Credit: Marvel.com
Rob Van Dam recently spoke about his return to WWE and more. Here are the highlights…
On Being Back With WWE: It’s awesome. I predicted that this return to WWE might be the most impactful part of my entire career. It has a lot to do with timing, and a lot to do with being RVD because I have so many years of experience. But it’s all positive. All the time I’ve spent. There’s no downside. I don’t have that a.g.e. factor that seems to affect a lot of other people. Honestly, my body feels as good as it ever did. Sometimes my back bothers a little bit, but it bothered me even more when I was 23. Sometimes my knee bothers me a little bit. It bothered me even more when I was 30. I feel great. And obviously it shows when I’m in the ring. And the fan response has been off the hook. And, by the way, my position in the company, considering the other wrestlers that are there, versus the wrestlers that were there before, again, works in my favor because all the other guys that were ahead of me that were getting all the attention, all the TV time, well they’ve dropped off, they’re outta the scene; a good time to be the whole damn show.
On Working SummerSlam: Well a lot of it has to do with the amount of promotion put into it. I mean everybody knows that WrestleMania is compared to the Super Bowl of wrestling. They do a pay-per-view every month, and a lot of them don’t get so much attention. But they’re all getting bigger and bigger. They’re all growing every year as the fan base grows. SummerSlam is like the big party of the summer, and everybody looks forward to that now, just like they look forward to WrestleMania. For me, I’m excited that it’s right here in Los Angeles, which is where I reside. I grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan, but I live out here in Los Angeles. So I’m on my own home turf here. It’s where a lot of scores are settled. It’s where a lot of storylines are kicked off. It’s where a lot of people are tuning in all over the world. So the pressure’s on for all the wrestlers to be at their best. So that’s where somebody sets up the great combination of the matches. I’m looking forward to getting in the ring. To be honest, it doesn’t even matter who I’m in the ring with. I still will steal the whole show.
On Superhero Inspiration in His Gear: Well, I can’t imagine anybody is going to penetrate my brain like Ghost Rider and Deadpool. Ghost Rider has been my favorite character since like 1977. I was like six or seven years old when I first got exposed to him. And I always really liked the character, and he was a lesser known character. So in school when everyone else loved the X-Men, and everyone was all over Wolverine, I always knew that Ghost Rider would crush Wolverine. Later, as an adult, I’ve really enjoyed Deadpool. And that has a lot to do with the writing. But the character is also so cool, but it’s a really fun read. Those are my top two favorites. I had an Iron Man outfit that I wore for a while. I think that was more of my airbrush artist’s idea to coincide with the movie that was coming out. But, I’m a Marvel boy and always will be. That’s the universe that’s real to me.
