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D-Von Dudley Talks Faith, Family, ECW and Making Wrestling Tag Team History

Writer's picture: Ben VealBen Veal

Updated: Feb 5

TESTIFY! Devon Hughes, known to professional wrestling fans worldwide as D-Von Dudley, has gone down in the sports entertainment history books as one half of the most decorated tag teams of all time. Alongside his Dudleyville brother Bubba Ray, D-Von amassed an incredible collection of over twenty tag team championships across ECW, WWE, TNA and New Japan Pro Wrestling and an illustrious career spanning almost three decades before securing his rightful place in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018.

D-Von Dudley - Wrestling Life Online

D-Von Dudley joins Wrestling Life with Ben Veal for episode 037 of the award-winning show to talk about his journey with Christianity, his upbringing, the evolution of the D-Von character, making TLC history with The Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian, why his 2002 WWE singles run didn't pan out as hoped, and his pride as a father watching his twin sons Terrence and Terrell now forging their own path in professional wrestling.


D-VON DUDLEY WAS RAISED BY A BISHOP


"My father was a bishop right before he passed away," shares D-Von in conversation on Wrestling Life with Ben Veal. "He had his church in Harlem, New York, with well over five hundred members that he preached to. He had very strong political ties in New York: Hilary Clinton, former mayor Rudy Giuliani, congressman Charles Rangel. He passed away in 2003 of cancer and it left a big gap in the family. My mother took over and became the first black woman to pastor over five hundred [church] members in Harlem. They’ve actually just celebrated her twentieth pastoral anniversary with a big billboard in Times Square with her face on it ... there's a big billboard in Times Square with her picture on it. I grew up in a very strict Christian home and I still hold very high respect for how I was brought up."



D-VON DUDLEY ON HOW ECW'S PAUL HEYMAN CHANGED HIS LIFE


“Paul Heyman was the one who discovered D-Von,” shares Devon on the show. “Tommy Dreamer and Taz gave the thumbs up to Paul when I was at the ECW training facility trying out. At the time I was working under the name of A-Train. There was no rhyme or reason to it. When I got to the ECW studio for the first time and Paul told me I’d be called D-Von Dudley, I wasn’t going to tell him no. Paul asked me about my background and I told him about my parents and my faith, and he then said, what’s your favourite movie? I told him that I loved Rocky III: I used to do Mr. T impressions all the time and I had gotten to the point that I was good at it. Now when you tell somebody like Paul that you’re good at doing an impression, you better do it right! He put me on the spot, and when I impersonated Mr. T, he was shocked. I told Paul I’d been studying the character my whole life."



WHAT HAPPENED WITH REVEREND D-VON?


“When the Reverend D-Von thing went down" [D-Von became a solo act after being drafted to WWE's Smackdown show in 2002] "I had been in a tag team for twelve years and had to try and get a new gimmick over, but I also had this guy Batista with me who’d never had any real training. Even though he had been in OVW, when I asked Dave to work a certain spot, he couldn’t do it because he’d only been taught how to do run ins. It shocked me … I had big Batista as my bodyguard and I had to try and teach him and put him in a good spot, while also trying to get this new character over and myself over. I had all those three elements working against me. I was comfortable with the Reverend D-Von character but I also wasn’t at the same time, because I didn’t want to offend my parents. WWE were making Reverend D-Von look like a crooked televangelist, stealing money from the church and trying to hurt the people within the church, so I had a bit of a problem with that. I talked to my father about it, and he said to me: when you’re done hooping and hollering in the ring, bring it over to where it really counts in the pulpit.”



WILL D-VON DUDLEY'S TWIN SONS JOIN WWE?


Away from the world of putting his opponents through tables as one half of The Dudleyz, D-Von is a proud father of seven and is now seeing the family legacy continue in the business with twin sons Terrence and Terrell, who have already competed under the bright lights of AEW: “It’s been fun, giving them advice and helping them along the way. They’re now pursuing NXT which I think is fantastic. In my opinion, regardless of where I’ve been throughout my career, WWE has always been my home. My sons will have their own opinion on what ‘home’ is, but they’ve been around all the WrestleManias, the Raws, the SmackDowns … where other people would mark out for people like The Rock, Edge and Christian, they grew up with them. We were a family during the Attitude Era and we all embraced each others’ families. I knew Dominik [Mysterio] when he was like three years old, walking around with Eddie with a bottle in his mouth. Now he’s a grown ass man hanging out with Mami and causing mischief in WWE. It’s amazing how times have changed.”



“I remember when The Usos were running around in catering with Terrence and Terrell. They were barely in junior high when I first met them. Family was very important back then and it still is now in the WWE. I’m happy to say that all of these kids that grew up [in that environment] and are now becoming second generation wrestlers have picked up where their fathers left off.”


REAL TALK FROM REAL TALENT

Wrestling Life with Ben Veal shines the spotlight brightly and positively on those who shaped wrestling's past, drive its present and influence its future. The show is widely available and features honest, open and inspiring conversations with many of the sport's biggest names, including Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Mick Foley, Lilian Garcia, Candice Michelle, Marc Mero, Buff Bagwell, Doug Williams, Eric Bischoff and many more.


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About the author: Ben Veal is a writer, content creator, journalist, and host of Wrestling Life and the founder of Second Mountain Comms, a purpose-driven award-winning PR and marketing business that helps good people do good. A Chartered PR professional and passionate fan of the artform of professional wrestling for more than three decades, Ben is committed to sharing the real stories behind wrestling's talented performers.

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