Nine months ago, the night after SummerSlam, the Dudley Boyz made their return to WWE after 10 years away. They immediately moved into a feud with the tag-team champions, The New Day, and since that feud, have spent time feuding with the likes of The Usos and the recent callups, Enzo and Cass. It hasn't been a perfect return, but The Dudleys are still consistent presences on RAW.
RAW returns to Royal Farms Arena on Monday night (tickets are still available at Ticketmaster, or the Royal Farms Arena box office) and I had a chance to catch up with D-Von Dudley. We talked about what they've done since his return, his view of the tag division, as well as what he'd like to do in the upcoming months.
We're almost exactly nine months since you made your return to WWE. What have the past nine months been like for you?
"It's been great to be back home where we belong. WWE has always been our home. Even though we went around the world and wrestled for other companies, WWE has always been, and always will be our first home. To have the response that we did in Brooklyn [when we returned], it was tremendous. I don't think I could have ever envisioned a response like that when we walked through the curtain. It just shows that the Dudley Boyz are still relevant today, just as much as we've been in the past."
Since that return, has your return gone the way that you've hoped?
"Absolutely. We're out there, we're doing our thing. Not to mention, we've been helping out the young talent and getting them ready for the future. It's been great."
You mention the younger talent. Two of those teams, in Enzo and Cass and The Vaudevillains, have made a quick ascent since their debuts. What do you see in those teams?
"I think it's great. If you watched NXT, you saw them tear it down there. You knew they were going to do the same on the main roster. It was only a matter of time before those guys came up and were chosen to go toe to toe with us. There are other tag teams in NXT as well that are doing extremely well. As they start to come up, and they start to learn the way of doing business on the main roster, it's only right that they have a chance to tangle with the Dudleys, so we can show them how it's really done."
Do you like the fact that you get a chance to have fresh matchups with newer teams?
"Absolutely. If you think about it, if you don't help the younger generation to help and grow, then pro wrestling is going to be a lost art. It'll be gone, it'll disappear. The greatest part of it is that once you share your knowledge with them, they retain that knowledge, and they grow from it. That means that somewhere down the line, you"
One of the first matchups you had when you returned was the team on top of the division right now, The New Day. What do you think of what they're doing?
"I think they're great. They're a little annoying with that trombone [laughs], but they're great. I love those guys. They're great to work with, whether we're the good guys or the bad guys. It's always a pleasure. We have chemistry. Every tag team will have chemistry with certain teams, a certain something that allows you to go on the road and put on a great match every night. That's something that we have with the New Day. It's almost the same thing we had with Edge and Christian or the Hardys."
Speaking of those guys, do you think that with this new crop of teams, the tag division could reach the same heights that you guys reached with those teams?
"Well, that's tough. We've set the bar so high. Can it be done? I'm sure it can be. They can't be afraid of heights, that's for sure. We've created so much history, and done so many things, it's going to be a long time before a team can replicate what we did."
What was it that made that era of tag wrestling so special? Was it simply the teams involved? Was it the timing? Was there something else that contributed?
"Timing. It all had to do with timing. You had the Hardys, Edge and Christian, and the Dudleys, all coming in to the company around the same time. We all brought something special, but similar, to the table, and the timing was just perfect. You always hear about Vince throwing something against the wall to see if it sticks. Well that stuck. We created history."
Is there anything that you really wanted to do when you returned that you haven't had a chance to do yet?
"Well, we haven't had a run with the tag belts yet. That would be No. 1. But, I think maybe go after a singles belt, that's something I'd like to do. I'd have to go after Roman Reigns and AJ to do that though. It's going to be one of those things that we'll have to see where things go."
So a singles run is something that you'd like to do before you leave WWE again?
"I just want to be able to entertain the fans, and do what we do best, whether we're together or not. We're always good either way. We've proven in other organizations that we can be really good as singles guys. So if that's what they want to do, then yeah, let's do it."
What do you think of the fact that WWE is bringing in so much established talent recently, guys like AJ Styles, and Anderson and Gallows, especially as a team who had established yourselves before coming to WWE originally?
"It's great. You get a mixture of everything. That's the way wrestling should be, especially since WWE is really the only game in town. So they should give the fans a little taste of everything, not just one type of thing."
Is there anybody who you haven't been able to wrestle since your return that you'd really like to step into the ring with?
"I'd love to get back in there with Taker again. The Brothers of Destruction, him and Kane, I'd love that. That would bring back some memories. But it doesn't really matter who we step into the ring with. This is about proving that not only are we still relevant, but we can still go, with anybody on the roster."
RAW is in Baltimore on Monday, do you have any particular memories in Baltimore?
"We've had a lot of great extreme matches there. But the one thing that always sticks out are the fans. The fans are great in Baltimore. They let you know if they like you, and they'll let you know if they don't like you. You know if you're doing your job well in Baltimore. It's always been a fun place. It's also right down the block from Philadelphia, so a lot of fans from Baltimore used to go to the ECW arena and cheer us on or boo us. So it's like coming back home in a sense."
Thoughts? Questions? Leave them in the comment section, email me or find me on Twitter: @TheAOster. You can also find my podcast, Jobbing Out, at https://soundcloud.com/jobbingout