D-Von Dudley took from some iconic movies to help shape his character in professional wrestling.
WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley was a recent guest on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about the inspirations for his character, Dudley revealed it’s a mix of Mr. T from Rocky III and Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction.
“Well, it was two people. It was more Mr. T from Rocky III than Pulp Fiction, and the Mr. T part was the punching, the aggressiveness, beating down people when I would talk to them when I would fight them, getting them in a compromised position, beating them down in the corner, and talking crap. That was all Mr. T. That’s exactly what Mr. T did in Rocky III.
“What happened was I came into the ECW production studio to meet with Paul E for the first time, and he was feeling me out. And now that I know Dr. Frankenstein and how he is, he was studying me up as a person as well. My real name is Devon. So he says, ‘Tell me, Devon. You know, tell me about yourself.’ And I’m like a scared little kid in the corner trying to think of something intelligent to say to Paul because I used to watch Paul on TV as a manager in WCW. So I’m a little star-struck too.
“I know exactly who he is, and so on and so on. So I was like, ‘Well, you know, I work in the post office. I got a family,’ and this and that. He goes, ‘What’s your favorite movie?’ And I looked at him, and I said Rocky III. He said, ‘Rocky III?’ and he assumed, like everybody when they watched Rocky, that you like the character Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone’s character, and I said, ‘No, I like Mr. T.’ He was like, ‘Really?’ I was like, yeah, it’s not because I’m Black. I like Mr. T.”
From there, Paul Heyman asked D-Von to reenact a scene from the movie, which impressed the ECW owner at the time. At that point, Heyman dug a little deeper and asked how he grew up and learned about his reverend parents, which gave Heyman the idea to have D-Von look into Samuel L. Jackson’s character from Pulp Fiction.
“He asked me about my background in terms of how I grew up. And I told him about my parents. I told him my parents were reverends, and I grew up in a very Christian household. And he said to me, ‘Okay, you ever see the movie, Pulp Fiction?’ At the time, I said no, because I didn’t. I had heard about it, but I never had interest in seeing it.
“And he says, ‘Well, I want you to go take a look at a character called Jules; he’s one of the main characters in the movie. I could see you being him.’ And he described what he was in the movie, Bible-thumping, crazy, blow your head off, and this and that. Before he would do that, he would quote scriptures. He was like, ‘Yeah, go to your local Blockbuster.’ That’s how old I am. He said, ‘It’s on video now; it’s out of the movie theater.’
“So I went and got the VHS tape and went in there and watched it, and I called him up. I go, ‘Yeah, I love it. I love the character. I love it.’ Because I loved the path of the righteous man, I love that, and I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger. The way he delivered that, even as young as I was watching that, just sent chills through me. And it was kind of like one of those things where I thought I was able to play that character tremendously.”
Once D-Von got the idea for his character down, it was time to figure out what he would be called. Heyman came up with the idea of utilizing his real name Devon, altering it into D-Von, and putting him with the Dudleys faction in ECW.
“He was like, ‘No, we’re gonna put you with a tag team called the Dudley Boyz,'” D-Von Dudley said. “It’s the Dudleys at the time, and he goes, ‘How about D-Von Dudley?’ I was like, D-Von Dudley, ehh, doesn’t have a ring to it. I was like, alright, whatever. I need a job. I want a job; I want to work as a wrestler. And, of course, the rest is history, and it just worked out.”
What do you make of D-Von Dudley’s comments? Did you know where the inspiration for his character came from? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit INSIGHT with a link back to this article for the transcription.
