D-Von Dudley Reveals Why AEW Talks Failed

Hot off his final match at TNA Bound For Glory, the now-retired star recently spoke with Video Gamer in an exclusive interview about when he tried to work for AEW. AEW CEO Tony Khan and he couldn’t see eye to eye. Khan wanted him to work in the ring, while he wanted an agent or producer role in the company. He said:

“I was looking to become a producer. I wasn’t looking to become a wrestler. And the only reason why my agent even contacted them was because of the fact that I left WWE and I wanted to still do the agent role. But my sons were there at the time and I was gonna try to do anything I could to help my sons out.I expressed to Tony that I didn’t wanna wrestle. He kept trying to push it. He would have loved me to go out there and do a couple of things, maybe be a manager and maybe even do a six-man tag match. And I told him, I said, ‘if I do a six-man, let me know right now. I’ll be on apron and the boys are gonna do all the work.’ I told him I don’t wanna wrestle anymore. And he wasn’t taking no for an answer. He couldn’t get that through his head. He was like stringing me along and even though I kept telling him I don’t wanna wrestle, I was literally when we had those meetings really fresh off a back surgery. I really couldn’t do it like that back then. It takes time for your body to heal and to be able to do what you got to do after back surgery.”

As D-Von stated above, one of the reasons he wanted to go to AEW was because of his two sons, Terrell and Terrence Hughes. The two are an indie tag team called TNT and worked matches on AEW Dark, when it was still around. The internet show was canceled in April 2023.

Three Meetings And It Was A Bust

In the end, Khan wasn’t taking no for an answer. D-Von felt like the AEW CEO was not understanding that he didn’t want to get into the ring. He had three meetings with Khan, and all three were a “bust.” This happened when he was fresh after having back surgery, a super valid reason for not wanting to go into the ring. He said:

“So I basically kept emphasizing that I wanted to be a producer. I did not wanna wrestle. I wanted to work behind the scenes, and he kept asking me if I wanted to wrestle and get back in the ring. And I’m like, ‘dude, you’re not getting what I’m saying. I don’t want to wrestle. I just wanna be a producer. I wanna help my sons out. I wanna help get them where they are.’ Like what Billy Gun was doing for his sons, you know? I’ve done everything in my career. I don’t need that. He just wasn’t taking no for an answer. I’ve had three meetings with him and all three were a bust!”

So, definitely can see D-Von’s frustrations with a very stubborn Tony Khan. If Khan had just listened to him, he probably would still be working there, but then we probably wouldn’t have gotten the Matt and Jeff Hardy vs. Team 3D at Bound for Glory.