WRESTLING: An interview with Rob Van Dam

Part one of a two-part feature

By eWrestling Feature Editor, Scott Williams Special to eWC from www.TFHWrestling.com

The Whole F’N Show . What else has to be said? With those few words you can only think of one man, the most popular wrestler in ECW history. Former ECW World Tag Team Champion, the longest reigning ECW Television Champion of all time , Rob Van Dam. Rob Van Dam has been praised by many as being one of the most gifted athletes in wrestling, and that is a tough point for anyone to argue.

In this www.TFHWrestling.com exclusive interview Mr. Pay Per View himself talks to Ken Tuccio about the controversy surrounding him and marijuana, the current “war of words” between himself and Dave Scherer, his meetings and negotiations with the WWF, and all the other things that have a part in the star that is Rob Van Dam. For more information on Rob Van Dam be sure to check out his official website, RobVanDam.com.

Ken Tuccio

• One thing that you’re well known for is your association with marijuana . You’re slogan is “RVD 4:20 – I Just Smoked Your Ass” and have been in High Times magazine. Do you think that being associated with that type of thing has affected your career in a negative or a positive way?

Rob Van Dam

• It definitely had an effect whether it can be labeled negative or positive is probably too restricted because it’s had both. The negative has mostly been from marijuana haters, it offers them the chance to develop a strong opinion about how they feel about supporting someone who’s done an interview in High Times Magazine.

At the same time that has never bothered me yet, the positive has been huge. When I first did the interview it was after some fans made a sign that said “RVD 4:20″. I saw it on a sign in Queens NY it was never my idea. Also the shirt for RVD 420 ” I Just Smoked Your Ass ” was never my idea either it was ECW which was an adult oriented entertainment company, it was an angle the fans nudged me into which I really appreciated and saw it was a chance to gain some popularity. Sandman was one of the most popular wrestlers at the time, he would drink beers and smoke cigarettes while coming to the ring and that was what the extreme in ECW was all about.

It was a good chance to tap into a then undiscovered territory , even though many wrestlers and people alike said “No it’s a crazy thing to do”, I didn’t care , I went and did the interview but its been blown way out of proportion. I did the interview in , I think , late 1998 , and even to this day if people want to say something bad about RVD they say “Oh he’s an public endorser, he’s a poster boy for marijuana,” none of which is true. They’ve gone on to exaggerate and say I’m a spokesperson for legalizing it, which is untrue. They say that I wear marijuana leaves airbrushed on my outfit, which I’ve never ever done. They say that I’ve smoked on camera which I’ve never done.

So it has all been blown way out of proportion. Anyone in the spotlight that I’m in is used to having press and other people talking enough about you so that you have to pick out the truth.

Ken Tuccio

• You mention the press talking a lot about you. One of the most talked about things on the Internet now is the back and forth tossing of comments between you and Dave Scherer. Can you comment on that?

Rob Van Dam

• Yeah, I think the best word to describe him is prick. Ever since he started writing a lot about me which was in November when I returned from Thailand he thinks he can write whatever he wants about me , whether it’s true or not and I am supposed to sit there with my mouth shut. Which I did for a long time, because I thought I was above the silly games he was playing. Then I’ve got fans saying “This Dave Scherer is slapping you around, he’s lying about you how long are you gonna’ let him do this?”

I took it to the point where I believed that I was really getting misrepresented on the Internet. In the last couple of days between Dave Scherer and Bob Ryder I have been called a liar, gay, scathing, smearing, attacking. It’s very misrepresenting. They want you to think that Rob Van Dam has this attitude problem. What really got me to say something was his comments that Rob Van Dam’s name is fading that no one is giving Rob Van Dam work and that Rob Van Dam, after spending time on the indy scene, has lowered his prices because he realizes he’s not worth as much, and now he’s becoming a more easily priced wrestler.

All of this is complete lies, it’s all complete lies, and I’m just doing something that I would hope anyone else in my situation would be doing. Just opening up their mouth and saying “Hey this guy’s just spreading bullshit.”

Ken Tuccio

• Has the recent goings on with Dave Scherer and Bob Ryder soured you to the entire Internet wrestling genre in any way?

Rob Van Dam

• No not at all. I really appreciate the Internet, I think its great. Just a couple of days ago I got on to check my email, and besides finding out that Jim Ross has gotten back with us in very positive way I also found out that I’m requested in Canada, Germany, Australia, Belgium, and in Japan, all in one day. Not to mention all the indy promoters who try to get in contact with me everyday, not to mention fans as well. I always get email from somewhere new where I’ve never gotten it before and that always stands out to me. Like when someone writes and says, “Hey I’m from Russia I’m a big fan.”

I didn’t know I had fans in Russia! If it wasn’t for the Internet I would have no idea. I respect the Internet and most of the writers. Most of the writers who write things have good things to say about me, and even if they don’t have good things to say I would still like them to say the truth. I only want and believe I will get exactly what I deserve. So in the meantime I can be brutally honest so I can be judged on the truth. If I’m being judged by something that’s not true, by somebody else’s lie, then there is an injustice being done. So I really appreciate the Internet and all of it’s resources, I appreciate the internet sites, the wrestling sites. My complaints are very specific, about a very specific individual, and his boss who is backing him up.

Ken Tuccio

• Now you mentioned your meeting with Jim Ross, can you tell us about that, how it went?

Rob Van Dam

• It went very well. Much better then I expected it to. The meeting was supposed to last an hour and it lasted around an hour and forty – five minutes, and that wasn’t because we were stuck on any issues, it was just going that well. I was surprised at how cool Jim Ross was. I had never spent any time around him and I enjoyed being in his company, I enjoyed talking to him, hearing what he had to say. He had lots of little, I’ll call them “Ross-ism’s,” a lot of little things that presented a different picture of him then I expected. We addressed several issues, most importantly being myself and the chance of myself one day working for either the WWF or WCW. Through the meeting we discovered there was a mutual interest, and it looked very promising that it might be a good deal.

Ken Tuccio

• If you had a choice, if you could work for either the WWF or WCW, now that the WWFE owns them both, would you have a preference?

Rob Van Dam

• Well it depends on a lot of factors because it all depends on what they want to do with you. Of course everybody knows that’s always been very important to me. I’ve been wrestling professionally since ’89 and it’s all about the direction of your character and the portrayal of your image which is why I stand up for my image while it’s being misrepresented. I would want to know what they’re gonna do with me, in other words, if they’re gonna put you here on the bottom or put you in the junior division or do something else in the WWF or if you’re gonna be the main event in WCW, then that’s an easy one for me to figure out.

So there are a lot of factors like that, but from what I understand right now, which is not a lot of behind the scenes stuff, it’s just from observing just like you, it looks as if WCW would be a good place to showcase my abilities and to really make a difference.

Ken Tuccio

• Earlier you mentioned that when you were in ECW it was a more “adult oriented” form of entertainment. The WWF or WCW cannot do the same things ECW did on a lot of levels because they are more heavily watched by the PTC and numerous other groups. Do you see you’re character at all changing if you were in the WWF or in WCW?

Rob Van Dam

• Definitely. Not just my character but also limiting my moves, my style, my whole persona. I would believe that it would be necessary to change simply because it would not be an ECW product any more. I have always understood since the beginning, that if ECW were to fold and I was to go on and work anywhere else then that ECW Rob Van Dam that everyone got used to seeing would have to become something that you’d have to put a video tape in to see.

That’s not necessarily going to be the case to the extreme levels that everyone has come to expect. As far as a lot of the interviews I did in ECW, they were tailored to the ECW audience, it was a different product. It was, like I said, adult oriented. There was a lot of swearing, a lot of Rock N’ Roll, a lot of adult humor. A lot of that is not even necessary. You do see however the WWF and WCW taking after a lot of the ECW storylines and angles and that’s been a complaint for the last couple years. That people say, ” Hey they’re just copying ECW and ECW doesn’t have the exposure to show them that we did it first.

At least now, when Vince owns everything, at least now you can see the original, it won’t be a watered down version. You can see the guys that were tearing it up in ECW tearing it up in the WWF and maybe pretty soon in WCW as well. Some changes will have to be made but like I said it all depends on what they want to do with me. Basically, you’re comparing my ECW style to the WWF, but I was in ECW for like 5 years out of a 12-year career and even during that time I was wrestling often for Japan. When I go to Japan it is not an ECW Rob Van Dam over there, it’s modified because it’s a lot more mat wrestling in All Japan, where I mostly wrestled for. There’s not interviews on microphones, there’s not T&A walking you down to the ring, it’s just about the competition.

It’s necessary to adjust and make modifications just for that as well. I’ve wrestled all over, I’ve wrestled all over the world and I’ve always had to adjust. You have to adjust every time just to have a good match with you’re opponent. If my opponent is not an ECW opponent but it’s rather Hacksaw Jim Duggan then you’re probably not going to see the same five star classic RVD / Jerry Lynn match.

Article courtesy of eWrestling.com