RVD learned a hard rule in WWE: don’t believe anything until it actually happens.
During his One of a Kind podcast, RVD talked about how quickly plans could change in WWE. The conversation started with him telling a story about a return match against Santino Marella. RVD said the match originally had some time, but things changed fast because somebody else on the show went long. RVD said he and Santino had a match laid out with several minutes to work with.
“One night I’m wrestling sock puppet, Santino. We had like eight minutes or something.”
Then another segment started eating up time. RVD said Santino was already sent to the ring, a commercial break hit, and RVD was about to make his entrance when WWE suddenly changed everything.
“Somebody that’s out there right now is already four minutes over and they’re not even anywhere near done with their promo. They’re on the microphone running their mouth.”
“Right when that happens, there’s my music right now. I’m about to hit to go out there. They said, ‘There’s no time. Just kick him and pin him.’”
That became the whole match. RVD said he also had to find a way to get that message to Santino before everything went down.
“That was it. I also have to somehow get that message to him.”
That story led RVD to explain why he never trusted wrestling plans until they actually played out in front of the crowd. RVD said fans often ask about rumored or planned programs, but he doesn’t put much stock in those conversations because nothing is real until it makes air.
“That’s why I never believe anything until it actually happens. People always want to know plans, you know, like were they gonna have you and Booker T or were they gonna have you and Kane? I always say I don’t know what they were, you know, if they told me I wasn’t listening to s**.”*
RVD said wrestlers eventually learn what it feels like to be promised something they really want, only for it to vanish.
“Everyone is going to experience at some point being promised something that they actually really wanted and when it wasn’t delivered, they were really let down.”
He said that leaves wrestlers with a choice. They can get bitter, try to control something they can’t control, or just stop caring so much. For RVD, the answer became pretty clear. By 2006, RVD said he had to start letting things roll off his back, even the good things.
“Do you want to be super butt hurt over it? Do you want to be extra paranoid and hard to get along with almost to make sure everything in the future is, I don’t know, try to control a future that you can’t even control, or are you going to go f** it and then not care about anything? And for me it was an easy call.”*
“Eventually, real short, like in 2006 when I was adjusting and s**, not long in I had to start letting s*** roll off my shoulders. And that means good things too though.”*
RVD compared it to Sabu’s old line about wrestling being real when he won and fake when he lost, saying real life doesn’t work that way. You can’t choose when your emotions count.
“Just like Sabu used to say when people would ask about wrestling and the legitimacy of it. It was say when I win it’s real. When I lose it’s fake.”
RVD said if you invest emotionally, then you are signing up for both sides of it. He said that mindset can dull the fun moments too, but it also helped him survive the business.
“You can’t really in real life choose and just be like, well, when things go my way, then I’m going to be super excited about it and then when things don’t go my way, I’m just not going to care that much.”
“If you’re going to invest your emotions, then they’re either there or they’re not. It does kind of dull the would-be exciting moments, but it’s also zenful.”
RVD’s point was simple: WWE plans change, promises disappear, and wrestlers either adapt or drive themselves crazy. For him, not believing anything until it happened became less of a bad attitude and more of a survival tool.
What do you think about RVD’s mindset on WWE changing plans? Was he right to stop believing things until they actually happened? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments section below.
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