While speaking on his podcast, WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley opened up about his time working backstage as a WWE producer, and he offered insight into how Vince McMahon handled situations when he was displeased with a match.
D-Von described McMahon’s signature reaction when something didn’t go according to plan:
“If he didn’t like the match, he would take the headset off, put it on the table, look at you, and say, ‘Come here, why did you do such and such? What was the reasoning for that?’ And you’d have to explain it to him, why you did what you did. He would either say, ‘Okay, I see that,’ or he would say, ‘No, that is not what I wanted, this is what I wanted.’ And you would have to deal with it.”
D-Von explained that even if the talent went off-script during their performance, it was often the producer who took the heat:
“Ninety percent of the time, the producer would be the one to get blamed. I used to always say, ‘Listen, once they step through the curtain, I can’t hold their hands. If we give them the vision in the back and then they decide to go another route, I can’t stop that from happening. That’s something that the big boss would have to reprimand them for.’”
While McMahon would sometimes hold the talent accountable, D-Von noted that more often than not, producers bore the brunt of the criticism—even when they weren’t at fault. His comments shed light on the intense pressure and responsibility producers face behind the scenes, especially under the leadership of a hands-on figure like McMahon.
