Bruce Prichard Says Splitting The Dudleyz Was A Good Thing, Why Reverend D-Von Failed

The inaugural WWE Draft in 2002 saw longtime tag team partners Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley be separated and assigned to different brands. Bubba Ray would perform on "WWE Raw," while D-Von would debut the short-lived Reverend D-Von character on "WWE SmackDown." WWE executive Bruce Prichard spoke about the promotion splitting up the Dudley Boyz during an appearance on his "Something to Wrestle" podcast.

"[I] loved it [the Reverend D-Von character]," Prichard said. "Loved it. This came from 'Pulp Fiction' and D-Von doing the Samuel L. Jackson speech and things like that. Say what you will; it's like, 'Oh yeah, you split up the Dudleyz for no reason.' No, there was a reason. I think we'd seen all that we were going to see at that time ... It was an opportunity, and I think also as time went on, that splitting them was a good thing when you look at the success of Bully Ray as a single and so on and so forth.

"Man, I thought that Reverend D-Von and I thought that D-Von had every f*****g chance in the world, man. The Reverend thing — I just think D-Von had too many voices coming at him with different ways to do it. I really tried, and I know D-Von really tried. I think D-Von really, really got it, and I think that this could have been a breakout thing for D-Von, but it just didn't happen."

While performing as Reverend D-Von, D-Von briefly had former WWE Champion Batista as his protégé. Eight months after being drafted to "SmackDown," D-Von reunited with Bubba Ray at WWE Survivor Series 2002. The Dudley Boyz, who teamed up for the first time since 2016 at "IMPACT! 1000" last month, were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018.

If you use any quotes, please credit "Something To Wrestle with Bruce Prichard" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.