D-Von Dudley has maintained his stance that he was the recipient of racial remarks by Jim Ross at WWE.
During a chat with Maven Huffman on D-Von’s YouTube channel, released on Wednesday, he repeated claims of multiple racist remarks made by the former talent relations head at WWE.
D-Von had previously mentioned these incidents in a pair of interviews with Huffman and on the D-Von & The Duke Podcast. D-Von made one claim of being with Bubba Ray Dudley at an event at WWF New York and speaking with Ross in a private room.
In the story, Ross was commenting on how the two had fared since joining WWE, “You guys are fitting in really good here….I like you boys. D-Von, I’m not too sure, the verdict’s still out on him, and I’m not too sure how I feel about this, particularly”. Bubba allegedly responded by stating that D-Von is a hard worker and doesn’t give the company any problems. Ross allegedly said, “Well, you know, I get that, that’s all good. It’s just something…he’s Black, I don’t know, that’s my hiccup.”
D-Von continued to describe Bubba defending him to Ross and felt that if he struck Ross, they would be fired, and if he spoke up, he’d lose his job. He also said that Ross was “very drunk” and “slurring his words,” but that when you’re drunk, “the truth comes out.”
He continued with the second incident previously mentioned, occurring in Indianapolis, where he was seated with Bubba Ray, Paul Heyman, Spike Dudley, and Tommy Dreamer in catering. He alleges that Ross stopped by their table and said hello to everyone, except D-Von. Heyman called out the slight by saying, “What, you don’t want to say hello to D-Von? What’s wrong with D-Von? What, because he’s Black?” and that Ross responded, “You’re damn right because he’s Black”.
On an edition of Ross’ Grilling J.R. podcast released on December 25, Ross denied the accusations:
That’s so absurd. It’s not even — it doesn’t merit a response. I like D-Von. I like him today. I hired he and Bubba. I thought we did a good job of booking them. They made money. They were put in situations where they could do the things they do best.
I always respected him and his work. I love the Dudley tag team. So I was, it took me totally off guard. I never said that to D-Von Dudley and why he would, uh, conjure up that — I guess, to get attention?
Ross is scheduled to make an appearance on AEW programming for tonight’s Dynamite in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
