During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Rob Van Dam commented on HBO host John Oliver’s criticism towards WWE over not taking enough care of its talent.
“There are some truths but there are also some opinions and those will vary. I enjoy being an independent contractor and I find that I’m usually in the minority when it comes to that as far as how my peers feel. The way I see it is I’m an independent contractor and I sign an agreement with them and all of the terms are negotiable on the agreement. First of all, they keep you so busy you’re not going to have time to work anywhere else. You’re not even going to have time to go home. So forget about that. What are you going to do, if you’re on top in the WWE, who else are you going to work for? The local fair in front of 50 people? People say ‘Oh, there’s no health insurance’ but if you need that in your deal then you can negotiate that and say ‘You know what I want health insurance’. You want your hotel room taken care of? You get it in your contract and you make that agreement. I enjoy the freedom of being an independent contractor to make that deal. Some of the guys that might not have as much leverage as me because maybe they don’t sell as many tickets, I think it would help them more to not be independent contractors because they can’t really step forward with the same negotiating power. But come on, you think Triple H doesn’t have health insurance?”
