Rob Van Dam reflects on being told by multiple people within WWE that he must build a relationship with Vince McMahon.
Building a relationship with Vince McMahon was very beneficial to the career of many top stars in WWE history. Rob Van Dam was always destined to pave his path, however. That is not to say that Van Dam did not build his relationship with the WWE CEO, but he didn’t necessarily want to be told all the time that building a relationship with McMahon would boost his career.
On the latest One of a Kind podcast, RVD explains to Wrestling Writing‘s Dominic DeAngelo how often he was told that building that relationship would be vital. Specifically, he singles out a time in 2006 when Bruce Prichard wanted him to understand there could be an opening for him to become a top guy.
“They were coming up to me and telling me I need to build this relationship with Vince, and I didn’t know how to take it. And It was everybody. I mean, it was Shane-O, it was Michael Hayes, it was Stephanie. It might have been Trips. I didn’t know how to take it. I was offended by it because Bruce Pritchard, I remember him telling me one time the same thing.”
“Bruce Pritchard comes up to me, and he says, ‘Hey Rob, you’re doing really good here, and they’re really happy with you.’
‘Oh, cool. That’s awesome. I’m enjoying it.’ He says, ‘Yeah, John Cena is going to be leaving in October. He’s going to be working on “The Marin”e and doing this movie. So it’s going to be gone for a while. And I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’
“And he realized I didn’t get what he was saying. And he said, ‘Yeah, so this is a good chance for you to fill that spot, on that next level, put you in that position.’ And I was like, ‘Cool,’ you know? And he was like, ‘Yeah. So it’s a good time for you to really do what it takes to get up there, and I got offended, and I was like ‘Are you telling me that I don’t work hard enough?… Do you not see me work my ass off in the ring? What else do I have to do?’
However, RVD knew that he didn’t want to be super political backstage and he believed that that’s what was being suggested to him, so ultimately, while he doesn’t know if it would have been a better move for his career, he didn’t build the exact relationship with Vince as it was suggested to him
“And he was like, ‘You need to build a relationship with Vince. Vince needs to know that he can trust you, that you’re the guy that he can invest in, that he can put the belt on, and that can lead his company. You need to know he needs to know that. I’m like, ‘Are you saying I have to kiss his ass? Like I, I’m out there having great matches, the crowd’s going nuts. I don’t understand what else you want from me?’ That’s one of the things that held me back as well. Oh, interesting. Same conversation happened with Shane and with Stephanie.
“I didn’t get it. You know? I didn’t get it. I thought they were telling me that I had to politic, and maybe they were, maybe it was the right thing to do, but I didn’t get it.”
