D-Von Dudley Says Vince McMahon's Grudge With Catholic Church Led To Reverend Gimmick

It wouldn't be a stretch to claim that Vince McMahon waged war against the Catholic Church in the early 2000s. In the wake of shocking sex abuse cases against priests, McMahon authorized a televised segment where Booker T posed as a priest and heard the sins of a middle-aged woman inside a confessional, following which Steve Austin chased him around the church. The segment caused an uproar as religious groups began picketing WWE headquarters and invading shows. 

In typical McMahon fashion, he used the protests to further mock the Catholic Church by creating the heel Reverend D-Von character in 2002. The character was introduced following the 2002 WWE Draft, which broke up The Dudley Boyz into two singles superstars. According to D-Von, McMahon felt it was "hypocritical" on the church's part to criticize WWE's overly-sexual content when the religious institution was dealing with issues of its own.

"There was talk about Vince having a hard-on, no pun intended, maybe I shouldn't use that phrase for what I'm about to say," D-Von told Chris Van Vliet. "He had it in for the Catholic Church. At the time, we had people picketing and protesting us. This was at a time when the church was having controversy within its own home, with priests, with little boys, and things like that.

"So, there was always an issue — people were being hypocritical," D-Von continued. "We're doing what we're doing, and yet they're doing what they're doing and getting away with it for years. Meanwhile, Vince was like, 'You want to chastise what we do in the ring?'"

D-Von revealed it was "Vince's call" to not only break up the Dudleyz but to introduce Reverend D-Von as his "spiritual advisor" on WWE TV, another not-so-subtle dig at the Catholic Church.