Rob Van Dam confesses disappointment with WWE's treatment; 18 minutes of his appearance was cut from the show
Rob Van Dam has made a confession about where he was disappointed with how he was treated by WWE. He revealed that 18 minutes of his appearance were cut from the show.
The star was inducted into the Hall of Fame during the pandemic, and he spoke about how things were different than usual. The star was in an interview with Wrestling Life.
Rob Van Dam spoke about how getting into the WWE Hall of Fame was an honor for him, but the fact that it was during the pandemic meant that it was disappointing for him. He was supposedly told that he only had three-five minutes to give a speech. This came after speeches for most stars in the past who had been inducted into the Hall of Fame, were much longer. While he'd not stick to that, his speech was also cut down. This came on top of there not being a crowd either.
"It’s very prestigious, so I was honored. The fact that it was during COVID and we didn’t have a crowd was kind of disappointing after going to Hall of Fame for so many years and watching the really long speeches. And then they told us to go three-five minutes on our speeches after hearing these guys." (34:44 - 35:11)
Rob Van Dam said that his speech on the show telecast had only been nine minutes long, whereas the original speech was actually 27 minutes long. He revealed that he knew that he had gone over the time limit that had been given to him. When he got to the back, he was told that he had gone a little long, but he said that having to give the speech without an audience had been really difficult.
"The thing about the time and there not being people there, if you’ve seen my speech, then you’ve seen like nine minutes of it, but the whole thing was actually 27 minutes. So I actually went, in theory, maybe like 24 minutes over the three-minute request. I didn’t hear anything when I got back except I said, ‘That was a little long, wasn’t it?’ But I had no idea until I saw the whole thing that it was that long. You’re playing off of somebody turning the volume up and down on a response… I’ll have to get in it again." (35:43 - 36:42)
Rob Van Dam on his recent WWE return
Rob Van Dam appeared on WWE NXT recently where he was very welcomed by the audience for the special show in the ECW arena. He spoke about his return recently and even felt optimistic about his return to the company.
"I was about to say I felt the same way, just a little more optimistic. But yeah, I do feel more, when I was at the show last week of 'NXT' in Orlando, it's like everybody goes out of their way to come up and say how much they appreciate me being there."
With the star looking at a potential return, fans will have to wait and see what happens. Rob Van Dam has always been beloved by the WWE Universe, but it remains to be seen if there will be a return, and what role that would be.