Dudley claims meetings were a “bust” as Khan was persistent about him getting into the ring.
Between 2020 and 2022, Terrell and Terrence Hughes, known collectively as TNT, competed on All Elite Wrestling’s now-defunct Dark brand. The pair are the sons of D-Von Dudley, and the WWE and TNA Hall of Famer has now revealed that he was in talks to join AEW himself.
In an interview with VideoGamer, D-Von revealed that he had been looking to join AEW to help his sons, Terrell and Terrence. Dudley explained that he was seeking a producer role, but his three meetings with Tony Khan ultimately went nowhere, as the AEW President was more interested in seeing him return to the ring.
“I was looking to become a producer. I wasn’t looking to become a wrestler. And the only reason why my agent even contacted them was because of the fact that I left WWE and I wanted to still do the agent role. But my sons were there at the time and I was gonna try to do anything I could to help my sons out. I expressed to Tony (Khan) that I didn’t wanna wrestle. He kept trying to push it. He would have loved me to go out there and do a couple of things, maybe be a manager and maybe even do a six-man tag match. And I told him, I said, ‘If I do a six-man, let me know right now. I’ll be on apron and the boys are gonna do all the work.’ I told him I don’t wanna wrestle anymore. And he wasn’t taking no for an answer. He couldn’t get that through his head. He was like stringing me along and even though I kept telling him I don’t wanna wrestle, I was literally, when we had those meetings, really fresh off a back surgery. I really couldn’t do it like that back then. It takes time for your body to heal and to be able to do what you got to do after back surgery. So I basically kept emphasizing that I wanted to be a producer. I did not wanna wrestle. I wanted to work behind the scenes and he kept asking me if I wanted to wrestle and get back in the ring. And I’m like, ‘Dude, you’re not getting what I’m saying. I don’t want to wrestle. I just wanna be a producer. I wanna help my sons out. I wanna help get them where they are.’ Like what Billy Gunn was doing for his sons, you know? I’ve done everything in my career. I don’t need that. He just wasn’t taking no for an answer. I’ve had three meetings with him and all three were a bust!”
-D-Von Dudley
D-Von Dudley began working behind the scenes in WWE in 2016 during the Dudley Boyz’s final run as a tag team. He remained with the company until his departure in January 2023, though he has since stated that he believes he will return to WWE in a producer role in the future.
On October 12, D-Von returned to the ring for the final time at TNA Bound For Glory, reuniting with Bully Ray to face their long-time rivals, The Hardys, in a match billed as “One Final Table.”
Elsewhere during the interview, Dudley claimed that a WWE higher-up told him they didn’t like him due to the colour of his skin. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on D-Von Dudley’s plans to work as a producer in the future as soon as we hear more.
