Former WWE Superstar Rene Dupree recently appeared on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast and made some controversial statements about concussions in wrestling and. Dupree, a former WWE tag team champion, says his “brains being scrambled” due to suffering 25 concussions while working for WWE – and called out Bubba Ray Dudley for being reckless in the ring. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
Concussions Ending His Wrestling Career:
“I’m pretty much done with the whole wrestling game. I’d like to do the convention circuit so I don’t have to take any bumps because my brains are so scrambled from throughout the years that it’s starting to affect me and starting to affect my daily life. Now that I am getting older, it started when I was around 27, I started forgetting stuff, I had twenty-five concussions just within WWE. You think about well I have so many, not really when you work a full time schedule and I was there for 5 1/2 years and when you wrestle what 150- 250 matches a year to have four or five concussions a year do you think that’s highly unlikely? No, that’s normal. ”
Did The Dudley Boyz Take “Liberties” In The Ring?
“Does a bear sh*t in the woods? Oh my God. I’ve had so many concussions from Bubba Ray Dudley it’s not even funny. You know Chris Nowinski had to retire because of Bubba Ray giving him concussions right? Devon, it’s universal everyone likes Devon because he’s a pro, but Bubba can be difficult to work with. ”
What he thinks led to The Dudleyz leaving WWE in 2005:
“One time in the ring, Sly screwed up a spot and then Bubba punched him in the face and bloodied his nose and Sly asked him why backstage and Bubba went off and punched him in the face again. Sylvan was very good friends with Pat Patterson and they weren’t around shortly thereafter. The WWE Developmental process and the Performance Center: Who have they developed since they’ve had that Performance Center? The ones that will become stars are the ones that will prove themselves elsewhere. Quite frankly there is not too many place to go and learn but the ones that show the heart and determination and the love for it, not some f*cking ex-football player that twisted his ankle in camp and can’t play in the NFL anymore, not some underwear model or some bodybuilder. The ones that will make it and will get over and will put up with their bullsh*t quite frankly are the guys that love it.”
Former WWE Superstars suing WWE for negligence in relation to injuries:
“I don’t know anything of it but I can tell you from experience that, yeah there is definitely or at least there was. I don’t know about now, I think they are trying to cover their tracks. I have no opinion of it. What happens, happens and I just want to stay clear from that place.”
WWE’s spotty track record with the health of wrestlers:
“I personally got knocked out one night. I was wrestling Rob Van Dam and he hit me with a spin kick and I was out for five hours. I was out on my feet for five and half hours! I didn’t get no concussions tests. I didn’t even go to a doctor. After a concussion you are not supposed to go to sleep, well I woke up in my bed and Sylvan called me up and said you got kicked in the head and don’t worry about it. You know how long I waited until I got back in the ring? I was back in the next night. Remember the Bob Holly Incident? I got kicked about fifth-teen or twenty times in the f*cking head with a wrestling boot. You know how hard the sole of a wrestling boot is? It’s like a steel-toed boot. Did I go get a concussion test. No. Did I go to a doctor? Yes, but just to see if anything was broken around my eye.”
