Rob Van Dam

I am a professional when I get in the ring.

Professional wrestling was almost like a secret society when I started, like a Mafia, and it would destroy the Sheik to see how much that has changed.

I was a very intelligent kid. I used my intelligence to support my passions. When it came to comic books, I became enthralled in the whole universe. I had to know all the facts and timelines. The whole fictional universe was real to me.

I've been Intercontinental Champion lots of times, Television Champion. One of my favorites has been the Hardcore Championship because it reflected my favorite style, and I feel that the X Division belt does that, too.

Since Sabu was the first guy that I was in the ring with professionally, we have the longest history in my career, and also, we were like minded.

I really want to pop the crowd. I want to show off. That is the one thing that I've always loved about my career is I just want to show off. I always hated the storylines.

I was told my style was supposed to give me a short career.

I am really thankful for my career.

Single matches, I feel, have always been the ones where I can shine more. Three-way, four-way, you have to split your attention with some other guys, and it can be totally great, but when you get into a battle royal with 20 or 30 other guys, it's just so different from what your agenda is when it's one on one competition.

If you're not in the WWE and bouncing around in the Indy shows, you're not with the best.

Paul Heyman has always been the only guy from the office that ever really had my best interest and really understood me. The other agents and promoters seemed confused why the fans liked me so much, because I was so non-typical for their idea of a wrestler, so they just tried to capitalize on it without owning it.

When I started out, there were many different companies... you could leave and go to a different territory, and there were so many different styles. What we have now is WWE has survived the test of time, and all the other companies have fallen off the face of the earth.