D-Von Dudley opens up about racism and pay issues in WWE

WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley recently spoke about his experiences with racism in the wrestling industry.

In an exclusive interview on his YouTube channel, D-Von sat down with longtime tag team partner Bubba Ray Dudley (also known as Bully Ray) and Tough Enough Season 1 winner Maven Huffman.

The topic came up after Huffman asked both men a question most fans would have of a tag team: who’s the leader? Bubba deflected to D-Von, who said that most of the time, it was Bubba, who he said was the more aggressive of the two. But something else kept D-Von from being more vocal.

“I was petrified,” said D-Von. “I’ll be honest with you. I was scared because I had a family. Didn’t want to step on nobody’s toes. So, it’s kind of like when you have a family and you’re taking care of kids and a wife at the time, you know, it’s kind of like, okay, what do you do? Do you rock the boat? Do you not rock the boat?”

D-Von, 53, said his fear was rooted in racism, as he began his career in 1991. Speaking about those who ran promotions at the time, he said, “Their philosophy was still stuck in the ‘50s and ‘60s. A black man should never say anything because of the fact that he’s black and you’re in a white man’s business.”

When Bubba asked if he had felt racism when they got together, D-Von said not during their time in ECW, where their team got its start. Instead, he said he experienced it after they joined WWE in 1999.

“I experienced it with certain top officials who I don’t really want to go and say any names,” said D-Von.

As Bubba and Huffman pressed him to name names, D-Von imitated a southern accent, saying, “Well, you know, I’m just going to say it like this,” before adding in his regular voice, “I didn’t wear a ten-gallon hat or anything.”

Huffman quickly chimed in, saying, “Go Sooners.”

The Sooners represent the University of Oklahoma, whose fight song has long been the entrance theme for Jim Ross — a well-known fan and Oklahoma native, and now an AEW announcer and former WWE executive.

While none of the three men mentioned Ross by name, the timing of Huffman’s remark — and Bubba turning to the camera with wide eyes — suggested a possible implication as D-Von continued his story.

“But when a person comes up to you and tells you that they don’t like you because of the color of your skin and you’re sitting up there going, ‘Wow, really?’ We’re in 1999, 2000, and you’re still coming to me and saying crap like this?”

“There were certain people in that organization at that time that felt that I should not have said anything, who had power to basically bury me if need be just because I might have stood up for what I felt was right.”

Bubba recalled the incident and said that had he not been there to restrain D-Von, something would have happened, but he did not elaborate.

Later in the interview, Bubba and D-Von shared a story about feeling underpaid for their performance at SummerSlam in 2000 following a TLC Match with the Hardys and Edge and Christian. All six men met with Ross to address the issue.

Despite initially agreeing that Edge and Matt Hardy would do the talking, Bubba bluntly told Ross, “It felt like we got kicked right in the nuts,” regarding their pay. They eventually received more money, but D-Von noted that their house show checks were noticeably smaller afterward.

“They might have given us more money up front after that, but they sure as hell got it back,” said D-Von.