Are we witnessing the return of D-von Dudley?
To the shock of everyone, Bully Ray made his return to TNA at Slammiversary following Matt and Jeff winning back the TNA World Tag Team titles. Bully put over The Hardy Boys as one of the greatest tag teams in the world and wanted to step in with the duo one final time. Matt and Jeff agreed. At this moment, The Hardys will face Team 3-D at Bound For Glory.
Now Bully has been in and out of the ring for the last couple of years. D-von has had only three matches in the last five years. Given that he had a stroke in 2019, it’s not hard to see why he doesn’t wrestle often. The WWE Hall of Famer has claimed that he’s hung up the boots for good, but with this latest comeback, many are wondering if this is the beginning of another run for Team 3-D. The former WWE star quickly shut down any notion that his return will be on a regular basis.
“Yes, this will be my last time.” D-von said on the A2D podcast. “I know a lot of people will say, ‘All wrestlers say it’ll be their last time.’ No, this truly will be my last time. Did I have a stroke back in 2019? Yes. It was stress-related. It had nothing to do with anything else. Were there some lingering effects from it? There was a little bit. Went to rehab and got rid of all of it. Got cleared, no signs of stroke anywhere in my body.
A stroke will never go away, but when doctors take tests, they can still see that there was one. As far as entering my body again, as long as I take care of myself, no (it won’t). I eat right. I train. I do everything I’m supposed to do. The stroke is not an effect of what I’m going to be doing at all at Bound For Glory.
“The back surgery, I spoke to Randy Orton, because I heard Orton had the same back surgery I had. He said, ‘DVon, if I take any bumps in the ring now, it’s very little. I don’t do the old Randy anymore and take those risks because of what happened with my back.’ It’s the same thing here. I’m gonna go in that match and I’m going to be DVon, but I’m going to be smart about it. Is there any problem with me being able to have one more match? No, there isn’t. All you guys sitting there and saying this, stop. I would not put myself in jeopardy if I thought otherwise."
D-Von makes it clear that his body is still in good ring shape and he's capable of delivering a strong performance at Bound For Glory.
“Please stop assuming that I can’t go. Can I go? Yes. Am I older? Absolutely. I have a wrestling school in Windsor Park, right down the block from the [WWE Performance Center]. I still get in the ring and train with the students. I know what I feel and how I feel. I’m in the gym five to six days a week working out, and this was before the announcement of us wanting to do one more match. This is it. This is it for DVon. This will be the last match and my sendoff.
This is the way I would like to go out. The Hardys and Dudleys one more time. I did tell Matt, ‘Keep Jeff away from me.’ [Laughs] That crazy SOB, he’ll kill me. Jeff goes, ‘Come on, DVon.’ ‘Jeff, you heard me.’ I love those guys.”
There’s no denying that both teams have slowed down throughout the years. Still, this can be a fun blast from the past booked correctly.