By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Insight With Chris Van Vliet with guest Rob Van Dam
Host: Chris Van Vliet
Podcast available via Podcasts.Apple.com
On facing John Cena at ECW One Night Stand where Cena got a heel reaction: Yeah, that’s true. He knew what to do that night perfectly at One Night Stand, and he’s really great at what he does. So I think he’s going to really master the heel persona and take it some places that we didn’t expect. By the way I mentioned this before but I had seen him get booed. It wasn’t a lot, but leading up to that One Night Stand match there was a town or two, I think it was in Wales the first time that I’ve heard it, was very similar to the vibe in Hammerstein Ballroom. Anyway, that was the first time I saw him get booed and he was great. I don’t know if I told you this story or not, but I’d never seen him [get booed]. Then he was like, ‘Good. That’s right. Boo me. Let me know how you feel. As long as you’re out there in the crowd and you’re expressing yourself and you’re screaming I know you’re having a good time and that’s what it’s all about tonight.’ Obviously he turned them and all of a sudden they were cheering him, I was like, wow, that’s why he gets paid the big bucks.”
On a fan interfering in his match against Eddie Guerrero: “It wasn’t the first time that I had that happen, or seen it happen, or have it happen when I’m in the ring. So I was just thinking do they got it or do I need to do something? No, it looks like they got it. Alright, cool I’m just going to keep working. Well, usually I find when the fans decide to breach the safety zone and get into the ring, usually everyone in the business wants them to regret it, that’s gotta be safe for us. It can’t be a normal thing to have to look, turn around and watch your back while you’re trying to watch your front. I remember Sabu talking about Puerto Rico years ago, way before I ever went. He was saying that to get to the ring the wrestlers had to go underneath the bleachers and that they would drop rats on them. Another thing he said they would do would be heat up coins. They would heat up coins, get them super hot, and then drop them on them, or even throw them at him in the ring. I wouldn’t want that to be the norm, let Puerto Rico keep that. I don’t think I saw him until probably when he was coming through the ropes. But there was never a point where I thought anybody was in trouble except maybe the fan. I saw what he was doing, Eddie landed right on his feet and once they were facing off I already know it’s over.”
On how he sold the frog splash: “Yeah, well that’s inconsistent as far as that goes. I mean, you can tell sometimes my face hits or whatever. But sometimes I could be winded or could be fine, or it could be a pretty solid hit. When I would do Frog Splash to Big Show and same thing to Mark Henry, there was no way that I was going to be able to reach the ground with my extremities. Not my knees, not my hands, elbows, nothing. It would just be like boom, because they’re three feet tall when they’re on their back. So I would go [groans] it would just knock all the wind out of me, I knew that that was going to happen but it was part of it and hopefully it was worth it. Hopefully it was the last move of the night.”
On if he has retired: I don’t [think I am], and I don’t think I will [retire]. That’s how I feel right now. I feel like even if I don’t take wrestling bookings anymore, I don’t think I’ll make a big deal out of retirement. Because when wrestlers retire and they end up coming back and wrestling anyway. ‘No, I want one more match.’ For me, that is completely eating up the credibility that I had in wrestling retirement matches. I doubt that I’ll ever feel like, ‘No, I’m going to be different. I never want to wrestle right now. I’m done.’ I just see me going with the flow. And someday when you say, are you still wrestling? I might say, It’s been six years, and then I might have a match. I’ve always said also I want to price myself out and not wear myself and my value down. A lot of my peers, they were worth so much in their prime and then they are not worth as much, can’t get booked as much so they come down and compromise and that has a cycle effect where they are worth less. But I’m not gonna do that, I’d rather have less people afford me until I don’t wrestle that way instead of wrestling myself into a grave and my last match was $5.”
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