RVD Explains Why He Chose to Pay WWE’s Weed Fines Instead of Quitting

Rob Van Dam isn’t hiding anything when it comes to his past with WWE’s marijuana policy—he’s laying it all out, including how he once made the call to just keep smoking and pay the price.

Speaking on his “1 Of A Kind With RVD” podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer opened up about how he approached the company’s $1,000 fine for testing positive for weed during his 2013 and 2014 returns. For his first run back, RVD said he initially tried to play by the rules.

“When I went to WWE for my return in 2013, it was a $1,000 fine at that time if you got busted for smoking marijuana,” he said. “I signed a three-month contract, 66 matches in a course of 90 days. I decided on my own I would take a break from smoking… I stopped a month before starting with WWE. When I gave my first piss test, I did fail it, still, a month later because that’s how dirty my system was.”

That failed test prompted a quick conversation with WWE executive Mark Carrano. “Mark Carrano said, ‘Dude, you failed the piss test. You were supposed to come in clean.’ I said, ‘That’s because I smoked a month before and it takes 35 days to get out of your system. I haven’t been smoking since I’ve been here.’”

But by the time he returned to WWE in 2014 for a five-month, 88-match run, Van Dam chose a different route. “This time I was like, I could quit again, and I was just like, no. I’ll just smoke my way through it and pay the fines, and so I chose to do that. I got fined two or three times.”

He also broke down how long weed stays in your system depending on usage. “It takes 35 days to get out of your system if you’re a heavy smoker. If you just smoke a little bit here and there, you’re not looking at that many days at all, if it even shows up in your system. It all depends on how saturated you are.”

RVD’s decision to be real about his lifestyle choices—both then and now—continues to be part of what sets him apart from the rest.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.