D-Von Dudley Claims A Short-Lived Gimmick “Was Destined To Fail”

WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley has opened up on one of his old gimmicks, saying it was “always destined to fail”.

The Dudley Boyz are widely thought to be one of the best tag teams in history, but Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley have gone their separate ways on more than one occasion. In WWE, this happened during the 2002 Draft, when D-Von Dudley was sent to SmackDown while Bubba Ray remained on Raw.

While working as a singles wrestler on the blue brand, D-Von received a radically different gimmick, becoming Vince McMahon’s ‘Spiritual Advisor’ and calling himself ‘Reverend D-Von’.

During an appearance on The Hannibal TV, D-Von Dudley discussed the short-lived gimmick, saying that, while he enjoyed the character, he realised he was “getting screwed”.

“I don’t think Triple H would have ever laid down for me if he thought that character was garbage. I enjoyed it; Hunter enjoyed it. Hunter made a reference that D-Von was getting the short end of the stick.

“I remember Randy telling me that he had conversations with Hunter about it, and he said, ‘Yeah, D-Von is getting the short end of the stick on this push.’ And I was like, ‘Wow! If Hunter’s saying that then I am getting screwed.’”

Even though the gimmick became a springboard for launching Batista’s career when he joined the Reverend as ‘Deacon’ Batista, Dudley believes it was “always destined to fail” because the act was “a hard task”.

“I wasn’t a singles competitor at that point, so trying to be a tag team wrestler…that was hard. Now you put Batista, who’s never really been on TV, never really been anywhere, never done anything, and now you put him with me, and now I have to get him over along with myself. It’s a hard task.”

D-Von was only a Reverend for six months and made his last appearance as that character on the November 16th, 2002 edition of Velocity.

He reunited with Bubba Ray Dudley at Survivor Series weeks later, helping him, Jeff Hardy, and Spike Dudley win an Elimination Tables match.

Currently, D-Von works as a coach and producer for NXT where he gets to help a new generation of wrestlers.

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the above transcription.