June 15, 2025 • 55 mins
Devon pulls back the curtain on the explosive energy of River City Wrestling Con, sharing why this year's event was a monumental success, particularly for him! Get ready for an insider's look as Devon dishes on:
- River City Riches! Discover why Devon declares this year's River City Wrestling Con was an absolute goldmine, and how he achieved his most successful individual showing to date!
- Legendary Encounters! Find out which iconic figures and fellow legends Devon was thrilled to reconnect with, creating unforgettable moments at the heart of the convention.
- Mean, Green, Scotti Sosa Machine! Witness the fascinating breakdown of the Scotti Sosa vs. Aleah James match, as Devon hilariously credits none other than Bubba Ray Dudley for teaching Sosa how to unleash her inner beast!
- Proud Papa Moment: TNT Explodes! Feel the immense pride as Devon details his sons, TNT, tearing it up at River City Wrestling Con! Get the inside scoop on their performance and why you absolutely CANNOT miss what they have in store for next year!
- Gable, Jordan, & Good Times! A well-deserved shout-out to the incredible Chad Gable, plus uproarious and never-before-heard tales from Devon's time as a WWE Producer alongside Jason Jordan. Prepare for hilarious anecdotes and a glimpse into the fun and camaraderie they shared!
Don't miss a single second of this power-packed episode! Tune in now and tag along with Devon and Duke for an unforgettable ride through the world of professional wrestling!
Listen now wherever you get your podcasts!
#DevonAndTheDuke #DevonDudley #WWEHallOfFamer #DukeLovesRasslin #RiverCityWrestlingCon #RCWC2025 #ProWrestling #ScottiSosa #AleahJames #BubbaRayDudley #TNT #ChadGable #JasonJordan #WWEProducer #Podcast #WrestlingPodcast #NewEpisode #MustListen
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Wrestling tails knock you off your seat, TuneIn now don't you
be late. Wrestling podcast never felt
this great. Tails, ladders, chairs, they
tell it all. From the highest highs to the
lowest fall. Great lower tails from the ring.
(00:27):
Every chain, every cheer they'llbring.
Wrestling podcast never felt this crazy.
(00:48):
Brothers and sisters, welcome back.
Welcome back to another excitingedition of the Devon and the
Duke podcast. This is a limited edition series
hosted by your main man. Duke loves wrestling.
And of course, I'm going to haveto start calling this guy the
the, the King of River City Wrestling con because from top
(01:09):
to bottom, the influence, the influence of Devon Dudley was
felt throughout the entire weekend and he was in the
building on top of that, the oneand only Mr. Devon Dudley.
What's going on there bro? So I'm going good man, doing
good. Just, you know, on the high of
being at, you know, River City Con and just seeing all the
(01:32):
students that I've, you know, worked with and got to the level
that they're at now being very successful.
My sons who did an excellent job, very proud of them.
Of course, I protected the matchand they gave certain critiques
about certain things that I thought could have been better.
But hey, everybody, you know, needs that, even when you're at
(01:56):
a certain level, you know? And I just felt that my boys did
an excellent job and people wereloving them and I was very
happy. I made very, very good money.
The River City kind of. I can't begin to thank the fans
for coming out and showing theirlove and support for me and not
only me, but my students, my sons.
(02:18):
Just River City Con in general. How you know?
Nick threw a fantastic con and it was a huge success.
It sure was. I mean, without a doubt, the not
only the best incarnation of River City Wrestling Con, but
the number one pro wrestling convention in the history of the
(02:42):
state of Florida. And for all the conventions in
the nation, really per capita, River City Wrestling Con is top
three. They just they're they're
crushing it. They're crushing it on every
level. And I have my own opinion.
Devon, let me ask you this. Let me let me take this
different angle from you becauseyou've done all the conventions.
(03:04):
You'd have been here and done that all over the world and what
have you, if you could name one or two things that separates
River City from most of the others.
What is it about River City thatthat makes it work so well?
I think the general thing that Nick basically takes the time,
walks around making sure everybody's good, everybody's
OK, and if there's a problem, he's right there handling it
(03:27):
right away. I really did not see anybody
upset or even people that were upset because maybe the funds
weren't coming in as good for them as they thought it was.
It's not River City Khan's fault, and I'm not even trying
to blame the talent. But again, you know, he was
(03:48):
there to try to console the situation.
He had his hands and everything.He was being pulled from every
direction and he was able to make a lot of things work and a
lot of things happen. I think that's one of the things
that stand out to me the most about him.
He's a very genuine person, he basically knows what he's doing,
He's got good people surroundinghim, helping him and that aspect
(04:12):
and can't go wrong with that. No, you sure can in in the
venue. You know, you look at World Golf
Village, it's an upscale venue, man.
But most of these these conventions are not in a space
that looks that good, right? Absolutely.
So that certainly helps the ambiance.
The fact that he has the sheriff's deputies office,
(04:34):
they're involved. So you got real security and you
got real law enforcement on siteto make sure everything stays
under control. It's deep.
It's good stuff. Man, it really is.
It's good. Stuff, you know, and I and I
want to, I'm glad you brought that up.
Everyone has to go through it. You you go to certain signings
(04:54):
and maybe the crowd isn't there like you would hope.
And sometimes a crowd is there, but it's just not your day and
you're not getting the the response that you had hoped for.
You're not making as much money as you would want to.
Right. One of the things that I got a
call out to everybody out there,all of you wrestlers out there,
whether you're in the business now, aspiring, whatever,
(05:16):
legends, everybody. If you don't take the time to do
some type of media, then you're shooting yourself in the foot.
So, you know, Devon's fortunate enough that we have this show
here. Devon has the YouTube as well.
He's active on his social media.You know, you got a great team
behind you, what have you? You get the word out about
(05:38):
wherever you're going to be and you do a very good job with
that. Unfortunately, there's a lot of
people that just don't do a goodjob with that, you know, You
know. And the thing about it also is
that, you know, sometimes it's not just your social media
that's going to get the word outbecause there were times where,
(05:59):
you know, like last year I was there.
I didn't make nowhere near what I made this year.
And people knew I was out there was all over my social media and
everything. But yet people didn't know
either I was there or they didn't come out.
Now, the thing about it is, you know, some of the names that
were on there, not everybody's asocial media person.
(06:22):
Not everybody's going to go on, you know, line and search for
this stuff. So it's in my opinion that not
only do you have to get the wordout the other outlets, but you
have to be able to not only pushyourself, but to push some of
the big names because that will draw the people as well.
You know, because I, you know, Ididn't know this was happening.
(06:45):
I didn't know these guys were here.
I get that all the time. Last year, again, I thought I
did a great job and I did, I did, I'm not, I'm going to say
just above OK, But this year I had totally different outlook,
different response. And, you know, it was one of
those things that it was really,really good, you know, so like
(07:06):
you like to say, you know, rebranding myself and you know,
getting, you know, my myself still out there even though I
have not been in the ring wrestling on a major circuit,
you know, since 2016 Summer Slampre show with the Dudleys versus
Sami Vane and Neville. I have not really been on a
(07:27):
major circuit, you know, doing anything since I did the 1000
episode of TNA. But again, it wasn't pushed the
way it could have been pushed. But I get it was last minute and
things like that. But even with that, didn't
really help to draw the numbers for me.
But because what I've been doingon YouTube and my own social
(07:48):
media of the outlets and things like that, it's really, really
has been really good. Yeah, I mean, again, you, you
have the built in advantage of every week you're putting out
content. People are used to hearing from
you and and they're hearing goodstuff.
It's not like you're just talking nonsense like you're,
you're talking very good stuff at every turn.
(08:08):
So certainly the, the enthusiasmthat Devon Dudley has developed,
you know, you're on a string of,of having some pretty good
showings at most of the conventions you've done the last
couple of months, right? You, you've been, you've been
knocking it out of the park, right?
Absolutely. It's been great.
(08:29):
You know, me not wanting to workfor a major organization, just
want to do my own thing right now and there's nothing wrong
with that. I don't have a problem with
TNAI, don't have a problem with AW, although I like to say that
sometimes I question the office on how they do things, but
(08:52):
that's not for me to say becauseI'm not there nor do I, you
know, have any say so on that. I love the talent in AWI,
absolutely love it. I, I'm just not a fan of how
things are done there because I came from the era of a Paul
Heyman and ECW and an era of Vince McMahon and Paul Levesque,
(09:18):
Triple H as well. Even though Vince was still in
charge. I learned on the Hunter as well.
Seeing how I'm not, I'm not excluding ECW, but just seeing
how things are run by the machine called WWE is something
that you know, I learned and I and I took into consideration
(09:40):
even at times when I was in TNA,when me and Bubba were very
active in there, the things thatTNA were doing with the the
organization during that time, the people who were in charge of
the Dixie regime. I did not care nor did I like
how things were being run. It was just run totally
different from what I was used to.
(10:02):
And so many people would say that whether it will be Flair
used to say that Kevin Nash, Booker T, Scott Signs.
These are guys that I came up inthe business with during the
Attitude Era and during the PG era and the TNA era.
It was just that certain things that TNA was doing at the time
(10:22):
was not right now. Are they hitting it out the box
now? Absolutely.
They're doing great. Even before the collaboration
between TNA and WWE, they would put they had they had almost
both feet in the grave. The only thing they didn't have
was the dirt poured over them. They jumped out of that grave
and they came back and they werehitting home runs left and
(10:45):
right. They were doing things the right
way to the point where WWE, PaulLevesque and them were like, you
know what, let's join forces. Let's do this.
For whatever reason that happened, they did it.
And now look at them. You know, it was like, it was
like when Jesus raised Nazareth from the dead.
That's exactly what happened with TNA.
(11:08):
They're a different company now.They sure.
Are they're a different company?Yeah, yeah, they sure are.
That's true. And I'll be honest with you,
that's what I would like to see for AEW.
You know, I want this. I would love to see more
attendance for them. I would love to see them making
money outside of what Tony Khan is bringing.
(11:31):
I would love for them to make money, you know, with the houses
and the merchandise and things like that.
The way the WWE runs things in terms of that the the the well
oiled machine that they are. I think AW has the opportunity
to do that. But they've got to have the
right people in place to help them.
Tony Kahn cannot be the only onemaking major decisions.
(11:56):
You know, when Vince was in charge back in the 80s and 90s,
he had Pat Patterson, you know, who was his right hand man, who
probably saved Vince a lot of issues and a lot of problems.
And I think Tony Kahn needs somebody like a Pat Patterson
and we've said this before, or Michael Hayes or better yet a
(12:17):
Triple H that will be able to tell him no, this is how it
should be because they had the experience of how things would
work. And again, I love the talent
over there. A lot of times I'll watch A and
I don't watch AW like some of these hardcore fans do.
I don't even watch wrestling like that anymore.
(12:40):
But when I watch the product, I'm amazed at the talent that
they had there. Every single person on that
roster is extremely good, just just about every single one of
them. And, you know, for them to not
be able to fill the arenas or for them, you know, not to get
the ratings that they have, it'skind of like what TNA went
(13:01):
through. We had everybody there at one
point, but the ratings just was nowhere in comparison to what
WWE was doing. And you know, that I found
disturbing back then, you know, So, you know, I really push for
those guys. I really hope that they can
really knock it out the box and get somebody like a Pat
(13:23):
Patterson or Paul Levesque or even a Michael Hayes that will
be able to help them and guide them in the right direction that
they need to go in to make thosenumbers jump.
Fingers crossed. We we want everybody to make
money. We want everybody to do well.
So again, Tony Kahn, I hope you're paying attention.
(13:45):
Seriously. But just to put a button on it
though, can congratulations River City Wrestling Con next
year is going to be even bigger.Devon Dudley, we hope to see you
there again, see what other kindof exciting things you and, and,
and your whole crew got going on'cause I'm telling you man, TNT,
they put on a great match and, and I think they need to run
(14:05):
that back. Absolutely.
I'm sure the boys will be there too.
You know, I'll make sure that I'm there for two days in terms
of the two days that they're signing or even the day before
where we can get together and just talk about how to make this
work. That's a great idea and and
(14:26):
shout out again to Aaliyah Jamesand and Scotty Sosa.
Really a bust ass match. Absolutely.
Everyone was talking about it. It's one of the matches of the
weekend for sure. And in fact, I hear that people
want to see that come back because I guess Scotty, she, she
(14:46):
used some underhanded tactics toget the victory over Leah James.
So I think you're gonna. Have to.
Well, I can tell you what I can I I can tell you what, if
anything, she learned that from Bubba.
I was going to say that she learned that from.
She learned that from Bubba She.Didn't learn that what?
Bubba knows how to listen. Bubba knows how to get under the
(15:10):
people's skin and make them hatethem.
And she did just that, but she took a page out of, you know,
Uncle Bubba book, which ain't nothing wrong with that because
people are talking and they're loving it.
Yep, that's what matters, you know?
Just like Bubba, you know? Just like Bubba.
Bubba did. Bubba made people talk.
You didn't forget about Bubba. You knew it.
Whether you hated him or loved him, he made you talk about him.
(15:34):
It's the truth. It's the truth.
I got to send you the picture. I'm not sure if you saw it.
There's a picture of Scotty. She has Aalia James in the on
the second rope, like in the middle of the ring and she's
choking her with her leg. But just like the the
photographer was in the right place.
The way that she's doing it, it's it's such a cool live
action shot. And I guess Aaliyah is is very
(15:57):
upset about that. That shot.
She's like, how could you put this out?
Make me look so bad? So Oh Jesus.
OK, so. Listen, I I I love them both,
but I unfortunately I taught Scotty that.
There it is. There it is.
Breaking news folks, but everybody out there though, you
got to get your tickets early. That's the thing River City
(16:18):
wrestling con it sells out and I'm going to say something else.
This is not for you sweaty. Don't use deodorant neckbeards
out there. This is a.
Family friendly. Event this is like going to AWWE
show in the sense that you look around and you see everybody
(16:40):
from from grandma and grandpa all the way down to the bait
newborns. Like it legitimately is a family
event. So take your family, come have a
good time. But if you're just out here
trying to, you know, drool over the girls or or the guys or
whatever, Nah, the same for you.Ain't that kind of part, Yeah.
You know, no, it's not. No, I hear Ric Flair was in the
(17:01):
building too. Man, did you get a chance to say
hi to Rick? Unfortunately, I didn't get a
chance to see Rick Flair, nor did I get a chance to see The
Hurt Business. Or wasn't he having a chance to
see them? I saw Shelton, Shelton came by
the table and said hello, but I wasn't able to see MVP or Bobby,
and I wasn't able to see Brett the Hitman Hart, which I would
have loved to have seen those guys, but I didn't have a chance
(17:22):
to see him. But it's fine.
Dallas was there. Did you, did you see?
I know you just spent some time with them.
I got a chance to see Dallas. That was cool.
You know, we, we embraced each other.
We said, you know, hello. Of course, Dallas took a wrong
step at home and basically hurt his leg, but he's bouncing back
from it. He's doing that yoga, which is
(17:43):
helping him go right back into Dallas mode.
Yeah, You know, he, he stayed overtime just to make sure he
signed every autograph for everybody was in line, which
that's old school. Absolutely right there.
You know, so shout out to Dallas.
That's that's a gentleman right there.
I I did hear that you had Teddy long over there in your area
(18:06):
there and y'all were cutting up.Oh God, that boy, that man, I
kept telling. Get away from me.
Listen, you remember what Teddy had A Jerry curl.
Yeah. Oh yeah, I remember that.
Teddy Long must be related to Bobby Womack 'cause they had the
same hairdo back in the 80s. Man for.
(18:29):
Those of you that don't know whoBobby Womack is, he's an R&B
singer who passed away unfortunately a few years back,
but he had one of the greatest singles.
If you think you're lonely now, wait until tonight.
And I mean that. I mean, my mother played that
until the record didn't work anymore.
Yes, yes, love it across 110th St.
(18:52):
Remember that one too. Oh yeah, I remember that 100.
Yep, Bobby Womack was a huge deal back in the 80s and even in
the 70s. Yeah, yeah, he liked to talk in
his music, which is the best part.
So he wouldn't just sing. He he would tell you a story 1st
and then he would sing the song Love.
Oh, absolutely. But it's like pro wrestling.
(19:12):
You tell a story that that resonates with people and that
people can invest in, and music is the same way.
But Bobby had a song. He'll be here when the lights
come on. And it's a song about Bobby
being at a club. He just performed that and he
(19:36):
sees a lady, beautiful lady, sitting there.
He say, I'll buy you a drink. And she's like, you want to buy
me a drink? You want to take me up to your
room? And he's like, listen, if I
wanted you up to my room, I'll just say come up to the room,
you know? No, I was just trying to be
cordial and then buy you a drink.
So he says they get to talking and then she does say, hey, I
want to go up to the room. And then he said, no, you don't
want to go up with me. Go home to your man, you know,
(19:57):
because because I'm gone to the next town.
But he'll be here when the lights come on, you know, Hell
of a song. Hilarious song.
Real song. It is.
It's just it's a hell of a storyto tell.
That's that's who Bobby Womack was, man.
That, like you said, like pro wrestling.
Tell him a great story, you know?
(20:18):
Absolutely. That's fun.
That's fun. You know, it's it's interesting
because you had that busy weekend with River City.
All that stuff was going on and at the same time we had the
joint PLE Worlds Collide, which was AAA and WWE.
For those who may not realize this, WWE owns AAA now.
(20:40):
They are the majority owner of AAA Mexico.
So that's their company now, technically.
Let me ask. You a question.
Yeah, please. Do you feel like all of this
collaboration with WWE and all these other different
organizations, do you feel like it is a repeat of what we saw in
the 80s where Vince took over the majority of the wrestling
(21:02):
world by either running the businesses out of the out of
business and not saying that they're running them out of
business, but joining, you know,bringing their talent over to
them and making them into superstars?
Do you feel that is the same thing that's going on now but in
a different way? That exactly, I think you got,
(21:23):
you said it just right. I think it's a variation of the
same thing. It's a little different in the
sense that I think they've learned from their mistakes in
the past and they're showing more respect to these
organizations. You know what I mean?
It's, it's, it's not like they closed down AAA.
It's not like they're closing down TNA.
(21:43):
They're, they're legitimately collaborating and, and allowing
those brands to continue to build, you know, which which
helps if AAA continues to be a strong brand, then you can run
Mexico and have no problem. You know, it's it, that's just
the way it is. And, and, and TNA, you don't
(22:05):
want them to go out of business because Eric Bischoff said
something interesting the other day.
He said, he said TNA is probablythe biggest threat to AE W
because as long as TNA is allowed to exist and they get
this WWE collaboration, the sky is the limit for that company.
(22:25):
You know, so AW can't be #2 whenTNA is getting the that type of
love from WWE. You know.
That it just, it did because there's no comparison.
It's just it. It's a much more polished
product. The wrestling is making more
sense, and you got stars who cancrossover.
You could see them on NXT. You could see him in the Royal
(22:46):
Rumble. You could see him at
WrestleMania with Joe Henry. So it's like, you know, how do
you Now here's the issue though,Devon, I'm going to throw it
back on you. When do we get to a point where
it starts to become a concern ofMonopoly?
Because remember, that was one of the things that MLW was
accusing WWE of. And then WWE ended up settling
(23:08):
with them in order to put that to bed.
But when do we start worrying that, you know, they're
monopolizing things? I really, you know, I don't have
the answer to it, but what I canprobably say is the you know,
when companies start losing revenue, losing attendance and
(23:31):
things like that because they'remajor stars or with WWEI think
that's when it starts. I think that's what happened
even with AW when I'm not a Wawa, when they did what was it
the dark side of wrestling with the dark side of A and EI think
there was something that was said to that.
(23:52):
And so many documentaries where burned, you know, the, the, the,
the attendance dropped. They weren't making money.
And then one day, you know, he told his son he's like not to
close the doors because we just don't have it no more.
I think that's when it becomes an issue because that's exactly
(24:12):
what happened with the AWA Georgia Championship Wrestling.
I mean, with everything, you know, luckily the N.W.A didn't
fold the way some of the other companies did.
And they wind up, you know, becoming WCW and just, you know,
just coming back to life. I think that's when there's a
problem. When you don't have the talent
(24:34):
that you used to, where your attendance drops, your revenue
drops, and what do you do from there?
You got another choice but to start closing doors.
If you start seeing that with the organization, I feel that's
where you start to be concerned.Great point, great point.
And, and, and I don't think we want that.
And I and WWEI caution you, you don't want that because if you
(24:56):
if as soon as you're deemed a monopoly, the government steps
in and they break you up. Simple as that.
WBD just had to do that. You know, Warner Bros
government, they, they bought Discovery and they were allowed
to make that purchase and not enough changed.
And it was really just, they hadtoo much power.
(25:19):
So, so the government stepped inand said either you split the
company into two or we're going to make you split.
So they announced this week, well they announced a couple
days ago, they're splitting WBD and it's going to be all of the
movie and TV properties for the most part are going to be 1
company. And then the more sports is
(25:41):
going to be its own separate company.
So it's like, well, why did you why did you buy Discovery in the
1st place if you just going to be, you're going to do this all
over again. But this is, it's a
restructuring and they're going to be called 2 separate
companies. More important, they're going to
be called 2 separate companies. So again, that whole monopoly
(26:02):
thing, man, once, once the the government starts knocking on
the door, you have no more control.
They're just going to, they're going to make you split so.
Keep that in mind. That's how it's going to wind up
going. Yeah, yeah.
So you know, there, there is no,I don't such a thing as too
much, you know. You know, I don't see AW doing
that just for the simple fact that the money that they have
(26:26):
between Tony Kahn and his dad, you know, it's just an endless
amount of money. I don't see it happening unless,
you know, they see in their pockets that it's not making the
money that it should and they can't keep going in pocket and
doing this because, listen, having a wrestling, you could be
(26:47):
a, you could win lottery tomorrow.
You can win $20 million tomorrow.
And at first, hey, it's great towin that type of money and want
to open up your own organization.
But you have to also remember that eventually that money will
dwindle. Listen, $20 million is not a lot
(27:08):
of money to open up your own organization.
It gives you maybe six months toa year.
Remember, the production has to be tip top.
You know, talent has to be paid.And eventually if that money's
not coming in through the profitand the revenue that it should
generate through the people, through merchandise sales and
(27:30):
all that, you wind up digging inyour pocket.
How much are you willing to continue to lose before you
close the doors? And that's one of the things I
don't want to see with a EWI, want to see them prosper.
I want to see them go at it. I want to see Tony Kahn not have
to put money, his own money, continuously into the company
where the money can start generating on its own the amount
(27:53):
of money that he needs to keep that establishment going.
That's what I would like to see and that's what I hope to see in
the near future. Well said.
Well said. I'm with you on that 100%.
You know, again, nobody wants tosee these guys go out of
business, so figure it out please.
(28:13):
Anyway, at the Money in the BankPLE we had a surprise return of
sorts. During the main event, John Cena
was attacked by a masked man whorevealed himself to be Ron the
Truth Killings, AKA Ron Truth R Truth.
(28:35):
So, So what did you think about that Devon?
Because last we heard truth was he announced that his contract
was not renewed by the company and essentially his time with
the company was over and then heappears at the PLE.
So, So what are your thoughts first of all on Truth being back
and then we'll unpack the other stuff.
(28:56):
Wait, what are your initial thoughts when you when you saw
him attack Cena? Well, you know, in my opinion,
it reminded me of something thatwe saw in the mid Millennium
where when Matt Hardy left afterthe whole controversy between
Edge and Leader and himself and the fans were, you know,
(29:21):
tramping, we want Matt throughout the whole arena.
And it was one of those things where it's almost similar to
that, you know, where the fans spoke and they were heard.
And I think that was one of the things about truth.
You know, he was loved by many. Hell, he was loved by Vince
(29:46):
McMahon. I mean, you know, there was
nothing that truth could have done in Vince's eyes that was
wrong. And I think he was doing the
same thing here under the TripleHS regime.
But I also feel that whatever happened behind closed doors
where they weren't going to renew his contract, the fans
spoke very highly because after the pay-per-view match that he
(30:07):
had with John Cena, you know, itwas really good.
I thought maybe that would have put him in a different light
other than comedy. And I think the fans thought
that, too, because he did such agreat showing.
But then, you know, he got, you know, said his contract was
going to be renewed and this andthat, and he left.
And it was kind of like the fansultimately brought him back.
(30:29):
You know, I was there for the whole thing with Matt Hardy.
I was there. I was there for everything, you
know, So I saw what had happened, so.
You're somebody who worked with Truth for years and you actually
got to produce him with those 24/7 segments and what have you.
(30:52):
What's the value of a guy like Truth in AWWE locker room in
2025? Why is this person so important
that we have to fight for his position in the company and make
sure that the company keeps them?
Because the fans love them. The fans love him.
He's done a great job. He's been very, very WWE since
(31:14):
he's been there. He's never given the the company
any issues or any problems. He's done everything that he's
ever asked to do and he's done it with Pride.
Even if he didn't like it, he did it.
So my opinion is that you know that somebody that you just
don't want to lose. He's a team player and the fans
see that as well. Yeah, well said.
(31:37):
Well, so what'd you think about him cutting his hair?
He didn't. He didn't shave it bald yet, but
he he cut the the, the, the braids that he had in his hair.
What'd you think of that? I don't know.
That's something that could havepossibly, oof, that could have
(31:57):
broke me, you know, but I won't have that problem because I'm
not. I don't have any hair.
Well, you had hair. You listen to me.
We don't act like we don't remember you with hair now,
Devon, we remember you when you had your little mini fro.
We remember that, you know, do do you think he should have done
that in the hair versus hair match or something like that?
(32:19):
Or did you like the way that they did that?
Well, a hair versus hair match against him and Cena, I think
people would have probably thought Cena was going to lose
because you know, he is, you know, he's becoming to look like
me a little bit, but he's losingthat hair in the back of his
head and his hairline is going way back.
But I think people would have thought that he was going to
(32:40):
lose. But yet it would have been our
truth, I guess, if he would havelost.
And then not to mention them doing it the way they did, it
just sets up for another story. Yeah, yeah.
That's true. That's true.
Yep, yeah, 'cause it. What did he say?
I wish you would. He kind of reminds me of Naomi
(33:01):
at this point. And you see what her she, she
just won the money in the bank. So it kind of reminds me of her
with that new attitude there, you know?
Listen, that's that's that's a good thing.
It's not a bad thing. Again, I love what WWE has been
doing under Leveque of the storylines.
Hey, ratings might be down a little bit, but you know what,
(33:21):
They are still getting the job done.
They're still getting people to talk and that's one of the
things that they like. So can they afford to lose some
ratings? Yes, they can.
But the same token, you don't want that, but you got to do
whatever you got to do to keep the ball rolling, and that's
what they're doing. Yeah, agreed.
(33:41):
Agreed. If it ain't broke, don't fix it,
OK? That's the truth.
It's funny because one of the big time producers, Metro
Boomin, who he's done some stuffwith WWE, he's a big fan.
He had tweeted out that he wantsto rework Truth's theme song and
Truth said, well, I, I want to keep the theme song because it
(34:02):
ain't broke. But thank you.
We can collaborate in other ways.
What what do you say about that?Are are you a fan of changing up
the theme songs once it's been after a certain period of time,
or do you think you should keep your original theme?
Sometimes I think you should, but then it sometimes I think
you need to change it. I'll give you a prime example.
The Dudley boys, you know, with saliva doing get the tables.
(34:26):
I thought there couldn't be nothing better than that.
And then me and Bubba separated.I went a separate ways.
When we came back to each other,he came to me the Monday Night
Royal. We were going to come back.
Because I want you to listen to this song.
Tell me what you think it was Power Man 5000.
You know, get up, get up, get up.
Drop the bombshell. And at first it was like, didn't
(34:48):
do it for me. But then I heard it the second
and third time. I was like, OK.
And then once I said let's try it, once we came out to it and
the energy that that song bought, it just changed my whole
outlook on our theme music. You know, there's other song,
there's other people that got theme songs like for instance,
(35:08):
and I'm talking about the 90s Gangrel, Gangrel.
That song to this day, plus thatentrance, anytime I watch it, I
get goosebumps. How good that entrance was with
him coming up from the ground with the fire and when he had
the Hardee's with him. I mean, good God, that was to
this day. That's number one in my book.
(35:29):
The song that DX had at one point couldn't get any better
than that, I thought. But then they came up with a Run
DMC doing the collaboration withthem and, and making that new
song happen. I listen to it to this day.
I play it every day at my wrestling school before people
start getting, when they start warming up because it has so
(35:50):
much energy, it's so damn good that you know it gets it gets
the students riled up. So it all depends on how good
the song can be and how it can resonate with the people.
That's deep. I I forgot that Power Man 5000
did that theme. Wow.
That's, that's a hell of a band,man.
(36:11):
Damn. OK, that's, that's cool.
That's really cool. Yeah.
You know, I mean, at WrestleMania when they played us
to the ring, I, I listen that all the time, even though it was
my theme music. I listen to it all the time.
And I honestly thought that theycould be, you know, nothing
better than, you know, saliva get the tables.
But they proved otherwise. Yeah, yeah, that was cool.
(36:34):
That was cool. You know what's funny?
Shinsuke Nakamura, who has that theme?
Shinsuke with the with the violin.
And I'm sure you've seen it whenthe guy plays the violin live.
What's your thoughts on on on Shinsuke's theme when the guy
does it live? Shinsuke got that over that song
over in NXTI Remember Me and Bubba's last hurrah right before
(37:01):
we left the second time we did an indie show and the indie
show, they were basically playing his music without him
even being there. And the fans was singing it.
They were humming it and it really turned out really good.
So you know, since Schinsky got that over like 1,000,000 bucks,
and I remember looking out over the crowd and going what the
(37:23):
hell? Because I knew who Schinsky
Nakamura was, but I didn't realize, you know, how over that
song got. So Schinsky got that over, he
got that over the NXT and he dida damn good job in doing it.
I just wish they would do more with Shinsuke.
Yeah, I mean, and, and it's, it's a, it's a damn travesty
(37:44):
that he never got a run with oneof the big titles.
I I think Shinsuke would be a great champion.
Absolutely. But I tell you what, he goes
back to Japan and he'll be a major star.
Absolutely, you know. Anybody that comes to the WWE
after being in Japan and then they go back, they're huge,
(38:08):
yeah. It's true.
It's true. There's plenty of money on the
table. I give you a point in case
Funaki Funaki was like below midcard, but yet everybody loved
him. He worked his butt off.
He did what he had to do. We went to Japan, he came out.
It was like getting an ovation from the rock of Stone Cold
Steve Austin. That's how big he became.
(38:29):
Even being a guy who opened up matches all the time, it was
incredible. Well, shoot, when you when you
and Bubba won the the titles in Japan, same thing, right?
I mean, you guys were super overby the time you got back to
Japan and did that, you know, they, they loved it.
Yeah, it was, you know, But remember, WWEECW made us and WWE
(38:54):
perfected us. You know, That was just how it
was. And it was one of those, it was
one of those things where we were very happy about it.
Good point, good point. I'll tell you right now, WWE do
not let Shinsuke Nakamura go figure it out because if you're
(39:16):
expanding in Japan, he's a perfect person to do that with.
So I I'd find a way. I'm just going to put that out
there. Exactly.
They have not squeezed all the juice out of that talent.
Not even close. There's still a lot more left in
the tank weight with Schinsky. So you know, lastly, I got to
(39:37):
ask you about this Chad Gable. You know, a lot of people say
he's El Grande Americano. I don't know if that's true or
not, but that's the word on the street he maybe, or they're at
least related. He wrestled, you know, at
World's Collide and then he wrestled the Money in the Bank
and he was actually in the Moneyin the Bank match.
Just your thoughts on Chad Gablefrom what you've seen, because I
(39:59):
know that you you knew him from NXT as well.
And what have you seeing where he's at today is, is there more
to do with Chad Gable? Do you do you think this guy's a
real deal? I think he is not only as an
amateur wrestler but even as a worker.
I've seen him work his butt off and it was sad to me when Vince
(40:20):
was in charge that he wasn't getting the push that he's
getting now because I saw him being a hell of a talent if you
just gave him a chance. He worked so hard to remain in
that company and to do whatever they asked for during the Vince
regime and it just didn't seem that it was working, that Vince
(40:41):
didn't see anything cuz he was asmaller guy.
Here's the deal. I like Triple H, regardless of
your size, he's giving you the opportunity if you take the ball
and run for the touchdown. That's what I love about him.
He gives those that. He gives those people that have
(41:02):
a that didn't have a chance under the Vincent's machine.
He gives them a chance and it just seems like a lot of them
knocked out the box. Now there's some people that
unfortunately was not lucky to knock it out the box and they
failed and they would let go. But Chad is the real deal.
Well said, well said. And and he's an Iron Man.
(41:23):
The fact that he that he wrestled twice that day, two
major positions and and made everybody look great.
Listen, I'm I'm jealous 'cause Iwish.
I wish I was in the shape that Chad was in.
Good God that. Man can.
He's in great shape. Yeah, he's in.
He is a machine. He's like, he's like Kurt, Kurt
Angle, 2 point O when it comes to that.
You couldn't blow Kurt up. You can't blow Chad up.
(41:45):
There's no way. Yeah, he's just that good.
And and he had a match with the Kingo at Worlds Collide.
I mean, the Kingo doing that lucha style, the fact that it
meshes so well with the way thatGable wrestles is tremendous.
His versatility in the ring is is is on.
(42:05):
It's like, wow, this guy is really good.
You know, yeah, he really is. I mean, and so is Jason Jordan,
you know, even though he's a producer now, you know, it was
unfortunate what happened with his neck.
It really was. But Jason is a great guy.
We got along so good when I was a producer, you know, when he
took Lauren Isis place for a little bit and I was there
(42:27):
during that time, you know, he had took Lauren Isis place.
So he was kind of like John, youknow, the new John on the
talent. He we worked together.
He he was fantastic, not only asa producer taking John Lauren
Isis place, but as talent, forget about it.
He was good as well. He could go, you know, and if it
(42:48):
wasn't for that neck injury, he could still be on top.
He would be probably world's champion.
Yeah, I believe that. I believe the handsome, great
build could go in the ring. The fans enjoyed them.
Yeah, he would have been champion, no doubt.
There was one time we were waiting on line for something
somewhere. And, you know, these girls were
down there. They were just like, you know,
(43:08):
googly eyed. And I'm sitting up there going
ha, ha, ha, yeah, They're looking at me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then all of a sudden, all of
a sudden, you know, they go, hi,you, Jason Jordan talking to
Jason. And he goes just to him and
goes, man, me and my friends have been admiring you and your
beauty. I just went.
I was like, man, go away. Gripping your style?
(43:31):
Yeah. Listen, all that hard work you
had done all these years, man, all.
All all the. Classic moments.
You know if this pretty boy to step in.
Damn. I thought I looked at a thing
from Martin. You know, Pretty Ricky is what
they call them. Or with New Jack City when, you
know, was like, I've never likedthat Pretty Mother bumper
(43:52):
anyway. Exactly.
Exactly, you know. I said Pretty Mother Bumper.
I didn't want to say what he originally said in the movie so.
We don't need any problems from the Bishop.
So yeah, we're going to we're going to keep PG.
None. Oh God, no.
Oh, listen, my mother. Oh, forget about it.
Listen, let me put you this way.I'm 52 years old, going to be 53
(44:14):
in August 1st, and I still don'teven say the word Dawn around my
mother. Yeah, I don't say damn Dawn.
Nothing. You she she commands that
respect. Yep.
And I give it to her. She raised you right, man.
I love that. I love that.
Shout out to the Bishop, shout out to Jason Jordan.
I'm going to have to clip this and and send it to him because
he'll get a kick out of hearing hearing that story we brought up
(44:36):
there. Jason, Pretty Ricky, you know,
in the flesh, so to speak. I.
Love it, I love it. One of the things I'll never
forget, one of the things, one of the stories that Jason laughs
about to this day, you know, 'cause I, I, I love to take the
gummies or, you know, I'll smokesome flour here and there and I
(44:58):
have a pen. So I was in my hotel room
waiting for my car to be broughtdown, and I was just like, oh
God, it was taking forever. And I never told the story
before, but I basically started smoking my pen.
And I didn't think I smoked enough for me to start feeling
stuff, but apparently I did. So I'm in the production
(45:21):
meeting. Vince got there a little late,
and he thought, you know, they all come down and sit down.
It's Kevin Dunn. It's Vince.
It's Ed, Ed Kowski, the writer, and they're all sitting in the
front and we're going over some of the matches.
And something was asked of me. What did I think about
something? And I said it.
(45:41):
Michael Hayes goes well, damn, Devon, high as hell right now.
I looked, I looked at Michael Hayes.
I said, well, I'm gonna be honest with you.
I am. I'm high as back right now.
And I looked at Vince and Vince had this look on his face.
I said, look, Vince, I'm just telling you right now, I was
smoking my pen, didn't realize Igot to that level.
So I'm telling you now so you don't have to drug test me.
(46:03):
I'm high as hell right now giving my answer.
So I'm just letting you know, everybody in a production
meeting fell out, even even Maddie's husband TJ, who you
really have to say something funny to get him to break and
laugh. He fell out and Jason Jordan was
just like Yvonne. I said I'm telling the truth so
(46:23):
y'all don't make up shit when I leave.
I'm telling you I'm high. It was so funny.
These are stories no one's ever heard before, Ben.
They like that. That's no, that's good stuff.
And Vince just looked at me and goes, I said, Vince, I'm just
telling you now. I'm telling you you don't have
(46:44):
to drug test me. I'm admitting I'm high.
So. So wait a second, I got I got to
ask this. I got to ask this.
Have you ever known Vince to to ever partake?
I've never heard of anything. I mean, I've heard about the 90s
and the 80. I heard about the 80s, not the
90's. The 80s about you know he, he,
(47:05):
you know he. Had a good time.
Basically had a good time. I don't know for certain.
I can't speak on it. I don't know.
But you know, again, you know, it wasn't like it was with the
boys or anything like that. I never heard of that before.
But you know, again, I, I do know that he liked to drink, eat
a, you know, glass of wine here and there and blah, blah, blah.
(47:28):
You know, on certain day, especially after good pay per
views or good Monday Night Raws,if we were having some type of
function there, you know, this is when Vince actually came out
and socialized with the guys. So this was, you know, back in
those days, I heard. And again, I wasn't there
because I was either in elementary school or I was in
(47:48):
junior high or even high school at the time when all of this
stuff, supposedly when he was actually, you know, having a
couple of drinks with the boys, you know, after Wrestlemanias or
after major events. Not that he was out of control.
I had never heard of that. I've never heard that from
anybody. But you know, he enjoyed his
(48:10):
wine, you know, and that was basically, you know, that was
basically it that I heard of. I never heard of him doing drugs
with the boys or anything like that.
And if he did do it, again, I didn't, I didn't know about it.
And again, I wasn't there. So I don't know.
I'm only going by what the people from the 80s, from the
Hogan and Andre era and even somewhat the attitude ever
(48:33):
before I got there. I mean, again, you never heard
of Vince, you know, doing anything in public that would
put his name in a bad light likethat.
And if you did, again, I wasn't there.
So I don't know. Well said, Well said.
That's, I've, I've always been curious about that though, you
know, because at this point, man, it's, there's no way that
(48:55):
you can give people a hard time about marijuana.
You don't want people to be on those prescription drugs, man,
you know, So the, the, the weed is the way to go.
Gummies. Whatever it is, that's the way
to go. So, well, that's what I did when
after my back surgery because they wanted to give me
painkillers and I told him, no, I reject.
I said I don't want that. I don't have an addictive
(49:16):
personality. But the same token, I'm not
trying to take any chances because you're in so much pain
from the back surgery. And if that's relieving the
pain, then it's very easy to gethooked on stuff like that.
And I said no, I wasn't taking it.
So I had gotten my marijuana card and you know, basically
whenever, when I was in pain, I just took a gummy and laid down
(49:38):
and, you know, I was relaxed theway.
So there is, there is some truthto medical marijuana really
helping the body during times like that.
It's when people abuse it is when it's not.
Well said. Anything in moderation is not so
(49:58):
bad. Just be safe and responsible
folks. That's the main idea there.
What do you got going on for the?
Weekend and drinking yeah exactly well I'm off this yeah
yeah Yep I'm I'm off this week. I was supposed to be in Orlando
at a toy convention but they can't they had to cancel it so
we rescheduled the date later onso I'm working the following
(50:18):
week and I'm going to be doing aComic Con hold on one second.
I'll get it for you but and I was excited to be able to be off
this week. I didn't think I was going to,
but I guess I am so. Get some rest, you know.
Some well needed rest. I've been listening for the past
couple of days, you know, because the kids are out of
school. So I've been sleeping until
(50:40):
about 8-9 o'clock people go. That's not sleeping late, it is
for me. Yeah, please.
We're we're used to being up at,you know, 3-4 in the morning.
So if you could sleep till 7/8, 9:00, that's shit.
You sleeping in for sure. Exactly.
Yep. So I'm going to be at, I'm going
to be at the Westchester County Center in White Plains on June
(51:01):
21st. I'm going to be in West County
Center. So I'll be there, you know,
doing the autographs and doing everything I got to do with the
fans. Awesome, awesome stuff there.
And, and how can folks keep up with you, man?
So they can, they can see all the different Flyers and what
have you, where you going to be?And also keep an eye on what's
next with Devon Dudley. Well, we got the YouTube channel
(51:25):
coming up. It's going to be we're going to
have guest Mick Foley will be inattendance on that YouTube
channel. Carly Carlito might be he had to
wait till after his stuff runs out with WWE.
Of course we we've got most likely Haku legendary wrestler
Haku will be there is on the YouTube channel as well.
(51:49):
So we're looking forward to a lot of the stars that's going to
be on the show coming up and it should be very interesting
watch. I like that teaser, so you
definitely got to check out the D Von Dudley YouTube folks so
you don't miss anything. Got to hit that subscribe button
so you don't miss anything please.
(52:10):
Absolutely. And we're also working on AWWE
person and interest as well. We're working on trying to see
maybe we maybe we can get the likes of a Jacob FA 2 on the
show. So we're working on that as
well. So it's very interesting of
what's gonna of what's going on.I love that.
Stay tuned. Stay tuned, man.
(52:31):
Listen, Jacob is tearing it up, by the way.
He is tearing it up. He might get Rookie of the Year.
He might get Rookie of the Year,man.
Listen, if anything, he deservesit.
He's tearing it up, man. That that dude is box office.
Ain't no question about that. As always folks, Duke loves
wrestling. On Facebook on
twitter.dukeloveswrestling@gmail.com.Let me know what you think of
(52:52):
the show. All the good stuff.
Get your shout outs in. Definitely make sure that you
pay attention to where Devon is going to be so you can go meet
the big man. Get your autograph, get your
pictures. So many folks from all over at
River City this past weekend andthey all had nothing but
positive things to say about interacting with Devon and
(53:15):
getting their photos, getting their autographs.
That's what it's all about. That's what it's all about.
Absolutely. It's it's lovely.
I love it. I love it.
All right, man, it's that time. What do you get for a Word of
the Week? Well, what I have is it's not
really a saying, but it's something that I saw.
I was like, I got to say this. Apologize to the old folks who
used to judge for eating dinner at 5 and being in bed by 9.
(53:39):
You guys are really on to something and that is the truth.
Testify. My brother.
(54:06):
All about the perfect life. Be yourself, let your spirit
lie. In this fashion you'll touch the
sky. Strictly for the culture.
Wrestle fine dress to impress. And show your shine strictly for
(54:32):
the culture. Visit
www.strictlyforthaculture.ca. Backstage whispers and the
(55:03):
crowds roar from matching giantsto legends of your divans,
Wisdom and Duke's keen view. Every episode feels like it's
brand new. Diva and Duke bring the heat.
Wrestling tails knock you off your seat.
TuneIn now don't you be late. Wrestling podcast never felt
(55:28):
this great.
Wrestling tails knock you off your seat, TuneIn now don't you
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(00:27):
Every chain, every cheer they'llbring.
Wrestling podcast never felt this crazy.
(00:48):
Brothers and sisters, welcome back.
Welcome back to another excitingedition of the Devon and the
Duke podcast. This is a limited edition series
hosted by your main man. Duke loves wrestling.
And of course, I'm going to haveto start calling this guy the
the, the King of River City Wrestling con because from top
(01:09):
to bottom, the influence, the influence of Devon Dudley was
felt throughout the entire weekend and he was in the
building on top of that, the oneand only Mr. Devon Dudley.
What's going on there bro? So I'm going good man, doing
good. Just, you know, on the high of
being at, you know, River City Con and just seeing all the
(01:32):
students that I've, you know, worked with and got to the level
that they're at now being very successful.
My sons who did an excellent job, very proud of them.
Of course, I protected the matchand they gave certain critiques
about certain things that I thought could have been better.
But hey, everybody, you know, needs that, even when you're at
(01:56):
a certain level, you know? And I just felt that my boys did
an excellent job and people wereloving them and I was very
happy. I made very, very good money.
The River City kind of. I can't begin to thank the fans
for coming out and showing theirlove and support for me and not
only me, but my students, my sons.
(02:18):
Just River City Con in general. How you know?
Nick threw a fantastic con and it was a huge success.
It sure was. I mean, without a doubt, the not
only the best incarnation of River City Wrestling Con, but
the number one pro wrestling convention in the history of the
(02:42):
state of Florida. And for all the conventions in
the nation, really per capita, River City Wrestling Con is top
three. They just they're they're
crushing it. They're crushing it on every
level. And I have my own opinion.
Devon, let me ask you this. Let me let me take this
different angle from you becauseyou've done all the conventions.
(03:04):
You'd have been here and done that all over the world and what
have you, if you could name one or two things that separates
River City from most of the others.
What is it about River City thatthat makes it work so well?
I think the general thing that Nick basically takes the time,
walks around making sure everybody's good, everybody's
OK, and if there's a problem, he's right there handling it
(03:27):
right away. I really did not see anybody
upset or even people that were upset because maybe the funds
weren't coming in as good for them as they thought it was.
It's not River City Khan's fault, and I'm not even trying
to blame the talent. But again, you know, he was
(03:48):
there to try to console the situation.
He had his hands and everything.He was being pulled from every
direction and he was able to make a lot of things work and a
lot of things happen. I think that's one of the things
that stand out to me the most about him.
He's a very genuine person, he basically knows what he's doing,
He's got good people surroundinghim, helping him and that aspect
(04:12):
and can't go wrong with that. No, you sure can in in the
venue. You know, you look at World Golf
Village, it's an upscale venue, man.
But most of these these conventions are not in a space
that looks that good, right? Absolutely.
So that certainly helps the ambiance.
The fact that he has the sheriff's deputies office,
(04:34):
they're involved. So you got real security and you
got real law enforcement on siteto make sure everything stays
under control. It's deep.
It's good stuff. Man, it really is.
It's good. Stuff, you know, and I and I
want to, I'm glad you brought that up.
Everyone has to go through it. You you go to certain signings
(04:54):
and maybe the crowd isn't there like you would hope.
And sometimes a crowd is there, but it's just not your day and
you're not getting the the response that you had hoped for.
You're not making as much money as you would want to.
Right. One of the things that I got a
call out to everybody out there,all of you wrestlers out there,
whether you're in the business now, aspiring, whatever,
(05:16):
legends, everybody. If you don't take the time to do
some type of media, then you're shooting yourself in the foot.
So, you know, Devon's fortunate enough that we have this show
here. Devon has the YouTube as well.
He's active on his social media.You know, you got a great team
behind you, what have you? You get the word out about
(05:38):
wherever you're going to be and you do a very good job with
that. Unfortunately, there's a lot of
people that just don't do a goodjob with that, you know, You
know. And the thing about it also is
that, you know, sometimes it's not just your social media
that's going to get the word outbecause there were times where,
(05:59):
you know, like last year I was there.
I didn't make nowhere near what I made this year.
And people knew I was out there was all over my social media and
everything. But yet people didn't know
either I was there or they didn't come out.
Now, the thing about it is, you know, some of the names that
were on there, not everybody's asocial media person.
(06:22):
Not everybody's going to go on, you know, line and search for
this stuff. So it's in my opinion that not
only do you have to get the wordout the other outlets, but you
have to be able to not only pushyourself, but to push some of
the big names because that will draw the people as well.
You know, because I, you know, Ididn't know this was happening.
(06:45):
I didn't know these guys were here.
I get that all the time. Last year, again, I thought I
did a great job and I did, I did, I'm not, I'm going to say
just above OK, But this year I had totally different outlook,
different response. And, you know, it was one of
those things that it was really,really good, you know, so like
(07:06):
you like to say, you know, rebranding myself and you know,
getting, you know, my myself still out there even though I
have not been in the ring wrestling on a major circuit,
you know, since 2016 Summer Slampre show with the Dudleys versus
Sami Vane and Neville. I have not really been on a
(07:27):
major circuit, you know, doing anything since I did the 1000
episode of TNA. But again, it wasn't pushed the
way it could have been pushed. But I get it was last minute and
things like that. But even with that, didn't
really help to draw the numbers for me.
But because what I've been doingon YouTube and my own social
(07:48):
media of the outlets and things like that, it's really, really
has been really good. Yeah, I mean, again, you, you
have the built in advantage of every week you're putting out
content. People are used to hearing from
you and and they're hearing goodstuff.
It's not like you're just talking nonsense like you're,
you're talking very good stuff at every turn.
(08:08):
So certainly the, the enthusiasmthat Devon Dudley has developed,
you know, you're on a string of,of having some pretty good
showings at most of the conventions you've done the last
couple of months, right? You, you've been, you've been
knocking it out of the park, right?
Absolutely. It's been great.
(08:29):
You know, me not wanting to workfor a major organization, just
want to do my own thing right now and there's nothing wrong
with that. I don't have a problem with
TNAI, don't have a problem with AW, although I like to say that
sometimes I question the office on how they do things, but
(08:52):
that's not for me to say becauseI'm not there nor do I, you
know, have any say so on that. I love the talent in AWI,
absolutely love it. I, I'm just not a fan of how
things are done there because I came from the era of a Paul
Heyman and ECW and an era of Vince McMahon and Paul Levesque,
(09:18):
Triple H as well. Even though Vince was still in
charge. I learned on the Hunter as well.
Seeing how I'm not, I'm not excluding ECW, but just seeing
how things are run by the machine called WWE is something
that you know, I learned and I and I took into consideration
(09:40):
even at times when I was in TNA,when me and Bubba were very
active in there, the things thatTNA were doing with the the
organization during that time, the people who were in charge of
the Dixie regime. I did not care nor did I like
how things were being run. It was just run totally
different from what I was used to.
(10:02):
And so many people would say that whether it will be Flair
used to say that Kevin Nash, Booker T, Scott Signs.
These are guys that I came up inthe business with during the
Attitude Era and during the PG era and the TNA era.
It was just that certain things that TNA was doing at the time
(10:22):
was not right now. Are they hitting it out the box
now? Absolutely.
They're doing great. Even before the collaboration
between TNA and WWE, they would put they had they had almost
both feet in the grave. The only thing they didn't have
was the dirt poured over them. They jumped out of that grave
and they came back and they werehitting home runs left and
(10:45):
right. They were doing things the right
way to the point where WWE, PaulLevesque and them were like, you
know what, let's join forces. Let's do this.
For whatever reason that happened, they did it.
And now look at them. You know, it was like, it was
like when Jesus raised Nazareth from the dead.
That's exactly what happened with TNA.
(11:08):
They're a different company now.They sure.
Are they're a different company?Yeah, yeah, they sure are.
That's true. And I'll be honest with you,
that's what I would like to see for AEW.
You know, I want this. I would love to see more
attendance for them. I would love to see them making
money outside of what Tony Khan is bringing.
(11:31):
I would love for them to make money, you know, with the houses
and the merchandise and things like that.
The way the WWE runs things in terms of that the the the well
oiled machine that they are. I think AW has the opportunity
to do that. But they've got to have the
right people in place to help them.
Tony Kahn cannot be the only onemaking major decisions.
(11:56):
You know, when Vince was in charge back in the 80s and 90s,
he had Pat Patterson, you know, who was his right hand man, who
probably saved Vince a lot of issues and a lot of problems.
And I think Tony Kahn needs somebody like a Pat Patterson
and we've said this before, or Michael Hayes or better yet a
(12:17):
Triple H that will be able to tell him no, this is how it
should be because they had the experience of how things would
work. And again, I love the talent
over there. A lot of times I'll watch A and
I don't watch AW like some of these hardcore fans do.
I don't even watch wrestling like that anymore.
(12:40):
But when I watch the product, I'm amazed at the talent that
they had there. Every single person on that
roster is extremely good, just just about every single one of
them. And, you know, for them to not
be able to fill the arenas or for them, you know, not to get
the ratings that they have, it'skind of like what TNA went
(13:01):
through. We had everybody there at one
point, but the ratings just was nowhere in comparison to what
WWE was doing. And you know, that I found
disturbing back then, you know, So, you know, I really push for
those guys. I really hope that they can
really knock it out the box and get somebody like a Pat
(13:23):
Patterson or Paul Levesque or even a Michael Hayes that will
be able to help them and guide them in the right direction that
they need to go in to make thosenumbers jump.
Fingers crossed. We we want everybody to make
money. We want everybody to do well.
So again, Tony Kahn, I hope you're paying attention.
(13:45):
Seriously. But just to put a button on it
though, can congratulations River City Wrestling Con next
year is going to be even bigger.Devon Dudley, we hope to see you
there again, see what other kindof exciting things you and, and,
and your whole crew got going on'cause I'm telling you man, TNT,
they put on a great match and, and I think they need to run
(14:05):
that back. Absolutely.
I'm sure the boys will be there too.
You know, I'll make sure that I'm there for two days in terms
of the two days that they're signing or even the day before
where we can get together and just talk about how to make this
work. That's a great idea and and
(14:26):
shout out again to Aaliyah Jamesand and Scotty Sosa.
Really a bust ass match. Absolutely.
Everyone was talking about it. It's one of the matches of the
weekend for sure. And in fact, I hear that people
want to see that come back because I guess Scotty, she, she
(14:46):
used some underhanded tactics toget the victory over Leah James.
So I think you're gonna. Have to.
Well, I can tell you what I can I I can tell you what, if
anything, she learned that from Bubba.
I was going to say that she learned that from.
She learned that from Bubba She.Didn't learn that what?
Bubba knows how to listen. Bubba knows how to get under the
(15:10):
people's skin and make them hatethem.
And she did just that, but she took a page out of, you know,
Uncle Bubba book, which ain't nothing wrong with that because
people are talking and they're loving it.
Yep, that's what matters, you know?
Just like Bubba, you know? Just like Bubba.
Bubba did. Bubba made people talk.
You didn't forget about Bubba. You knew it.
Whether you hated him or loved him, he made you talk about him.
(15:34):
It's the truth. It's the truth.
I got to send you the picture. I'm not sure if you saw it.
There's a picture of Scotty. She has Aalia James in the on
the second rope, like in the middle of the ring and she's
choking her with her leg. But just like the the
photographer was in the right place.
The way that she's doing it, it's it's such a cool live
action shot. And I guess Aaliyah is is very
(15:57):
upset about that. That shot.
She's like, how could you put this out?
Make me look so bad? So Oh Jesus.
OK, so. Listen, I I I love them both,
but I unfortunately I taught Scotty that.
There it is. There it is.
Breaking news folks, but everybody out there though, you
got to get your tickets early. That's the thing River City
(16:18):
wrestling con it sells out and I'm going to say something else.
This is not for you sweaty. Don't use deodorant neckbeards
out there. This is a.
Family friendly. Event this is like going to AWWE
show in the sense that you look around and you see everybody
(16:40):
from from grandma and grandpa all the way down to the bait
newborns. Like it legitimately is a family
event. So take your family, come have a
good time. But if you're just out here
trying to, you know, drool over the girls or or the guys or
whatever, Nah, the same for you.Ain't that kind of part, Yeah.
You know, no, it's not. No, I hear Ric Flair was in the
(17:01):
building too. Man, did you get a chance to say
hi to Rick? Unfortunately, I didn't get a
chance to see Rick Flair, nor did I get a chance to see The
Hurt Business. Or wasn't he having a chance to
see them? I saw Shelton, Shelton came by
the table and said hello, but I wasn't able to see MVP or Bobby,
and I wasn't able to see Brett the Hitman Hart, which I would
have loved to have seen those guys, but I didn't have a chance
(17:22):
to see him. But it's fine.
Dallas was there. Did you, did you see?
I know you just spent some time with them.
I got a chance to see Dallas. That was cool.
You know, we, we embraced each other.
We said, you know, hello. Of course, Dallas took a wrong
step at home and basically hurt his leg, but he's bouncing back
from it. He's doing that yoga, which is
(17:43):
helping him go right back into Dallas mode.
Yeah, You know, he, he stayed overtime just to make sure he
signed every autograph for everybody was in line, which
that's old school. Absolutely right there.
You know, so shout out to Dallas.
That's that's a gentleman right there.
I I did hear that you had Teddy long over there in your area
(18:06):
there and y'all were cutting up.Oh God, that boy, that man, I
kept telling. Get away from me.
Listen, you remember what Teddy had A Jerry curl.
Yeah. Oh yeah, I remember that.
Teddy Long must be related to Bobby Womack 'cause they had the
same hairdo back in the 80s. Man for.
(18:29):
Those of you that don't know whoBobby Womack is, he's an R&B
singer who passed away unfortunately a few years back,
but he had one of the greatest singles.
If you think you're lonely now, wait until tonight.
And I mean that. I mean, my mother played that
until the record didn't work anymore.
Yes, yes, love it across 110th St.
(18:52):
Remember that one too. Oh yeah, I remember that 100.
Yep, Bobby Womack was a huge deal back in the 80s and even in
the 70s. Yeah, yeah, he liked to talk in
his music, which is the best part.
So he wouldn't just sing. He he would tell you a story 1st
and then he would sing the song Love.
Oh, absolutely. But it's like pro wrestling.
(19:12):
You tell a story that that resonates with people and that
people can invest in, and music is the same way.
But Bobby had a song. He'll be here when the lights
come on. And it's a song about Bobby
being at a club. He just performed that and he
(19:36):
sees a lady, beautiful lady, sitting there.
He say, I'll buy you a drink. And she's like, you want to buy
me a drink? You want to take me up to your
room? And he's like, listen, if I
wanted you up to my room, I'll just say come up to the room,
you know? No, I was just trying to be
cordial and then buy you a drink.
So he says they get to talking and then she does say, hey, I
want to go up to the room. And then he said, no, you don't
want to go up with me. Go home to your man, you know,
(19:57):
because because I'm gone to the next town.
But he'll be here when the lights come on, you know, Hell
of a song. Hilarious song.
Real song. It is.
It's just it's a hell of a storyto tell.
That's that's who Bobby Womack was, man.
That, like you said, like pro wrestling.
Tell him a great story, you know?
(20:18):
Absolutely. That's fun.
That's fun. You know, it's it's interesting
because you had that busy weekend with River City.
All that stuff was going on and at the same time we had the
joint PLE Worlds Collide, which was AAA and WWE.
For those who may not realize this, WWE owns AAA now.
(20:40):
They are the majority owner of AAA Mexico.
So that's their company now, technically.
Let me ask. You a question.
Yeah, please. Do you feel like all of this
collaboration with WWE and all these other different
organizations, do you feel like it is a repeat of what we saw in
the 80s where Vince took over the majority of the wrestling
(21:02):
world by either running the businesses out of the out of
business and not saying that they're running them out of
business, but joining, you know,bringing their talent over to
them and making them into superstars?
Do you feel that is the same thing that's going on now but in
a different way? That exactly, I think you got,
(21:23):
you said it just right. I think it's a variation of the
same thing. It's a little different in the
sense that I think they've learned from their mistakes in
the past and they're showing more respect to these
organizations. You know what I mean?
It's, it's, it's not like they closed down AAA.
It's not like they're closing down TNA.
(21:43):
They're, they're legitimately collaborating and, and allowing
those brands to continue to build, you know, which which
helps if AAA continues to be a strong brand, then you can run
Mexico and have no problem. You know, it's it, that's just
the way it is. And, and, and TNA, you don't
(22:05):
want them to go out of business because Eric Bischoff said
something interesting the other day.
He said, he said TNA is probablythe biggest threat to AE W
because as long as TNA is allowed to exist and they get
this WWE collaboration, the sky is the limit for that company.
(22:25):
You know, so AW can't be #2 whenTNA is getting the that type of
love from WWE. You know.
That it just, it did because there's no comparison.
It's just it. It's a much more polished
product. The wrestling is making more
sense, and you got stars who cancrossover.
You could see them on NXT. You could see him in the Royal
(22:46):
Rumble. You could see him at
WrestleMania with Joe Henry. So it's like, you know, how do
you Now here's the issue though,Devon, I'm going to throw it
back on you. When do we get to a point where
it starts to become a concern ofMonopoly?
Because remember, that was one of the things that MLW was
accusing WWE of. And then WWE ended up settling
(23:08):
with them in order to put that to bed.
But when do we start worrying that, you know, they're
monopolizing things? I really, you know, I don't have
the answer to it, but what I canprobably say is the you know,
when companies start losing revenue, losing attendance and
(23:31):
things like that because they'remajor stars or with WWEI think
that's when it starts. I think that's what happened
even with AW when I'm not a Wawa, when they did what was it
the dark side of wrestling with the dark side of A and EI think
there was something that was said to that.
(23:52):
And so many documentaries where burned, you know, the, the, the,
the attendance dropped. They weren't making money.
And then one day, you know, he told his son he's like not to
close the doors because we just don't have it no more.
I think that's when it becomes an issue because that's exactly
(24:12):
what happened with the AWA Georgia Championship Wrestling.
I mean, with everything, you know, luckily the N.W.A didn't
fold the way some of the other companies did.
And they wind up, you know, becoming WCW and just, you know,
just coming back to life. I think that's when there's a
problem. When you don't have the talent
(24:34):
that you used to, where your attendance drops, your revenue
drops, and what do you do from there?
You got another choice but to start closing doors.
If you start seeing that with the organization, I feel that's
where you start to be concerned.Great point, great point.
And, and, and I don't think we want that.
And I and WWEI caution you, you don't want that because if you
(24:56):
if as soon as you're deemed a monopoly, the government steps
in and they break you up. Simple as that.
WBD just had to do that. You know, Warner Bros
government, they, they bought Discovery and they were allowed
to make that purchase and not enough changed.
And it was really just, they hadtoo much power.
(25:19):
So, so the government stepped inand said either you split the
company into two or we're going to make you split.
So they announced this week, well they announced a couple
days ago, they're splitting WBD and it's going to be all of the
movie and TV properties for the most part are going to be 1
company. And then the more sports is
(25:41):
going to be its own separate company.
So it's like, well, why did you why did you buy Discovery in the
1st place if you just going to be, you're going to do this all
over again. But this is, it's a
restructuring and they're going to be called 2 separate
companies. More important, they're going to
be called 2 separate companies. So again, that whole monopoly
(26:02):
thing, man, once, once the the government starts knocking on
the door, you have no more control.
They're just going to, they're going to make you split so.
Keep that in mind. That's how it's going to wind up
going. Yeah, yeah.
So you know, there, there is no,I don't such a thing as too
much, you know. You know, I don't see AW doing
that just for the simple fact that the money that they have
(26:26):
between Tony Kahn and his dad, you know, it's just an endless
amount of money. I don't see it happening unless,
you know, they see in their pockets that it's not making the
money that it should and they can't keep going in pocket and
doing this because, listen, having a wrestling, you could be
(26:47):
a, you could win lottery tomorrow.
You can win $20 million tomorrow.
And at first, hey, it's great towin that type of money and want
to open up your own organization.
But you have to also remember that eventually that money will
dwindle. Listen, $20 million is not a lot
(27:08):
of money to open up your own organization.
It gives you maybe six months toa year.
Remember, the production has to be tip top.
You know, talent has to be paid.And eventually if that money's
not coming in through the profitand the revenue that it should
generate through the people, through merchandise sales and
(27:30):
all that, you wind up digging inyour pocket.
How much are you willing to continue to lose before you
close the doors? And that's one of the things I
don't want to see with a EWI, want to see them prosper.
I want to see them go at it. I want to see Tony Kahn not have
to put money, his own money, continuously into the company
where the money can start generating on its own the amount
(27:53):
of money that he needs to keep that establishment going.
That's what I would like to see and that's what I hope to see in
the near future. Well said.
Well said. I'm with you on that 100%.
You know, again, nobody wants tosee these guys go out of
business, so figure it out please.
(28:13):
Anyway, at the Money in the BankPLE we had a surprise return of
sorts. During the main event, John Cena
was attacked by a masked man whorevealed himself to be Ron the
Truth Killings, AKA Ron Truth R Truth.
(28:35):
So, So what did you think about that Devon?
Because last we heard truth was he announced that his contract
was not renewed by the company and essentially his time with
the company was over and then heappears at the PLE.
So, So what are your thoughts first of all on Truth being back
and then we'll unpack the other stuff.
(28:56):
Wait, what are your initial thoughts when you when you saw
him attack Cena? Well, you know, in my opinion,
it reminded me of something thatwe saw in the mid Millennium
where when Matt Hardy left afterthe whole controversy between
Edge and Leader and himself and the fans were, you know,
(29:21):
tramping, we want Matt throughout the whole arena.
And it was one of those things where it's almost similar to
that, you know, where the fans spoke and they were heard.
And I think that was one of the things about truth.
You know, he was loved by many. Hell, he was loved by Vince
(29:46):
McMahon. I mean, you know, there was
nothing that truth could have done in Vince's eyes that was
wrong. And I think he was doing the
same thing here under the TripleHS regime.
But I also feel that whatever happened behind closed doors
where they weren't going to renew his contract, the fans
spoke very highly because after the pay-per-view match that he
(30:07):
had with John Cena, you know, itwas really good.
I thought maybe that would have put him in a different light
other than comedy. And I think the fans thought
that, too, because he did such agreat showing.
But then, you know, he got, you know, said his contract was
going to be renewed and this andthat, and he left.
And it was kind of like the fansultimately brought him back.
(30:29):
You know, I was there for the whole thing with Matt Hardy.
I was there. I was there for everything, you
know, So I saw what had happened, so.
You're somebody who worked with Truth for years and you actually
got to produce him with those 24/7 segments and what have you.
(30:52):
What's the value of a guy like Truth in AWWE locker room in
2025? Why is this person so important
that we have to fight for his position in the company and make
sure that the company keeps them?
Because the fans love them. The fans love him.
He's done a great job. He's been very, very WWE since
(31:14):
he's been there. He's never given the the company
any issues or any problems. He's done everything that he's
ever asked to do and he's done it with Pride.
Even if he didn't like it, he did it.
So my opinion is that you know that somebody that you just
don't want to lose. He's a team player and the fans
see that as well. Yeah, well said.
(31:37):
Well, so what'd you think about him cutting his hair?
He didn't. He didn't shave it bald yet, but
he he cut the the, the, the braids that he had in his hair.
What'd you think of that? I don't know.
That's something that could havepossibly, oof, that could have
(31:57):
broke me, you know, but I won't have that problem because I'm
not. I don't have any hair.
Well, you had hair. You listen to me.
We don't act like we don't remember you with hair now,
Devon, we remember you when you had your little mini fro.
We remember that, you know, do do you think he should have done
that in the hair versus hair match or something like that?
(32:19):
Or did you like the way that they did that?
Well, a hair versus hair match against him and Cena, I think
people would have probably thought Cena was going to lose
because you know, he is, you know, he's becoming to look like
me a little bit, but he's losingthat hair in the back of his
head and his hairline is going way back.
But I think people would have thought that he was going to
(32:40):
lose. But yet it would have been our
truth, I guess, if he would havelost.
And then not to mention them doing it the way they did, it
just sets up for another story. Yeah, yeah.
That's true. That's true.
Yep, yeah, 'cause it. What did he say?
I wish you would. He kind of reminds me of Naomi
(33:01):
at this point. And you see what her she, she
just won the money in the bank. So it kind of reminds me of her
with that new attitude there, you know?
Listen, that's that's that's a good thing.
It's not a bad thing. Again, I love what WWE has been
doing under Leveque of the storylines.
Hey, ratings might be down a little bit, but you know what,
(33:21):
They are still getting the job done.
They're still getting people to talk and that's one of the
things that they like. So can they afford to lose some
ratings? Yes, they can.
But the same token, you don't want that, but you got to do
whatever you got to do to keep the ball rolling, and that's
what they're doing. Yeah, agreed.
(33:41):
Agreed. If it ain't broke, don't fix it,
OK? That's the truth.
It's funny because one of the big time producers, Metro
Boomin, who he's done some stuffwith WWE, he's a big fan.
He had tweeted out that he wantsto rework Truth's theme song and
Truth said, well, I, I want to keep the theme song because it
(34:02):
ain't broke. But thank you.
We can collaborate in other ways.
What what do you say about that?Are are you a fan of changing up
the theme songs once it's been after a certain period of time,
or do you think you should keep your original theme?
Sometimes I think you should, but then it sometimes I think
you need to change it. I'll give you a prime example.
The Dudley boys, you know, with saliva doing get the tables.
(34:26):
I thought there couldn't be nothing better than that.
And then me and Bubba separated.I went a separate ways.
When we came back to each other,he came to me the Monday Night
Royal. We were going to come back.
Because I want you to listen to this song.
Tell me what you think it was Power Man 5000.
You know, get up, get up, get up.
Drop the bombshell. And at first it was like, didn't
(34:48):
do it for me. But then I heard it the second
and third time. I was like, OK.
And then once I said let's try it, once we came out to it and
the energy that that song bought, it just changed my whole
outlook on our theme music. You know, there's other song,
there's other people that got theme songs like for instance,
(35:08):
and I'm talking about the 90s Gangrel, Gangrel.
That song to this day, plus thatentrance, anytime I watch it, I
get goosebumps. How good that entrance was with
him coming up from the ground with the fire and when he had
the Hardee's with him. I mean, good God, that was to
this day. That's number one in my book.
(35:29):
The song that DX had at one point couldn't get any better
than that, I thought. But then they came up with a Run
DMC doing the collaboration withthem and, and making that new
song happen. I listen to it to this day.
I play it every day at my wrestling school before people
start getting, when they start warming up because it has so
(35:50):
much energy, it's so damn good that you know it gets it gets
the students riled up. So it all depends on how good
the song can be and how it can resonate with the people.
That's deep. I I forgot that Power Man 5000
did that theme. Wow.
That's, that's a hell of a band,man.
(36:11):
Damn. OK, that's, that's cool.
That's really cool. Yeah.
You know, I mean, at WrestleMania when they played us
to the ring, I, I listen that all the time, even though it was
my theme music. I listen to it all the time.
And I honestly thought that theycould be, you know, nothing
better than, you know, saliva get the tables.
But they proved otherwise. Yeah, yeah, that was cool.
(36:34):
That was cool. You know what's funny?
Shinsuke Nakamura, who has that theme?
Shinsuke with the with the violin.
And I'm sure you've seen it whenthe guy plays the violin live.
What's your thoughts on on on Shinsuke's theme when the guy
does it live? Shinsuke got that over that song
over in NXTI Remember Me and Bubba's last hurrah right before
(37:01):
we left the second time we did an indie show and the indie
show, they were basically playing his music without him
even being there. And the fans was singing it.
They were humming it and it really turned out really good.
So you know, since Schinsky got that over like 1,000,000 bucks,
and I remember looking out over the crowd and going what the
(37:23):
hell? Because I knew who Schinsky
Nakamura was, but I didn't realize, you know, how over that
song got. So Schinsky got that over, he
got that over the NXT and he dida damn good job in doing it.
I just wish they would do more with Shinsuke.
Yeah, I mean, and, and it's, it's a, it's a damn travesty
(37:44):
that he never got a run with oneof the big titles.
I I think Shinsuke would be a great champion.
Absolutely. But I tell you what, he goes
back to Japan and he'll be a major star.
Absolutely, you know. Anybody that comes to the WWE
after being in Japan and then they go back, they're huge,
(38:08):
yeah. It's true.
It's true. There's plenty of money on the
table. I give you a point in case
Funaki Funaki was like below midcard, but yet everybody loved
him. He worked his butt off.
He did what he had to do. We went to Japan, he came out.
It was like getting an ovation from the rock of Stone Cold
Steve Austin. That's how big he became.
(38:29):
Even being a guy who opened up matches all the time, it was
incredible. Well, shoot, when you when you
and Bubba won the the titles in Japan, same thing, right?
I mean, you guys were super overby the time you got back to
Japan and did that, you know, they, they loved it.
Yeah, it was, you know, But remember, WWEECW made us and WWE
(38:54):
perfected us. You know, That was just how it
was. And it was one of those, it was
one of those things where we were very happy about it.
Good point, good point. I'll tell you right now, WWE do
not let Shinsuke Nakamura go figure it out because if you're
(39:16):
expanding in Japan, he's a perfect person to do that with.
So I I'd find a way. I'm just going to put that out
there. Exactly.
They have not squeezed all the juice out of that talent.
Not even close. There's still a lot more left in
the tank weight with Schinsky. So you know, lastly, I got to
(39:37):
ask you about this Chad Gable. You know, a lot of people say
he's El Grande Americano. I don't know if that's true or
not, but that's the word on the street he maybe, or they're at
least related. He wrestled, you know, at
World's Collide and then he wrestled the Money in the Bank
and he was actually in the Moneyin the Bank match.
Just your thoughts on Chad Gablefrom what you've seen, because I
(39:59):
know that you you knew him from NXT as well.
And what have you seeing where he's at today is, is there more
to do with Chad Gable? Do you do you think this guy's a
real deal? I think he is not only as an
amateur wrestler but even as a worker.
I've seen him work his butt off and it was sad to me when Vince
(40:20):
was in charge that he wasn't getting the push that he's
getting now because I saw him being a hell of a talent if you
just gave him a chance. He worked so hard to remain in
that company and to do whatever they asked for during the Vince
regime and it just didn't seem that it was working, that Vince
(40:41):
didn't see anything cuz he was asmaller guy.
Here's the deal. I like Triple H, regardless of
your size, he's giving you the opportunity if you take the ball
and run for the touchdown. That's what I love about him.
He gives those that. He gives those people that have
(41:02):
a that didn't have a chance under the Vincent's machine.
He gives them a chance and it just seems like a lot of them
knocked out the box. Now there's some people that
unfortunately was not lucky to knock it out the box and they
failed and they would let go. But Chad is the real deal.
Well said, well said. And and he's an Iron Man.
(41:23):
The fact that he that he wrestled twice that day, two
major positions and and made everybody look great.
Listen, I'm I'm jealous 'cause Iwish.
I wish I was in the shape that Chad was in.
Good God that. Man can.
He's in great shape. Yeah, he's in.
He is a machine. He's like, he's like Kurt, Kurt
Angle, 2 point O when it comes to that.
You couldn't blow Kurt up. You can't blow Chad up.
(41:45):
There's no way. Yeah, he's just that good.
And and he had a match with the Kingo at Worlds Collide.
I mean, the Kingo doing that lucha style, the fact that it
meshes so well with the way thatGable wrestles is tremendous.
His versatility in the ring is is is on.
(42:05):
It's like, wow, this guy is really good.
You know, yeah, he really is. I mean, and so is Jason Jordan,
you know, even though he's a producer now, you know, it was
unfortunate what happened with his neck.
It really was. But Jason is a great guy.
We got along so good when I was a producer, you know, when he
took Lauren Isis place for a little bit and I was there
(42:27):
during that time, you know, he had took Lauren Isis place.
So he was kind of like John, youknow, the new John on the
talent. He we worked together.
He he was fantastic, not only asa producer taking John Lauren
Isis place, but as talent, forget about it.
He was good as well. He could go, you know, and if it
(42:48):
wasn't for that neck injury, he could still be on top.
He would be probably world's champion.
Yeah, I believe that. I believe the handsome, great
build could go in the ring. The fans enjoyed them.
Yeah, he would have been champion, no doubt.
There was one time we were waiting on line for something
somewhere. And, you know, these girls were
down there. They were just like, you know,
(43:08):
googly eyed. And I'm sitting up there going
ha, ha, ha, yeah, They're looking at me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then all of a sudden, all of
a sudden, you know, they go, hi,you, Jason Jordan talking to
Jason. And he goes just to him and
goes, man, me and my friends have been admiring you and your
beauty. I just went.
I was like, man, go away. Gripping your style?
(43:31):
Yeah. Listen, all that hard work you
had done all these years, man, all.
All all the. Classic moments.
You know if this pretty boy to step in.
Damn. I thought I looked at a thing
from Martin. You know, Pretty Ricky is what
they call them. Or with New Jack City when, you
know, was like, I've never likedthat Pretty Mother bumper
(43:52):
anyway. Exactly.
Exactly, you know. I said Pretty Mother Bumper.
I didn't want to say what he originally said in the movie so.
We don't need any problems from the Bishop.
So yeah, we're going to we're going to keep PG.
None. Oh God, no.
Oh, listen, my mother. Oh, forget about it.
Listen, let me put you this way.I'm 52 years old, going to be 53
(44:14):
in August 1st, and I still don'teven say the word Dawn around my
mother. Yeah, I don't say damn Dawn.
Nothing. You she she commands that
respect. Yep.
And I give it to her. She raised you right, man.
I love that. I love that.
Shout out to the Bishop, shout out to Jason Jordan.
I'm going to have to clip this and and send it to him because
he'll get a kick out of hearing hearing that story we brought up
(44:36):
there. Jason, Pretty Ricky, you know,
in the flesh, so to speak. I.
Love it, I love it. One of the things I'll never
forget, one of the things, one of the stories that Jason laughs
about to this day, you know, 'cause I, I, I love to take the
gummies or, you know, I'll smokesome flour here and there and I
(44:58):
have a pen. So I was in my hotel room
waiting for my car to be broughtdown, and I was just like, oh
God, it was taking forever. And I never told the story
before, but I basically started smoking my pen.
And I didn't think I smoked enough for me to start feeling
stuff, but apparently I did. So I'm in the production
(45:21):
meeting. Vince got there a little late,
and he thought, you know, they all come down and sit down.
It's Kevin Dunn. It's Vince.
It's Ed, Ed Kowski, the writer, and they're all sitting in the
front and we're going over some of the matches.
And something was asked of me. What did I think about
something? And I said it.
(45:41):
Michael Hayes goes well, damn, Devon, high as hell right now.
I looked, I looked at Michael Hayes.
I said, well, I'm gonna be honest with you.
I am. I'm high as back right now.
And I looked at Vince and Vince had this look on his face.
I said, look, Vince, I'm just telling you right now, I was
smoking my pen, didn't realize Igot to that level.
So I'm telling you now so you don't have to drug test me.
(46:03):
I'm high as hell right now giving my answer.
So I'm just letting you know, everybody in a production
meeting fell out, even even Maddie's husband TJ, who you
really have to say something funny to get him to break and
laugh. He fell out and Jason Jordan was
just like Yvonne. I said I'm telling the truth so
(46:23):
y'all don't make up shit when I leave.
I'm telling you I'm high. It was so funny.
These are stories no one's ever heard before, Ben.
They like that. That's no, that's good stuff.
And Vince just looked at me and goes, I said, Vince, I'm just
telling you now. I'm telling you you don't have
(46:44):
to drug test me. I'm admitting I'm high.
So. So wait a second, I got I got to
ask this. I got to ask this.
Have you ever known Vince to to ever partake?
I've never heard of anything. I mean, I've heard about the 90s
and the 80. I heard about the 80s, not the
90's. The 80s about you know he, he,
(47:05):
you know he. Had a good time.
Basically had a good time. I don't know for certain.
I can't speak on it. I don't know.
But you know, again, you know, it wasn't like it was with the
boys or anything like that. I never heard of that before.
But you know, again, I, I do know that he liked to drink, eat
a, you know, glass of wine here and there and blah, blah, blah.
(47:28):
You know, on certain day, especially after good pay per
views or good Monday Night Raws,if we were having some type of
function there, you know, this is when Vince actually came out
and socialized with the guys. So this was, you know, back in
those days, I heard. And again, I wasn't there
because I was either in elementary school or I was in
(47:48):
junior high or even high school at the time when all of this
stuff, supposedly when he was actually, you know, having a
couple of drinks with the boys, you know, after Wrestlemanias or
after major events. Not that he was out of control.
I had never heard of that. I've never heard that from
anybody. But you know, he enjoyed his
(48:10):
wine, you know, and that was basically, you know, that was
basically it that I heard of. I never heard of him doing drugs
with the boys or anything like that.
And if he did do it, again, I didn't, I didn't know about it.
And again, I wasn't there. So I don't know.
I'm only going by what the people from the 80s, from the
Hogan and Andre era and even somewhat the attitude ever
(48:33):
before I got there. I mean, again, you never heard
of Vince, you know, doing anything in public that would
put his name in a bad light likethat.
And if you did, again, I wasn't there.
So I don't know. Well said, Well said.
That's, I've, I've always been curious about that though, you
know, because at this point, man, it's, there's no way that
(48:55):
you can give people a hard time about marijuana.
You don't want people to be on those prescription drugs, man,
you know, So the, the, the weed is the way to go.
Gummies. Whatever it is, that's the way
to go. So, well, that's what I did when
after my back surgery because they wanted to give me
painkillers and I told him, no, I reject.
I said I don't want that. I don't have an addictive
(49:16):
personality. But the same token, I'm not
trying to take any chances because you're in so much pain
from the back surgery. And if that's relieving the
pain, then it's very easy to gethooked on stuff like that.
And I said no, I wasn't taking it.
So I had gotten my marijuana card and you know, basically
whenever, when I was in pain, I just took a gummy and laid down
(49:38):
and, you know, I was relaxed theway.
So there is, there is some truthto medical marijuana really
helping the body during times like that.
It's when people abuse it is when it's not.
Well said. Anything in moderation is not so
(49:58):
bad. Just be safe and responsible
folks. That's the main idea there.
What do you got going on for the?
Weekend and drinking yeah exactly well I'm off this yeah
yeah Yep I'm I'm off this week. I was supposed to be in Orlando
at a toy convention but they can't they had to cancel it so
we rescheduled the date later onso I'm working the following
(50:18):
week and I'm going to be doing aComic Con hold on one second.
I'll get it for you but and I was excited to be able to be off
this week. I didn't think I was going to,
but I guess I am so. Get some rest, you know.
Some well needed rest. I've been listening for the past
couple of days, you know, because the kids are out of
school. So I've been sleeping until
(50:40):
about 8-9 o'clock people go. That's not sleeping late, it is
for me. Yeah, please.
We're we're used to being up at,you know, 3-4 in the morning.
So if you could sleep till 7/8, 9:00, that's shit.
You sleeping in for sure. Exactly.
Yep. So I'm going to be at, I'm going
to be at the Westchester County Center in White Plains on June
(51:01):
21st. I'm going to be in West County
Center. So I'll be there, you know,
doing the autographs and doing everything I got to do with the
fans. Awesome, awesome stuff there.
And, and how can folks keep up with you, man?
So they can, they can see all the different Flyers and what
have you, where you going to be?And also keep an eye on what's
next with Devon Dudley. Well, we got the YouTube channel
(51:25):
coming up. It's going to be we're going to
have guest Mick Foley will be inattendance on that YouTube
channel. Carly Carlito might be he had to
wait till after his stuff runs out with WWE.
Of course we we've got most likely Haku legendary wrestler
Haku will be there is on the YouTube channel as well.
(51:49):
So we're looking forward to a lot of the stars that's going to
be on the show coming up and it should be very interesting
watch. I like that teaser, so you
definitely got to check out the D Von Dudley YouTube folks so
you don't miss anything. Got to hit that subscribe button
so you don't miss anything please.
(52:10):
Absolutely. And we're also working on AWWE
person and interest as well. We're working on trying to see
maybe we maybe we can get the likes of a Jacob FA 2 on the
show. So we're working on that as
well. So it's very interesting of
what's gonna of what's going on.I love that.
Stay tuned. Stay tuned, man.
(52:31):
Listen, Jacob is tearing it up, by the way.
He is tearing it up. He might get Rookie of the Year.
He might get Rookie of the Year,man.
Listen, if anything, he deservesit.
He's tearing it up, man. That that dude is box office.
Ain't no question about that. As always folks, Duke loves
wrestling. On Facebook on
twitter.dukeloveswrestling@gmail.com.Let me know what you think of
(52:52):
the show. All the good stuff.
Get your shout outs in. Definitely make sure that you
pay attention to where Devon is going to be so you can go meet
the big man. Get your autograph, get your
pictures. So many folks from all over at
River City this past weekend andthey all had nothing but
positive things to say about interacting with Devon and
(53:15):
getting their photos, getting their autographs.
That's what it's all about. That's what it's all about.
Absolutely. It's it's lovely.
I love it. I love it.
All right, man, it's that time. What do you get for a Word of
the Week? Well, what I have is it's not
really a saying, but it's something that I saw.
I was like, I got to say this. Apologize to the old folks who
used to judge for eating dinner at 5 and being in bed by 9.
(53:39):
You guys are really on to something and that is the truth.
Testify. My brother.
(54:06):
All about the perfect life. Be yourself, let your spirit
lie. In this fashion you'll touch the
sky. Strictly for the culture.
Wrestle fine dress to impress. And show your shine strictly for
(54:32):
the culture. Visit
www.strictlyforthaculture.ca. Backstage whispers and the
(55:03):
crowds roar from matching giantsto legends of your divans,
Wisdom and Duke's keen view. Every episode feels like it's
brand new. Diva and Duke bring the heat.
Wrestling tails knock you off your seat.
TuneIn now don't you be late. Wrestling podcast never felt
(55:28):
this great.
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