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What’s the story?
WWE 2018 Hall of Fame inductee D-Von Dudley was recently a guest on Lillian Garcia's 'Chasing The Glory' podcast. During his appearance, he discussed a number of topics including his and Bubba Ray's Hall of Fame inductions, Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman influencing his career, and more. He was talked about convincing Xavier Woods to leave TNA to try and sign with WWE.
In case you didn’t know...
D-Von Dudley wrestled for TNA Wrestling from 2005 until 2013. He teamed with Bubba for the majority of the run but also performed as a singles star, winning TNA's short-lived Television Championship.
Xavier Woods wrestled for TNA from 2007 until 2010. He wrestled as 'Consequences Creed', a character inspired by the Rocky movie series character Apollo Creed. He mostly wrestled in the X Division and briefly held the TNA Tag Team Championship with Jay Lethal.
The heart of the matter
While speaking with Lillian Garcia, D-Von spoke on how he was a mentor to Xavier Woods during his time with TNA. D-Von said Woods was unhappy in TNA and D-Von gave him advice to leave TNA and join WWE. D-Von said:
Xavier Woods was in an organization (TNA) that I am not too keen on. This organization treated him bad, and Xavier told me that he may have a chance to go to WWE, but he may not and he doesn't know what to do. We sat and talked for about 40 minutes; till this day he thanked me for making that phone call, and I believe it was Terry Taylor who was helping doing the hiring at the time, not sure who was in charge, but he basically thanked me for helping him make that decision in going to the WWE.
I am not saying that there wouldn't have been a New Day without Xavier Woods, but each individual brings something to the table, and I believe the success of all three of them with the charisma and personality is what made New Day who they are today. So, I was very happy when I came back to WWE and Woods was there. I had forgotten all about it until he reminded me that I was one of the reasons that made him go back and have that conversation with WWE.
What’s next?
D-Von Dudley will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame along with Bubba Ray Dudley, on April 6, 2018.
Author’s take
Xavier was being severely underused in Impact Wrestling, and although it may have taken him a little time, The New Day has been one of the best acts in WWE for quite some time now.
