RVD Talks WWE Contract Status, How WWE Has Changed, Drug Testing, Current Favorites
RVD recently spoke with Sam Roberts at Ringside Fest 2013. Here are some highlights from the interview.
What was it like coming back to the WWE: "Different and better. The whole vibration is there, it's different. First off, I've got seniority now, which I didn't have. When I was there before, they treated me good, but, because I mean it's not like I'm going to put up with someone not treating me good, but above me on the pecking order before there was what, Batista, the Rock, Stone Cold, Undertaker, nWo, D-Generation X. Hogan and Flair were still wrestling. There were so many guys and they're not there anymore. So that gives me a good chance, with all the RVD fans screaming my name, it gives me a chance to get noticed and get to the top of the card. So that goes a long way."
His short term deal meaning he wanted to be there: "That's true too. It's a mutual deal, so hopefully it's beneficial to them, not only because I get the crowd rocking, but also wrestling with their less experienced guys. Hopefully they're learning something. When you've been wrestling almost 25 years like RVD, a lot of the wrestlers are less experienced. In fact, I think to have as much experience as RVD has, you're supposed to be old and beaten up and broken down. I'm understanding that from getting all the feedback from everyone else that's so amazed.
"I got to tell ya. I feel the same, if anything better, than I did ten years ago or 20 years ago. As far as listening to my body to tell me when it's time to quit, I don't see any quitting in sight. So it's fun to be there and knowing that I was only there for a short time always gave me the light at the end of the tunnel because it really is a monotonous schedule of traveling from town to town to town to town to town. As fun as that may sound, and it is fun sometimes [it's long]. Without ever, ever, ever seeing an end, ever, unless you're injured, sometimes you go huh, I wonder if there's other things in life I'm missing out on just by driving, flying to Huntsville, Alabama tonight."
How long will it be until he comes back again: "A lot of it has to do with what else is going on. There's a few projects that might possibly come to pass within this time frame. There's an action movie that I'm not trying to talk about so much in case it doesn't happen.
"I had one starring role in this movie Wrong Side of Town, you can go check it out. The same production crew has been trying to pick up the pieces since then because producers were fighting on the set and nobody wanted to work together. But the plans were to do a whole bunch of those, so that's coming around. In fact this coming week I may have news on that. It may possibly be that if that happens, it could prolong the return if I wanted to go [in that direction]. But otherwise, just based on wrestling, what's the right amount of time to take off, it's like a mutual decision, again. My deal's done. I still consider myself in the WWE family, but technically on paper, I am now without contract."
Do they drug test with short term deals: "Yes. That's all part of working for them. That's different than it was before too, by the way. The testing is different. The fines are different. The dress code, how strict they are. That's a little different. The call times, when you have to get to the arena, that's a little different. So when you ask how are things and I say they're better and you want to know why, it used to be you had to be at the building at one o clock or you're fined 500 dollars. I had it happen several times. That means that if you're driving all night, you get to a hotel at three or four in the morning, and then it takes you a while to do your nightly whatever the hell you do's, and you go to sleep, you better get up. You better get up and check out and get to the building if you don't want to be fined.
"So before, it seemed like when I was there before, it seemed like I never slept. Like the whole time I was trying to chase a full night's sleep. This time that wasn't an issue at all. A lot of it is because they're more lenient on things like that, on the call time. And with seniority I think even more lenient because with some of the guys that are wanting to make a good impression, I'm kind of like, not that I'm not wanting to make a good impression, I'm kind of past that."
Who does he like that's new: "Many. There's many. I'm not sure if I've worked with some of the guys or not. Kofi's awesome. Justin Gabriel's awesome. One of my favorites is uh, see I've only been gone like two and a half weeks and I'm already forgetting some of their names, Cesaro. I watched WWE like a week a two before I made my debut to familiarize myself with some of the guys there. Right away I was like this Cesaro dude is awesome. He's so talented. Then when you get to know how much respect he has for the other boys, being one of the strongest guys in the company. I didn't get to wrestle with him either."
You can check out the whole interview above.
Source: Sam Roberts