Summary

D-Von Dudley believes corporate influence may be playing too large a role in WWE decisions following this year's departures.

While speaking on Duke Loves Rasslin, the former WWE producer reacted to the recent exit of The New Day from the company and said he does not believe the call necessarily came from WWE creative itself. Dudley said he feels TKO was likely behind the decision, adding that too much corporate control can be damaging in a business like pro wrestling.

Quote from D-Von Dudley

"What I'm gathering from the information that I'm getting, I don't know if it was WWE. I think that was a TKO decision."

Dudley later went on to say:

"And I hate that, you know, TKO is getting the blame for pretty much everything, whether it's ticket prices or the releases. But, you know, they're corporate. And I've always said corporate will never work in the wrestling business. It'll be the downfall of the wrestling business.

And you can't do wrestling like it's corporate. You just can't, because there's so much involved. There's so many different things that are involved in that, so you really can't do it like that.

But unfortunately, I think that's what it was. I think Triple H would have loved to have kept them and whatever, but I just feel that it was a corporate decision that was being made.

And like I said, corporate is never good in the wrestling business because they don't get it, nor do they understand it. They're looking at the dollar."

What The New Day departures could mean for WWE

The biggest takeaway from Dudley's comments is that the conversation around WWE's roster moves may not stop with The New Day. If more exits are viewed as budget-driven decisions from TKO rather than calls made by Triple H and the creative side, that could shape how fans read future departures and contract stories.

It also keeps attention on how much freedom WWE leadership actually has when it comes to retaining established acts. In this case, Dudley specifically pointed to Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods as talent he believes WWE may have preferred to keep.

Sources

D-Von Dudley while speaking on Duke Loves Rasslin