WWE star Montez Ford has one of the most popular finishing moves in pro wrestling. The Street Profits member gets incredible height on his Frog Splash before crashing down on his opponents. While the move looks great on television, taking the physical impact inside the ring is a completely different story.
While speaking on the latest episode of his podcast, former WWE star Duke Hanson (fka Duke Hudson), who was released in January 2025, opened up about his past experiences working against Montez Ford. He recalled a match where he teamed up with WWE Superstar Bronson Reed to take on Ford and Angelo Dawkins at a live event in 2019.
Thanks for the submission!
Duke said they put together a specific sequence that resulted in a massive amount of pain. The plan called for Ford to hit the Frog Splash and go for the pinfall. While making the cover, Ford would look up and see Reed jumping from the top rope with a splash of his own. Ford was supposed to quickly roll out of the way. This left Duke to take the full weight of Reed’s splash right after taking Ford’s flying attack.
The 36-year-old then compared the physical impact of taking Ford’s finisher to taking a splash from the much larger Reed. Despite the huge size difference between the two men, the pain level was exactly the same.
“I did a house show once. It was me and Bronson [Reed] against The Street Profits, and we did it where Montez hits his Frog Splash. Oh my god. It k*lled me,” Duke said. “He pins, and the idea is as he is pinning, he’s looking up, and then Bronson is coming with his splash. So Montez moves, I take Bronson’s splash, and I was like, they were exactly the same. They were both just as stiff as each other, and that was the worst idea I’ve ever had.”
Former WWE star recalls shocking retirement suggestion from the company
Duke Hudson’s former WWE ally Andre Chase recently revealed that the Stamford-based company once wanted him to consider stepping away from the ring when he was only 31 years old to become a coach.
During the same podcast, the former two-time WWE NXT Tag Team Champion said:
“Essentially, he was like, ‘You’re an interesting case, because we actually wanted to sign you as a coach. But come to the tryout anyway, and we’ll talk and discuss what we can do. We just think you can be a great coach. At this point, I’m 31, and I’m not ready to stop wrestling yet. You know what I mean? They made it very clear – at that time, there were no player-coaches. At this tryout, they said it’s just ten guys, and everybody is getting signed; you just have to come to it. He told us this before. This tryout was cursed. We had to do the tryouts with the masks on. These drills are tough. Wrestling with a mask on, which was a weird thing.”
It remains to be seen what’s next for Andre Chase and Duke Hudson in the world of pro wrestling.
If you use quotes from this article, please credit the Duke Hanson podcast and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.
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Edited by Neda Ali
