"It was frustrating to me" - 16-time champion was central to a political tug of war involving Paul Heyman backstage
At the start of his WWE tenure, a political tug of war involving Paul Heyman and Jim Ross frustrated Rob Van Dam. He recently spoke about the situation on a podcast.
Rob Van Dam's last WWE match came against Seth Rollins on the Main Event show in August 2014. Since then, he has had memorable runs on the independent circuit and in IMPACT Wrestling.
On a recent episode of his 1 Of A Kind With RVD podcast, the 16-time champion spoke about working with Jim Ross. Van Dam also recalled Ross and Heyman seemingly "playing tug of war" to take credit for his signing.
“Him [Jim Ross] and Paul Heyman were kind of playing tug of war with me over who brought me in and who would get credit for it. And it was frustrating to me because I would talk to one, and then I would happen to talk to the other one. And it was weird because they were like, you know, burying each other through me. And it was driving me nuts. But, also, he was the money guy."
Van Dam added that he liked Jim Ross more now than he did when he started his WWE career. During his storied run in the promotion, RVD won numerous titles, including the WWE and Intercontinental Championships. He was also a part of the company's ECW brand before his initial departure in 2007.
Paul Heyman's former ally Rob Van Dam recently appeared on WWE programming
WWE brought in numerous Hall of Famers and legends for both nights of the WWE Draft on April 28 and May 1, 2023. Rob Van Dam was also invited to the annual event, and his appearances were well-received by the audience.
Eric Bischoff and Rob Van Dam announced #WWEDraft picks on Monday Night Raw #WWE wrestlingnews.co/wwe-news/eric-… https://t.co/x6J8jtyus6
Rob Van Dam and Eric Bischoff announced the second-round picks of RAW on the first night of the WWE Draft. On the May 1 episode of the red show, RVD revealed the fourth-round picks of SmackDown.
Do you think Rob Van Dam will make his WWE return to align with Paul Heyman? Let us know in the comments section below.