Like the passage of time, some things change, yet a lot of it stays the same. And for D-Von Dudley, the face of both the 20th and 21st Century of tag team wrestling, sometimes it’s not about the gold you chase and capture, but by being in an industry that allows you to be seen, heard, understood, and recognized for your contributions rather than your race. Tensions between Dudley and the now acting commentator and senior advisor of AEW, Jim Ross, seem to be pressing, after Dudley brought up a comment Ross said to him during their tenure in WWE. For context, in an interview with former WWE star, Maven, D-Von, and his longtime tag team partner, Bubba Ray, discussed how D-Von did not see eye-to-eye with the voice of pro-wrestling, after it was alleged that Ross did not like Dudley because of the color of his skin, words to that effect. The former eight-time WWE World Tag Team Champion explained the incident further on his YouTube channel.

“He came to me and Bubba and said it,” Dudley noted. “It was at the WWE restaurant, the grand opening of it. We were mingling with some of the guests that were there… I remember being upstairs and Bubba was like, ‘Let’s go downstairs and see what’s going on down there…’ Here comes J.R. J.R. comes down and we’re like, ‘J.R., how you doing?’ ‘Hey, J.R.’ ‘Boys, how are you guys doing?’ Me and Bubba was like, ‘Good, good.’ He was like, ‘Hey, you know what boys? You guys are fitting in really good here…I like you boys a lot. D-Von, I’m not sure. The verdict’s still out on him…’ I’m like, ‘What does he mean by that?’ Bubba knew what he was getting at. So, Bubba butts in and goes, ‘You know something, J.R., regardless to what, D-Von’s a hard worker. He never gives this company any problems. We go in there and do our business and that’s it…’ And J.R. continued to go, ‘Well, you know, that’s all good, but it’s just something about him. I’m just not sure…’ and finally it comes out, you know, ‘He’s Black.’ That’s my hiccup…I don’t know how I could feel about that.”

As far as letting bygones be bygones, Dudley would like for the two of them to reconcile their past differences: “I have no ill feelings for this man…But don’t sit there and try to bury me and try to make me look stupid when you were the one that did and said what you said.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “D-Von Dudley” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.