WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley spoke with Vlad TV about various topics, including the night before he suffered a stroke in 2020.
Dudley said, “I went upstairs to my room and I was watching something on Netflix, and I remember going, ‘Damn, I’m hungry.’ And my wife at the time, I’m speaking to her and I go, ‘Man, I would love if you could DoorDash me some food.’ She goes, ‘I could do that’… So she did it. The [food] came, I go to the bathroom. Now, usually when I’m in my hotel room, I put the latch on the door and lock it. As I’m getting up from the bathroom, as I’m leaving the getting out of the bathroom, something’s telling me, ‘Unlock the door,’ as clear as day… I go back to the bed and it kept bothering me. Something said, ‘Unlock the door.’ And I was like, ‘Damn, whatever’s inside of me saying this is not going to stop.’ I was like, ‘F it, ain’t nobody coming in here.’ I unlocked the door, I went to bed.”
On having the stroke:
“I got up, like I thought was in the middle of the night. And I went to take that first step out of the bed; I fell face first onto the floor. Busted my mouth open and everything. All of a sudden, I couldn’t feel my legs. I didn’t understand what was going on.”
On talking to his wife in the midst of it:
“I finally roll on the bed to go get the phone and I pick it up. I’m like, ‘What do you want?’ I was like, ‘I’m sleeping. It’s early in the morning.’ And I don’t remember what she said, because it sound like a scene from Popeye the cartoon. And then next thing you know, she’s like, ‘What is going on with you?’ I said, ‘I fell, I busted my mouth open. I got no feeling in my legs. I can’t feel my legs. Something’s wrong.’ And She goes, ‘You’re having a stroke.’ I said, ‘I’m not having a stroke. I’m too young to have a stroke.’ She goes, ‘You’re having a stroke.’ I said, ‘No I’m not.’ I was like, ‘I’ll call you later.’”
On his wife calling the hotel:
“I basically hang up the phone. She calls the hotel again and she goes, ‘I think my husband is having a stroke. Somebody better go up there and get him now, because if he dies, I’m suing this whole hotel and the whole state of California.’ So they panic. They go upstairs, they knock on the door, they said, ‘Mr. Hughes, we got to do a wellness check on you.’ I said, ‘Go away.’ They said, ‘Mr. Hughes, we can’t go away. We have to do this and we’re not leaving until we get to see that you’re all right.’ And I said, ‘Well, I can’t get up to open the door. So, you’re going to have to do it. You’re going to have to come in.’ They came in. They called the ambulance, the ambulance was on its way. It got there really quick and when they put me on the gurney they said, ‘Mr. Hughes you’re having a stroke.”
On being taken to the hospital and nearly dying:
“They rush me into the hospital. The doctor told me, if you would have been a minute later, you would have either been dead, paralyzed for life, or in an old age home for the rest of your life. You’d have been done.’ So, they were like, ‘Better be lucky they got you there when they did.’”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
