D-Von Dudley: Vince McMahon Let The Dudleyz Be The Dudleyz At Royal Rumble 2000
D-Von Dudley reflects on the star-making performance from the 2000 WWE Royal Rumble in the Tag Team Tables Match between The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz.
At the 2000 WWE Royal Rumble event, The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz competed in the first-ever Tag Team Tables Match. By the end of that match at Madison Square Garden, Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley had established themselves as stars in WWE, and their careers continued to rise from that moment.
Speaking on A2D Radio, D-Von Dudley looked back on the match. He mentioned that he was envious of Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy for getting the opportunity to compete in a Tag Team Ladder Match with Edge and Christian at WWE No Mercy three months earlier. However, he believes that because Vince McMahon allowed The Dudley Boyz to be themselves on that night in New York City, they were able to thrive and become stars.
“They had just done a ladder match and we were kind of envious when that match took place. At that point in time, Vince still had us stuttering. He didn’t take us seriously. We had evolved so much from the days of Bubba stuttering. It was one of those things where if Vince liked it, it was going to happen, and it did. We wanted Vince to let the Dudleyz be the Dudleyz. We knew that if he did that, we would be on fire. That Royal Rumble match set the stage for all of that. It was because of that match that we had the success that we had because he let us be us. We were able to show the world exactly what we were all about.”
One final match between The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz is scheduled to take place at TNA Bound For Glory 2025. This will be D-Von Dudley’s retirement match. Learn more about that here.
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