through the match and step by step.
But a lot of Lane like Sasha, you know, Becky, Maddie,
Charlotte, you know, you told them what to do.
They just did it, you know, and they made it look so damn easy.
So I honestly think that Sasha is definitely part of the top
five female wrestlers of this era.
I agree. I agree.
I'll tell you a funny story when when she when Sasha Banks and
Charlotte had that main event held in the cell here in Boston,
which was just awesome. Charlotte ended up winning that
match and becoming women's champion again.
I thought there was going to be a riot.
That Boston crowd was so hot for Sasha Banks and and we really
wanted to see her win that match.
People were ready to tear the place up, man, it was it was
that hot. But.
Remember one thing? That was her hometown.
That's right. But what a what a testament to
those ladies and their feud and their ability to get people to
give a damn about women's wrestling.
The fact that they had people in the palm of their hands to that
degree, it's just just amazing, amazing stuff there.
Incredible. And what I mean by that was a
hometown is that I've noticed over the years when I wrestled,
a lot of times you didn't get that type of ovation, even if he
was the home, you know, grown person, because you didn't prove
enough to them that you deserve that type of applause.
But Sasha has, and that's why she got the applause that she
did in Boston. Indeed, indeed, and and listen,
shout out to Mercedes. I know she's doing her thing in
a EWI hope and I pray that that company sticks around long
enough for you to have as story to career there as you did in
WWE, because you're you're amazing and we appreciate you
and we we only want the best for you for sure there.
Now the the the rumor mill has been going crazy and and I know
that Brad Shepherd had reported on some issues in AEW concerning
Britt Baker. You had mentioned her a little
earlier as well and there's a story out there that Will
Washington was giving her direction about what she needs
to do and, and she basically told him where to go and how to
get there. And Will Washington actually
went to human resources. This is a story reported on by
Brad Shepherd and human resources sided with Will
Washington and and Britt Baker was actually reprimanded during
that situation. Now Fast forward Britt Baker
complaints about MJF and and Will Osprey the hour long match
they had on Dynamite a couple weeks back and MJ FS girlfriend
heard about it so she told him. He goes to the women's locker
room and confronts bit Brit Baker, cusses her out, punches a
wall. Like what the hell is going on
over there, brother? Anarchy, a complete Anarchy and
you know, Tony message to you buddy.
If you don't get control, it's going to be another WCW.
And, you know, in his defense, he'll say, well, that's why I
did what I did and, you know, suspended or what have you.
But you got to get control of this company.
Because if not, it's going to be downhill.
And I don't want that to happen. I want these guys to be around
for a long time. It's it's just, it's crazy in
2024 that you would hear a story like that because you know, the
industry on that level is so corporate now.
It's a real job. You got real responsibilities.
There's real money involved and implications involved.
You got big time TV contracts. You don't have time for this
kind of nonsense going on. You know, it's just it's it
boggles my mind, man. It boggles my mind.
But I do wonder. I mean, let's let's Fast forward
here. Let's say that for one reason or
another, Brit Baker becomes a free agent.
How do you think she would fit in AWWE environment?
I honestly, I don't know without if.
If there's no drama or anything like that, then I think it'd be
great. But if there's drama, I don't
know. The company, the way that it's
structured today, WWE, they're not putting up on any drama.
No, they're not. And if she just comes there to
work, then everything will be fine.
There won't be any problems. She'll be able to fit in like
everybody else does, you know? But you can't come in there
thinking that you're holier than thou, or you're the OR you're
the man, you know, because they're going to shut it down
quick. Wise words there, wise words you
know. Were you able to go out catching
any of the Olympics there, Devon?
No, I mean, I caught a little bit of the basketball here and
there. I caught.
I love the volleyball, the women's, the beach volleyball.
Love that, that that's exciting, especially when the US is down
and they're trying to make a comeback.
That was that was really cool to watch them.
But other than that, that was it.
That's why I saw, I saw the basket.
I saw a little bit of basketball, but that was it.
Didn't watch too much of the Olympics this year.
Got caught up here at home. Well, we we have one of the big
names in track and field, Noah Lyles.
He has proclaimed himself the fastest man in the world.
And I know a lot of people take issue with that because it's not
like he's beating every record. So, you know, who are you to say
that? But Noah Laos, he competed in an
event and ended up getting the bronze and then he he passed
out, had to be carried out of the out of the venue.
Come to find out he had COVID-19.
He ran the 200m and knowing knowing that he has COVID-19 and
this is a guy who has asthma problems and other, other issues
as well. What are your thoughts on that?
What are your thoughts on on somebody on that level competing
with something that's pretty contagious?
Well, I think look what went through with COVID.
You know, I don't think anybody should be competing at all
because again, you run the risk of getting people sick and you
know, if they don't make it because you pass it on to them,
then, you know, that's, that's big.
I think, you know, even at that level, you have to be respectful
and mindful. If you're sick, you can't do it.
And I understand it's the most important thing in your life
right now because you train for four years to get to this level.
But yet and still, you don't want to give somebody something
that could be very, very harmful to their body and even take them
out. So you need to step aside
unfortunately, until you're able to compete.
Yeah, for sure. I I think that it's crazy.
And and as somebody who had COVID recently a couple weeks
back, and you, you folks heard the story about that, I can't
even imagine doing anything strenuous dealing with that.
This guy could have died out there.
Diva. Yeah, pretty much this is a
respiratory issue and and he's out here running 200 meters.
Jesus Christ. So hopefully Noah was OK, but I
don't think that was a a good idea to even compete in that we
saw in basketball, both on the men's and the women's side.
It looks like the world is catching up to the United States
in terms of competition. Both the US men and the US women
were in the gold medal round against France in both cases in
basketball. And in both cases the games went
down to the wire. They were very, very close.
What are your thoughts here? I is, is the jig up?
But can we? Do we have to finally admit that
the United States is not the only place where you have the
best athletes in these sports? Well, you know, people are
getting bigger, stronger, faster and the other the other
countries are starting to catch up to it.
So that might be the case there. You know, you never know.
I don't know, maybe we should bring the dream team back, the
first dream team, have them come back and blow these teams out by
70 points again. Listen, it's we.
We are so far away from that brother.
That's great. We are so far away from that
these these games, you know, winning by one point, winning by
three points. It's like, whoa, you know what I
mean? And and half of these guys on
these other teams you've never even heard of.
It's not like they're in the NBA or the WNBA.
So it just, it's fascinating. We, we are living in a different
world today where because of social media and, and the
Internet and the wider reach of television and satellite, you
know, people are being more exposed to what's possible and,
and they're doing the work to get themselves competitive.
So it's, it's interesting. Can you call yourself a world
champion in the NBA if you're only playing against NBA
players? That's a real question.
Yeah, I don't know about that. I don't know.
I got a pass on that one. It's it's very hard.
I don't know. I don't know.
How about that's a poll for for our listeners out there.
What do you think are you can can they continue to call
themselves world champions? What do you think there folks?
You know, let us know there Devon and the Duke through the
hashtag Devon and the Duke. Let us know what you think about
that there folks. Devon, do you have any other any
big events coming up over the weekend?
No, well my daughter's birthday she turned 6 so I'll be chilling
with her this weekend and home. So I'm not going anywhere and
I'm just going to relax, kick back and enjoy myself.
I love it. You know, it's it's funny, some
of these folks who who wanted to criticize what she had to say
about Will Washington in general, they were complaining.
You know, Duke, how could you let Devon say that?
And and I'm sitting here scratching my head because I'm
like, well, wait a second. Devon Dudley.
He's one of the greatest, most accomplished people in his
field. He has been a television star
for over 30 years. He is married.
He has seven children. How the hell could I let this
grown man do anything? You know, again, no one said
anything bad. I didn't say anything bad about
him. It's the people within the
organization itself that are saying this.
And they just happened to come to me and say it, you know,
we're talking and passing. And a lot of times they would
say his name and I had no idea who it was.
So until after about the third or fourth time, I started
picking up on who it was. And, you know, Swerves cousin,
Swerves cousin. I was like, oh, OK.
I think I met him. And then, you know, when they
started describing to him, I said, oh, yeah, I met him, said
hi. He came to Tony's office, you
know, gave me the the nod, you know, and that was it.
But I said now I don't know him so I can't really speak.
So for me to say that and then all of a sudden now you take it
personal because I'm telling you what other people are saying,
that I'm not the one with the problem here.
For anybody out there listening to Devon, if they want to get in
touch with you, especially if they want to check out Devon
Academy, what's the best way they can do that?
Well, then go to Devon Dudley Academy on Instagram and of
course Devon Dudley Academy on Twitter and Devon Dudley Academy
on Facebook and you can go also on my fan page on Devon Dudley
or Testified Devon on Instagram. Indeed.
And of course, folks, as you know, Duke loves wrestling.
On Facebook. On Twitter, Duke loves
wrestling@gmail.com. Send in your birthday, shout out
your questions, the whole 9 yards.
In fact, one of our wonderful listeners there, Akia, she is
celebrating her 27th birthday. So can we get a birthday shout
out for Akia? Happy birthday Akia.
Big shout out from Devon. Oh testify.
That's right. That's right.
And in closing, I am going to say this, and I know Devon's
probably going to put me through a flaming table, but I got to
give a shout out to Misses Devon Dudley there.
You know, the the, the beautiful superstar that she is.
We appreciate you. You know, your husband's always
putting you over on this show. Whether you listen or not, he's
always putting you over on this show.
And we just want to give you a shout out just in general.
She's, she's the hidden star behind the scenes for what we do
here as well, right? Yes, she is.
I mean, she's my pride and joy. You know, I've been married
twice before her and you know, I feel like it's the diamond in
the rough with her. And I love her very dearly and
she's my heart and soul. Folks, as always, we appreciate
you listening, spreading the word.
It has been amazing. This is only episode 10 and we
have been kicking butt on the rankings.
You have been sharing the show all over the world.
It's clear that you're loving what we're talking about.
We give a little bit something different here on Devon and the
Duke because we talked about life, we talked about what's
going on in wrestling, but most importantly, we just give it to
you straight and that's what we're going to keep on doing
there. So how about we have the final
word from the main man himself, the Hall of Famer Devon Dudley.
Take us out, brother. Well you know do unto others as
you want others to do unto you. And like I just Bible quotes and
I love it. And you know no weapons formed
against you shall prosper. For if you believe in God, you
are more than a conqueror.