Rob Van Dam Talks About His Recent Deal with WWE, WWE's Drug Testing and Lots More

Rob Can Dam recently spoke with Sam Roberts at Ringside Fest 2013. Here are some highlights:

What was it like coming back to the WWE: "Different and better. The whole vibration is there, it's different. First off, I've got seniority now, which I didn't have. When I was there before, they treated me good, but, because I mean it's not like I'm going to put up with someone not treating me good, but above me on the pecking order before there was what, Batista, the Rock, Stone Cold, Undertaker, nWo, D-Generation X. Hogan and Flair were still wrestling. There were so many guys and they're not there anymore. So that gives me a good chance, with all the RVD fans screaming my name, it gives me a chance to get noticed and get to the top of the card. So that goes a long way."

His short term deal meaning he wanted to be there: "That's true too. It's a mutual deal, so hopefully it's beneficial to them, not only because I get the crowd rocking, but also wrestling with their less experienced guys. Hopefully they're learning something. When you've been wrestling almost 25 years like RVD, a lot of the wrestlers are less experienced. In fact, I think to have as much experience as RVD has, you're supposed to be old and beaten up and broken down. I'm understanding that from getting all the feedback from everyone else that's so amazed.

"I got to tell ya. I feel the same, if anything better, than I did ten years ago or 20 years ago. As far as listening to my body to tell me when it's time to quit, I don't see any quitting in sight. So it's fun to be there and knowing that I was only there for a short time always gave me the light at the end of the tunnel because it really is a monotonous schedule of traveling from town to town to town to town to town. As fun as that may sound, and it is fun sometimes [it's long]. Without ever, ever, ever seeing an end, ever, unless you're injured, sometimes you go huh, I wonder if there's other things in life I'm missing out on just by driving, flying to Huntsville, Alabama tonight."

How long will it be until he comes back again: "A lot of it has to do with what else is going on. There's a few projects that might possibly come to pass within this time frame. There's an action movie that I'm not trying to talk about so much in case it doesn't happen.

"I had one starring role in this movie Wrong Side of Town, you can go check it out. The same production crew has been trying to pick up the pieces since then because producers were fighting on the set and nobody wanted to work together. But the plans were to do a whole bunch of those, so that's coming around. In fact this coming week I may have news on that. It may possibly be that if that happens, it could prolong the return if I wanted to go [in that direction]. But otherwise, just based on wrestling, what's the right amount of time to take off, it's like a mutual decision, again. My deal's done. I still consider myself in the WWE family, but technically on paper, I am now without contract."

Do they drug test with short term deals: "Yes. That's all part of working for them. That's different than it was before too, by the way. The testing is different. The fines are different. The dress code, how strict they are. That's a little different. The call times, when you have to get to the arena, that's a little different. So when you ask how are things and I say they're better and you want to know why, it used to be you had to be at the building at one o clock or you're fined 500 dollars. I had it happen several times. That means that if you're driving all night, you get to a hotel at three or four in the morning, and then it takes you a while to do your nightly whatever the hell you do's, and you go to sleep, you better get up. You better get up and check out and get to the building if you don't want to be fined."

Hulk Hogan on Oprah Winfrey Network Show

Hulk Hogan will be appearing on the November 17th episode of the Oprah Winfrey Network's "Where Are They Now?" program. Hogan will discuss life following his darkest period.

Billy Corgan Rep and TNA Respond to Rumors of Corgan Buying the Company

Newsday.com has reached out to both Billy Corgan and TNA for comments on the rumors of Corgan potentially buying TNA Wrestling. The following is the response from TNA, which is a forward of a recent memo issued by Janice Carter:

"An unfortunate aspect of this business is that there are wrestling 'reporters' who consistently post 'news stories' without proper facts. I want to assure you these are just rumors and that I am committed to TNA and its future."

A representative for Billy Corgan responded to the rumors by issuing the following statement:

"There is no reason to comment on rumors. Billy is completely focused on Resistance Pro's upcoming 2nd anniversary [show on Nov. 23]."

WWE Star Pulled From Pay-Per-View Plans, Has Backstage Heat

R-Truth hasn’t worked since the October 21, 2013 WWE Superstars taping in Memphis, Tennessee because he recently underwent oral surgery. The surgery caused him to miss Hell in a Cell and that put him in the WWE doghouse. Truth was featured on the promotional poster for the show and expected to wrestle but was pulled as a result of the surgery.

Apparently Truth has heat over the scheduling of the procedure. As one observer questioned, since when does it matter that a worker featured on a promotional poster doesn’t actually work the pay-per-view?

WWE Signs Olympic Wrestler to Begin Training at the WWE Performance Center

WWE has signed amateur wrestler Chas Betts to a developmental deal. He will begin training at the WWE Performance Center today. Betts was a member of the 2012 US Olympic team in Greco-Roman wrestling at 185 pounds. Betts posted on Facebook this weekend:

“On Oct. 19th of last year, I asked Kristi to give me one year to attack and pursue a new dream after I retired from Greco-Roman Wrestling…

It ended up taking two weeks longer than I asked for, but I think she’ll forgive that — considering we’ve moved to sunny Orlando, FL just as the Minnesota winter was about to kick in.

I am proud to announce I have signed a contract with WWE and begin training tomorrow at the WWE Performance Center here in Florida. For those that have known me a long time, you know being a pro-wrestler has been a dream of mine since I was 11 or 12 years old. I’m honored and humbled by the opportunity. I am extremely lucky to have a wife and family that has supported me in every dream I’ve chosen to chase, however unlikely it may be. Never underestimate the power of a good support system, people!

For those interested in following the journey, feel free to follow me @chasbetts on Twitter. See ya down the road, friends!”

WWE Studios and Film Roman Announce "Camp WWE" Irreverent Animated Web Series

WWE Studios and Film Roman announced today that they have entered into a co-financing and co-production agreement to produce up to thirteen, three-minute webisodes of a new animated series entitled CAMP WWE. Mike Benson of ENTOURAGE and THE BERNIE MAC SHOW will script the series.

From WWE STUDIOS and FILM ROMAN, the animation studio behind THE SIMPSONS and KING OF THE HILL, comes an irreverent new, adult comedy series about what the biggest, most outrageous WWE Superstars® were like as kids. CAMP WWE follows these unruly tykes as they body slam their way through their formative years. Proving to be a nightmare for teachers and other kids, their exhausted parents pack-up their future WWE Superstars with their masks, chains, kneepads and security blankets and send them off to Camp WWE, to be transformed into model citizens by the most terrifying counselor who ever lived, Mr. McMahon.

"Film Roman has been involved with some of the most well-known and humorous animated series,” said Michael Luisi, President WWE Studios. “They are the perfect partners for WWE Studios to capture our Superstars in a truly unique and fun way."

"CAMP WWE is a new and exciting project with a great creative team for Film Roman to be working on with WWE Studios and we are very bullish on its prospects for success. With a combination of their unique personalities, distinctive characteristics and huge built-in loyal fan base, WWE Superstars make for ideal animation subjects in CAMP WWE," said Dana Booton, General Manager for Film Roman. "We are very pleased to be working with WWE Studios and hope that it will begin a mutually beneficial, long-term business relationship."

Wrestling Needs an Offseason: How to Do It

We can't ignore that wrestlers need time off. The laws of man might not apply to the gods of the squared circle, but the men who portray those deities are human beings. The schedule as it stands is grueling, borderline inhumane, and largely unnecessary. It's institutional, sure, but institutions evolve. The athletes beat themselves to a pulp, bouncing off the mat (and the ringside floor) four nights a week. As WWE constantly searches for mainstream attention, the tragedies that characterized the popular representation of wrestling through much of the past 10 years have demonstrated the need for better treatment of wrestlers' bodies. The masochistic and itinerant lifestyle of wrestlers, exacerbated by the excesses of the '80s and '90s, led to widespread drug abuse: You pop pills to dull the pain, you snort cocaine to bring you back up, and you drink 20 beers to put yourself to sleep. It all starts with the painkillers. Thankfully, the majority of current wrestlers were fans themselves and saw this cycle play out either on the news or with their own eyes. And in some ways, the WWE is doing more than ever before. It takes concussions seriously; it provides rehab for wrestlers with substance-abuse problems (even for its former employees); it pays for many surgeries and allows reasonable recovery time. (In years past, injured wrestlers were discarded by shallow-pocketed territorial outfits, and as recently as 1998 one major company fired a hobbled performer via FedEx while he lay in his hospital bed.) Even so, wrestlers hardly get a week off unless they're filming movies (often for WWE Films) or when they're injured. Which sort of defeats the point.

But a literal offseason remains impossible. WWE is too dependent on the steady stream of television and house-show revenue to alter its schedule. The networks count on WWE for steady content and the fans have been conditioned to expect never-ending product. That shouldn't be the end of the conversation, however. It can't be. Wrestling isn't a traditional sport, and it probably doesn't need a traditional offseason. And in the interest of the pseudo reality that wrestling has always tried to convey, it must be said that an offseason isn't, well, realistic in a world where athletic endeavor is characterized as much by personal animosity as by competition. But being that a deeper reality — that of wrestlers' humanity and health — runs as a discomforting undercurrent through the sport's onscreen unreality, it's crazy to regard the current system with a shrug. If the concussion epidemic is causing people to wonder whether the NFL can continue to exist, shouldn't a larger-scale conversation be allowed for the wrestling world? WWE can't promote the "real athleticism" of wrestlers, run "Don't try this at home" commercials, and then hide behind wrestling's falsehood when it comes to the health of the performers. So, here is a modest proposal from this lowly quarter: a staggered offseason in the form of mandatory sabbaticals every year for every wrestler. How does this sound?

More?

WWE’s McMahons send mixed signals to investors

Stephanie McMahon, meet dad Vince McMahon — maybe you two should talk.

The WWE family members have been planning to launch a stand-alone wrestling-themed cable channel for well over a year now, but so far nothing has materialized.

At a Multichannel News event Wednesday, Stephanie McMahon told attendees, “We’re looking at traditional and nontraditional distribution, and we’re targeting first quarter next year.”

Stephanie seemed to be breaking some news, but as sports-news site Bleacher Report noted, daddy Vince told investors on the company earnings call Thursday that no date had been settled on.

The WWE channel has had a slew of false starts and likely doesn’t want to be held to a deadline once again.

Reps for the channel reiterated to On the Money that no date had been confirmed.

We thank Stephanie for being candid and hope the McMahons have more luck with the distributors in talks this time around.

source: nypost.com

Former AWA Wrestler Says Vince McMahon Bought His Lawyer

Former AWA Tag Team Champion “Pretty Boy” Doug Somers appeared on The Undisputed Wrestling Show on Thursday, October 31. Mr. Somers talked about his 45 year wrestling career including being on a ring crew at 8 years old, being trained by Harley Race, working with a young Shawn Michaels, experiencing amnesia and Parkinson’s Disease from concussions suffered in the ring, and what former NFL star Shawne Merriman will have to do to make it in professional wrestling.

When discussing his failed lawsuit against WWE for royalties connected to DVD sales, Mr. Somers said:

“I am refiling. He (Vince McMahon) is not going to get away with it. He bought my lawyer. To be that conquerer in any business or any sport you have to be a low life son of a bitch. And he (Vince McMahon) is.”

Triple H Explains Why His Family Doesn't Appear On TV

Speaking to WWE Magazine, Triple H revealed that his family is completely off-limits from appearing on television. He said, "One thing about me: I don't put my family in anything, I feel like there's a line that you have to draw. There is a lot of personal exposure, and that exposure can be harmful. So when you open that door, you can't be upset when someone comes in. You just have to be careful how much you open the door."

Interview with Big E Langston

WWE Divas on The Steve Harvey Show

The Bella Twins, Cameron and Naomi will be appearing on The Steve Harvey Show this Tuesday, November 5th to promote WWE Total Divas.