The Dudley Boyz were far and away the most successful tag team in the history of Extreme Championship Wrestling, winning the ECW World Tag Team Championships a record eight different times. Their success naturally led to WWE offering them contracts in 1999, but despite ECW being in a dire situation financially, leaving ECW wasn’t exactly easy for D-Von Dudley.
During a recent appearance on David Otunga’s “The Wednesday Hang” podcast, D-Von recalled a conversation he had with Bubba Ray Dudley in 1999 that initially resulted in him wanting to stay with ECW. “I got a phone call from Bubba and he said to me, he goes ‘Hey listen, they’re really serious about bringing us in,'” D-Von said before explaining how much of a fan he was of WWE growing up and how it was always a dream of his to work for WWE. “He goes ‘You ready?’ and I said ‘Well Bubba, I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t think I’m ready.’ He goes ‘What do you mean?’ I go, ‘I don’t think I want to do this, I want to stay…I don’t want to be a small fish in a big pond, I’d rather be a big fish in a medium-sized pond.”
D-Von explained that at the time WWE offered him and Bubba contracts, ECW was struggling financially to the point where the company would have likely folded in 1999 had it not secured a TV deal with TNN. However, D-Von seemed to have made up his mind when it came to staying in ECW, even with Bubba telling his tag team partner that he simply had cold feet about doing something so major. The two men hung up the phone and that could have been it for The Dudley Boyz, until someone stepped in to talk sense in to D-Von.
D-Von Dudley’s Ex-Wife Saved The Day
After hanging up the phone and being at odds with his tag team partner, D-Von Dudley decided to take his mind off of things by heading out onto his terrace and smoking a cigar. However, during the conversation with Bubba Ray Dudley, his now ex-wife was listening in and decided to follow her then husband out to see what the real reason why he didn’t want to go to WWE. D-Von initially dismissed the idea that he wanted to stay in ECW for his family, but his ex-wife eventually go to the root of the problem.
“She goes ‘What’s the real reason why you don’t want to go?’ I said, ‘There is no real reason, why should I leave a place that I’m comfortable in?’ She goes ‘Exactly, you’re comfortable, and when you’re comfortable, you will never ever get to where you want to be because you’re complacent, you cannot do that.’ She was like ‘All your life, ever since I’ve known you, that’s all you’ve talked about was the WWE, and now all of a sudden you don’t want to go? Something’s wrong.’ I go ‘Nothing’s wrong,’ and she goes ‘I can tell you what’s wrong, you’re scared.’ I said ‘I ain’t scared…’ She goes ‘You’re scared, if you don’t want to believe me that’s fine, but if you don’t take this opportunity, you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life.'”
D-Von would finish his cigar, realize that his ex-wife was spot on when it came to her assessment of the situation, and apologized to both his ex-wife and Bubba about being so short with them both. He would give Bubba the green light about setting up a meeting with Vince McMahon, and The Dudley Boyz were WWE Superstars by the fall of 1999.
Please credit “The Wednesday Hang” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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