Veteran pro wrestling journalist recently caught up with D-Von Dudley for an exclusive WWE.com interview. Below is an excerpt from the interview.
APTER: Paul Heyman was, of course, the extreme ringleader. He riled the troops up and got everyone in an extreme mood, didn’t he?
DUDLEY: He sure did. I met Paul after I had a tryout for ECW. He was at the Pelham, N.Y., production studio they used for editing and doing the commentary. I got in there, Paul was sitting down, and we wound up talking and hitting it off great. I will admit right now that I am a Paul Heyman guy! When a lot of us wrestlers back in those days were looking for work and were not looked at by WWE or WCW, Paul was the one who gave us a shot. He believed in us. He saw things in us that we didn’t know we had and it brought out the best in us. Paul knew how to get certain things out of us to make us better. I used to call him Dr. Frankenstein because he created so much talent that came out of ECW that no one else would have been able to create.
APTER: What do you think of the current Paul Heyman?
DUDLEY: It’s the real Paul Heyman! He does things that make you hate him, but a minute later you want to marry him and love him. [laughs]
APTER: Who do you consider extreme on the current WWE roster?
DUDLEY: Daniel Bryan, for one. Most people wouldn’t put him in that category because he is such a technician in the ring, but I can see him getting down and dirty. Sheamus could be in that category as well. Put Randy Orton there, too. We beat the hell out of each other many times. I know a lot of people cheer him and a lot boo him, but I would put John Cena on that list as well. I had many brawls with him when I was in WWE and he was working himself up in the ranks.
APTER: So much of your career was as a tag team competitor with your partner, Bubba Ray. What is your current view of the WWE tag team scene?
DUDLEY: I think it’s great that WWE is strengthening the tag team division. If given the opportunity to go back to WWE, I would love to have a partner to take on The Usos, Cody Rhodes & Goldust, Ryback & Curtis Axel, The Shield, The Wyatts.
At first glance, Alexander Rusev seems like a rehash of a character WWE fans have seen countless times: the monster foreign superstar who feasts on unworthy foes while being accompanied by a manager who serves as his mouthpiece.
Some have contended that the character is so unoriginal that it was completely lifted from a Rocky movie of all places, as he has drawn comparisons to Rocky IV villain Ivan Drago and his wife Ludmilla.
Despite the fact that many believe he is a recycled, cliché character, Rusev has managed to make his way through the WWE’s NXT division and to the main roster in a relatively short amount of time.
Rusev has been booked as a monster, but do fans actually view him as one?
Since making his debut on the main roster, Rusev made a brief appearance in this year’s Royal Rumble and has been feasting on jobbers ever since. Unlike some of his critics, I believe that Rusev can be successful at the main level, but only if he is booked differently from similar heels in the past.
In recent years, the WWE has chosen to rely upon the tried-and-true formula of debuting a monster heel and serving him a hearty portion of heels (see Ryback for example). They expect that if the heel is shoved down fans’ throats long enough by competing in squash matches, they will eventually realize his dominance and he will be over in no time.
It appears they are attempting to take the same course of action with Rusev, as he has competed against only jobbers and will face R-Truth and Xavier Woods in a handicap match at Extreme Rules. Hell, they even threw Rusev into the coalition of jobbers that worked to beat down the Shield during the 11-on-3 handicap match a few weeks back on Raw.
According to one source, Bad News Barrett is scheduled to defeat Rob Van Dam, possibly with interference from Cesaro, on next Monday’s RAW in the finals of the WWE Intercontinental Championship contender tournament. This would mean Barrett will be the challenger for Big E. at the upcoming WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view in East Rutherford, New Jersey on May 4th.
Also expected for Extreme Rules, in addition to the previously reported matches, is a three-way between Cesaro, Van Dam and Jack Swagger, as well as a WWE Tag-Team Championship match between The Usos and the team of Ryback and Curtis Axel.
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which was taped on April 22nd in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and will air this Friday, April 25th on the SyFy Network.
– “The Great Debate” between Paul Heyman and Cesaro.
– Cesaro vs. Jack Swagger
– Natalya vs. Tamina Snuka
– Curtis Axel vs. Jey Uso
– Luke Harper & Erick Rowan vs. Goldust & Cody Rhodes
– Fandango & Layla vs. Santino Marella & Emma
– The Shield vs. 11 WWE Superstars
For a complete WWE SmackDown spoiler report for this week, click ahead to page two …
The following are results of this week’s WWE Main Event, which aired on the WWE Network on Tuesday, April 22nd from Hershey, Pennsylvania.
– Big E. def Alberto Del Rio in the opening match of the show. The finish comes when Del Rio goes for a tornado-DDT, which Big E. reverses into his “Big Ending” for the 1-2-3. After the match, Bad News Barrett pops up on his podium. He’s afraid he’s got some bad news. He informs Big E. that he’s only got 12 days remaining as WWE Intercontinental Champion.
– Hornswoggle def. El Torito in singles action. The finish comes when El Torito goes for his finisher, but Hornswoggle moves and hits him with his Tadpole Splash for the 1-2-3.
– Sheamus def. Titus O’Neil in another one-on-one contest. The finish in this one saw Sheamus nail O’Neil with a big headbutt and follow it up with his Brogue Kick for the pin and the 1-2-3.
– Ryback def. Jimmy Uso in the headline bout of this week’s Main Event. Both Jey Uso and Curtis Axel were at ringside and after a bunch of distractions, Ryback eventually hits Jimmy with his Shellshocked finisher for the pin and the win.
Former WWE and WCW Superstar Bill Goldberg spoke with PWInsider.com prior to WrestleMania XXX earlier this month. When asked about the rumors of him returning to WWE and possibly facing Ryback, Goldberg said that he did have a few talks with Triple H, but none of them were specifically geared towards working with Ryback.
Regarding the possibility of a WWE return, Goldberg stated the following:
“Would I love to do it again and have my son and my wife, who has never seen me wrestle? Abso-damn-lutely. Would I jeopardize what I’ve done in the wrestling world just to make that happen? No. So if I wasn’t ready to do it, physically ready to do it, and it wasn’t the right situation, I wouldn’t do it just to do it. If that was the case, I’d probably be at WrestleMania this year. It just has to be right and if it’s not right, then I’m retired, for good.”
Near the end of last year, it appeared the WWE would once again focus on promoting its tag team division. After the championships were practically ignored and bounced around between random teams that were comprised of young talent for over a year, Team Hell No helped legitimize the titles once again.
Kane and Bryan held the titles for nearly a year before eventually dropping the straps to Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. The division picked up even more after the Shield got their hands on the titles and was straight up stacked for months. At one point the company was even relying a lot on six-man tag matches just to get as many guys as possible on the broadcast.
Team Hell No helped spark fan interest after a dull period in the tag division.
Near the end of last year, the Rhodes Brothers, the Shield (Rollins and Reigns), the Wyatt Family (Harper and Rowan), the Real Americans, the Usos, the Prime Time Players, and the New Age Outlaws were all in contention for the Tag Team titles at some point.
Since then, nearly every one of those teams has fallen off the face of the Earth, save the Usos who are now the champions. The Rhodes Brothers are barely competing together, the Shield is beyond competing for the championships at this point, the Wyatt Family has been involved in other affairs, both the Real Americans and Prime Time Players have split, and it appears the New Age Outlaws do not want to exercise that rematch clause after all.
The dissolution and promotion of various teams has resulted in the tag team division entering into a transitional state where the company needs to develop new teams or promote others from NXT. Think about the current teams on the roster. We have the Usos who are obviously champions, but who are their challengers? The only other teams even on the roster are Los Matadores, Ryback and Axel, and 3MB, unless I am forgetting someone.
The following are results of the matches that were taped for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars, which took place prior to WWE RAW on Monday night in New Orleans, Louisiana.
– Ryback def. Dolph Ziggler to open the show. This was a back-and-forth match that ended when Ryback hit Ziggler with his “Shellshock” finisher for the pin fall victory.
– Titus O’Neil def. Kofi Kingston in another singles match. The finish here saw O’Neil hit Kingston with his “Clash of Titus” finishing move for the clean victory.
– It was announced during the WrestleMania XXX pre-show on the WWE Network that the pre-show match for the WWE Tag-Team Championships, which features The Usos defending the titles against The Real Americans, Los Matadores and Ryback & Curtis Axel, will now be an elimination style match.
– The following is a photo of the Hogan family in attendance at the WWE Hall Of Fame ceremony on Saturday night.
– WWE announced today that the WWE Tag-Team Championship match between The Usos, The Real Americans, Los Matadores and Ryback & Curtis Axel has been moved to the WrestleMania XXX pre-show. The match, as well as the pre-show in general, will air live on the WWE Network.
– WWE has added a new “30 Greatest WrestleMania Moments” video to their official YouTube channel. You can check that out below:
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown. For complete spoiler results, click ahead to page two.
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel
– Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara
– Goldust vs. Fandango
– Batista vs. Sheamus
– The Bella Twins vs. AJ Lee & Tamina Snuka
– Jack Swagger vs. Jimmy Uso
– The Miz vs. Mark Henry
– Bray Wyatt vs. Big Show
For complete spoiler results for this week’s WWE SmackDown, click ahead to page two …
Following their debut at the 2012 Survivor Series, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns, collectively known as the Shield, quickly became one of the most dominant and influential stables in recent memory.
The group primarily acted as heels throughout their successful run, although they were frequently cheered as well. In particular, Roman Reigns would frequently receive huge pops from the crowd, as seen during his breakthrough performances at the 2013 Survivor Series and 2014 Royal Rumble.
After attacking Director of Operations Kane, the group officially turned babyface and the crowd has been eating it up in recent weeks, with their celebration following their beat down of Ryback and Curtis Axel on this past week’s RAW serving as evidence of the group’s popularity.
After a tumultuous few weeks, the Shield appears to be reunited, but for how long can the Hounds of Justice keep their respective egos in check?
The group now seems to be reunited and stronger than ever after there was serious tension between the Hounds of Justice. So why did the WWE decide to turn the Shield face after it seemed they would dissolve just a few weeks prior?
The Wyatt Effect
One of the primary reasons the Shield were forced to turn face was the emergence of the Wyatt Family. There is only so much room on the roster for stables, and the Wyatt Family are without a doubt the predominant heel group on the roster today.
With the Wyatt Family serving as the main heel stable on the roster and essentially adopting the same M.O. as the Shield (appearing out of nowhere to savagely destroy unsuspecting foes), it only makes sense that creative would not want two stables acting in a similar manner, even if their gimmicks are stark contrasts of one another.
WWE confirmed a few new matches for WrestleMania XXX on this week’s edition of RAW, which took place on Monday night from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
As previously reported, WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee will be defending her title on the show in a “Vickie Guerrero Diva Invitational” against Naomi, Cameron, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, Natalya, Eva Marie, Emma, Aksana, Alicia Fox, Summer Rae, Rosa Mendes, Layla and Tamina Snuka.
Also confirmed on Monday’s RAW was the fact that Ryback and Curtis Axel will be part of the WWE Tag-Team Championship match at WrestleMania XXX against the current champions, The Usos.
Finally, WWE announced The Shield vs. Kane and The New Age Outlaws in a six-man tag-team contest for the show.
The WWE Tag-Team Championship match at WrestleMania XXX on April 6th will now feature current champions The Usos defending in a three-way match against both The Real Americans, as well as the team of Curtis Axel and Ryback.
Originally, Axel and Ryback were going to be part of the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. The change was made, however, at the last minute to move them over to the tag-title match instead.
Another match that is reported to be added soon, but has yet to be officially announced, is a match featuring The New Age Outlaws and Kane against all three members of The Shield.
Apparently The New Age Outlaws wanted to work a program with The Shield before they split up. It’s also being reported that they will likely serve as the new henchmen for The Authority.
There is expected to be eight matches on a four hour WrestleMania show, which would leave plenty of time for the top matches to run long, giving the guys an ample opportunity to have a number of great pay-per-view style matches.
Additionally, there is expected to be at least one match on the pre-show, which as announced on Wednesday, will be a two hour hype show. While nothing is official, the match will likely feature some of the odd men out of the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal match, or an NXT match of some kind.
The following are highlights from the latest Q&A update from WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:
On why WWE didn’t immediately sign Sting when they bought WCW: “I’ve answered this numerous times. You can search for this info here. Sting was owed big money by Time Warner plus he was uncomfortable at the time with the TV14 programming.”
On the three-man commentary team of JR, Jerry Lawler and Vince McMahon: “It was the best three man team that I ever worked with and loved interacting with Vince and heel Lawler.”
On Ultimate Warrior vs. Ryback rumors for WrestleMania XXX: “I don’t expect to see Warrior wrestle at WM30 but I don’t know. I will not be at the HOF but will watch it on the WWE Network.”
On what CM Punk could do to headline WrestleMania in the future: “I’d suggest settling his differences w/ WWE mgmt would help him reach his goals. I’m WAY out of the loop on that matter.”
– There appears to be plans to bring back the Los Matadores into the main tag-team scene in the near future. Following their victory over Ryback and Curtis Axel at WWE Main Event, the Los Matadores were pushed as possible tag-title contenders due to the win.
– During recent promos, NXT star Adrian Neville has been knocking his physical appearance and making fun of his own accent. Apparently the creative idea for Neville is for him to be somewhat of a NXT version of Daniel Bryan.
WWE Hall Of Famer and WrestleMania XXX host Hulk Hogan opened this week’s WWE RAW show in Memphis, Tennessee to make his promised WrestleMania announcement.
Hogan revealed that at this year’s WrestleMania there will be a new “Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal,” which will feature 30 WWE Superstars competing in a battle royal match for an Andre The Giant trophy.
Thus far, Big E. and Ryback have been confirmed as participants in the battle royal match.
– Brodus Clay has been working out at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida for the past week. Clay is scheduled to work this Saturday’s NXT live event in Jacksonville, Florida.
– Ryback revealed his new ring gear for this Sunday’s WWE Elimination Chamber event. He recently tweeted the following photo:
WWE officials are under the impression that Curtis Axel, who is from the Minneapolis area and is part of the famous Hennig family (Larry Hennig, Curt “Mr. Perfect” Hennig), may receive a babyface reaction from the fans in attendance at this Sunday’s WWE Elimination Chamber event.
As previously reported, Axel, along with Ryback, will take on Goldust and Cody Rhodes in a tag-team match during the Kickoff Show prior to the start of the pay-per-view.
The following are highlights from a recent Jim Ross website Q&A update:
On rumors that Hulk Hogan failed to pass a WWE medical: “I’m not a big, rumor guy. Surprised that you are. I’ve endorsed Hogan to be a part of WM30 for months and never once have I said that he needed to wrestle to be an asset to the event. Hogan has horrific back problems so why put him in any risk unnecessarily? That wold make no sense.”
On why we don’t see Undertaker much outside of WWE: “He likes his privacy and is serious about protecting the overall mystique of his TV persona.”
On who should induct Ultimate Warrior and rumors of him wrestling Ryback at WrestleMania XXX: “I have no idea who will induct Warrior at the WWE HOF and haven’t thought that much about it. I also have no idea why so many think that Warrior is wrestling Ryback at WM30? Has that match been officially announced or is it more speculation?”
On the idea that Bad News Barrett’s bad news at RAW in Chicago should be that CM Punk isn’t there: “That’s been suggested by others. It might work. Or Punk might be back.”
Check out more from JR’s website Q&A update at JRsBarBQ.com.
– WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes apparently suffered some MCL damage, likely as a result of his steel cage moonsault on RAW two weeks ago.
– Another WWE Superstar who may have been injured on RAW recently is Ryback. According to one report, Ryback may have hurt his hand in the tag-team match against The Usos this past Monday night.
Two big matches for this week’s WWE SmackDown show were announced during Monday’s edition of WWE RAW.
In an eight-man tag-team match, The Usos, Goldust and Cody Rhodes, Ryback and Curtis Axel and The New Age Outlaws will battle it out.
In the main event of this week’s SmackDown, Randy Orton will continue his one-on-one showdown with every participant in the upcoming Elimination Chamber match, as he will take on Antonio Cesaro in singles competition.
– Monday’s WWE RAW was #3 on yesterday’s “Nielson Twitter TV Ratings” charts. The show drew a “unique audience” of 2 million, up from last week’s 1.8 million.
RAW had over 12 million “total impressions,” with 53,100 people posting 199,200 tweets about the show.
– Here is the latest Backstage Fallout video from Monday’s RAW:
Sheamus and Ryback comment on their encounter on Raw.