Raven recently spoke with Justin Barrasso for Sports Illustrated Extra Mustard‘s Week In Wrestling; you can read a few highlights below:
Raven comments on starting his new podcast The Raven Effect:
I started talking with Chris Jericho after I heard his podcast, and I was really impressed. I wanted to do a podcast together, but he didn’t have the time with his band, his wrestling, and his family. He kept that in his head, and when he decided to have the Jericho Network, he wanted to have shows with me and Konnan. My co-host, Busby, is really funny. It’s worked out great. Some of the best episodes we’ve done are just the two of us, without a guest. My natural audience is the wrestling audience, and we’re going with more wrestling-related content. We’re devoting at least 60 minutes of pure wrestling discussion, either of my origin of how I got into wrestling, the territories where I’ve worked, and it’s fun to take a look back.
Raven comments on patching things up with Paul Heyman after leaving ECW, their time together during WWE:
He was doing anything but advocate. He was irritated because I didn’t finish up my contract with him, so I basically left halfway through because WWE was interested. I wasn’t happy with the way Paul E. was using me and we left on bad terms, so the last thing he was going to do was advocate for me. But Paul E. and I totally patched it up, and I have nothing but respect for him. Even when he was mad at me, I still had nothing but respect. He is the most creative genius the business has ever seen.
Without an advocate there, Vince wasn’t going to use me. I think Vince thought I went from Johnny Polo to ECW. I don’t think he ever knew I was in WCW. There was also heat from when I used to work there, which was my fault, so he wasn’t interested in pushing me. He basically threw me in the hardcore division, he told me later, thinking I’d fail, but that was my environment so I swam instead of sunk.
Raven comments on Undertaker being a locker room leader:
He was the locker room leader. I was loud, I was obnoxious, so I wasn’t his cup of tea, but we got along. There was no enmity. He was every bit the locker room leader everybody says, he was the authority. If he had been six inches shorter, he would have been the perennial world champion. But at 6-foot-10, he was relegated to the monster, “Creature Feature” matches. It wasn’t until near the end of his career when he finally started being able to show that he could actually work, but, by then, he wasn’t anywhere near the worker he was ten years before that. He was amazing.
