WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam (RVD) recently took to an episode of his “1 Of A Kind” podcast, where he talked about a number of topics including being resistant to building a relationship with Vince McMahon.
RVD said, “Bruce Prichard said to me one time, pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, John Cena is going to be taking off in October, and he’s gonna be doing this movie. So that’s happening, you should be aware of that.’ And I was like, ‘Okay.’ And he said, ‘That’s a good opportunity for you to really like, maybe step into that position.’ And I took offense to it. A lot of listeners, you’ve probably heard me tell this story. But I took it as if, ‘Are you saying I should work harder? Like, are you not watching my matches? Are you not seeing me out there busting my ass, and not seeing the way the fans connect with me?’ And I don’t know how I worded it, but I asked him a version of that. And he was like, ‘No, no, no, no, it’s not about that. You have to build a relationship with Vince. That’s what’s missing.’ And I again, took offense to that.”
On taking offense to the notion:
“Being however young and inexperienced, and defensive, and unwilling to even bend, I took that as if saying, ‘So I got to kiss ass on top of what I’m doing.’ Because I felt like I should — my work should stand for itself. I should not have to fight for my position, once I’m already here in the position of being on your TV show, getting in that ring, doing my thing. Boom, I’m here. I shouldn’t have to fight for my position. And I always did resent that you still got to fight for your position.”
“But that is the way it is. You have to show that you want it or whatever. And everybody one by one that was important and of the executive branch came up and told me the same thing shortly after. One of them was Shane McMahon. And then Stephanie came up and said the exact same thing to me. And you know, had I done things differently and really built that relationship with Vince then in that year, then maybe I would have been put forward in a more solid position than I was. I know not everyone at those meetings was rooting for me from the information being leaked out that was in there. But what Stephanie said to me was, ‘You have to go to my dad, and you have to prove to him that you want it.’ And as an example, she used Eddie. And she said, ‘Eddie was at the top of the world. He had his downfall. And when he was ready, he wasn’t going to let anything stop him. He went to my dad, and he said, ‘I’m going to be your champion again. You’re going to see, I’m gonna do it. I’m going to make this happen.’ And he did. And my father has to know that he can trust you in order to do that, you have to have that relationship with him.’”
On Eddie Guerrero’s commitment to wrestling:
“And, you know, I always think of Eddie as that. When I think of Eddie, I think of being in that spot of being symbolic of the passion that it takes to really drive yourself to the top even if you have obstacles rolling back downhill against you.”
You can check out the complete podcast below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
