After being in TNA for nearly a decade, The Dudley Boyz surprised many when they returned to the WWE in August 2015. Throughout their last run in the company, they were the veteran tag team that puts over younger teams, and they officially announced that they were leaving in the company a year later. On Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia, D-Von Dudley revealed why him and Bubba-Ray Dudley stepped away.
D-Von explained that Bubba-Ray wanted to pursue other avenues, a decision he respected. He said that he wasn't particularly ready to step away and he can compete again today if needed.
"Number one, Bubba Ray Dudley wanted to go and explore other avenues, which is what he is doing now, and it was one of those things where I still wanted to be part of the company. I still had the urge but he wanted to explore other avenues, which is what ended up happening. I cannot knock him for wanting to do other things; life is too short so you have to do what you want to do," Dudley said. "Life is too short to do what others want you to do, and I give him a lot of credit. Let it be known that I didn't retire because I was hurt, or that I couldn't do it. D-Von can still go; I can still jump on the top turnbuckle and jump on the table, so if WWE ever wants me to get back in the ring I can do it."
Dudley said he enjoyed his last run with the WWE because he felt they had some unfinished business. He feels more satisfied with how the last run ended. The Dudley Boyz are set to be inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame this year.
"I loved my last run. My personal life was a little shaken up my bit, but as far as me coming back, I don't think, even if I would have passed on before that would have happened, I don't think I would have been able to rest easy because I needed to come back," he said. "The first time we left I don't believe we left the way we should have left and there was a lot of unanswered questions and things that needed to be done, so with that said we still had things to be proven. I wouldn't have been comfortable leaving this earth without coming back and prove that the WWE is the home for the Dudley Boyz, so I was very happy we were able to do that."
The Dudley Boyz challenged for the tag team titles on multiple occassions during their last run but fell short. D-Von said he didn't mind that they weren't able to have a 10th title reign. He said he was more than happy to put younger teams over.
"It really didn't matter to me because I was having so much fun. It would have been nice to do it, but the thing was we had already made so much history, so my thing was to mainly pass the torch. You can't deny that we didn't help the New Day or Usos advance," he said. "We made it fun; we brought back what was missing and we were happy to do that. In that aspect, I was just happy and content with just doing that. I knew coming back, it wasn't to relive the Attitude Era that some fans thought we should have done, it wasn't to relive but help the younger generation advance."