During a recent interview with Thibaud Choplin, Rob Van Dam commented on why some stars don’t get pushed, whether he’s been in talks with WWE or AEW, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On if he’s spoken with AEW or WWE about coming in: “I’m not in talks, and I’m all about the money. You know, people don’t understand, some people think — some fans, they’re ignorant to the facts, you know. They don’t understand [that it’s a business], and maybe they think when I had the WWE belt and the ECW belt, they might think I was in my prime then. And they probably think that I wish I was still there. But right now I make 20 to 30 times in one match what WWE was paying me at the lowest. I’m saying 20 to 30 times in one match. I could make that much more money outside of WWE than I can there. Who wants to work, why would you want to work 30 matches to make the same money that you can work one match and make money? That’s something fans can’t understand cause they think we just love to be in the ring 24/7.”
On if he’d rather go out in a big retirement match or go quietly: “I could see it going either way. I don’t think I have a preference, you know. The one thing about having a retirement match that would be appealing, would be if it was built up and it was a good payday. Otherwise, I don’t give a f**k.”
On talented guys who aren’t able to make it to the top: “In general, you know, it’s all about selling tickets. If you’re not — I’ve always looked at it this way: if people aren’t buying tickets to watch you and support you specifically, then you’re just a spot on the card. You’re just a spot filler. I never was that guy, maybe when I started out. But a lot of people that are just good hands, you know, they feel like they have more coming to them because they paid a lot of dues, but sometimes they’re not as marketable.
“Now the guys that you mentioned — I mean Cesaro, I think he’s one of the best guys there, and Dolph Ziggler is very good. I have to think that their push or lack of, either way, the direction they’re going to go is going to have a lot to do with how some specific people feel about them personally. And that’s always been an issue in WWE. The guy or guys that make the actual decisions seem to have different opinions than a lot of the fans on what’s worth money and what should be pushed.”
