10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About The Dudley Boyz

After three years of being one of the hottest tag teams in the company's history, it was decided by WWE in mid-2002 that the Dudley Brothers should finally head off in their own directions, with Bubba sent to Raw and D-Von over to SmackDown.

It's unclear who exactly pushed for this move, because it didn't seem to do much good for either of them, nor the product as a whole (nor Batista, for that matter).

It's possible, however, that it was the doing of D-Von, whose subsequent "Reverend" gimmick could perhaps have been inspired by his real-life parents, both of whom were employed by the clergy.

And there's absolutely no doubt that the 10-time tag team champ put his heart into making this character shift a success. It's just that it completely, totally wasn't - in any conceivable way.

This was perhaps less to do with any inherent problems with the persona itself than it was the fact that they tried to get it over with a wrestler who was already known to fans. It was jarring to see D-Von being anything other than a Dudley Boy, just as it would be if Braun Strowman started rescuing kittens stuck up trees next week on Raw.