In an alternate universe, Rob Van Dam could have ended up being Glacier in WCW.
On the latest episode of 1 of a Kind with RVD, WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam spoke about being approached by Eric Bischoff to sign with WCW in the 1990s and how Paul Heyman convinced him to stay in ECW instead.
“Eric Bischoff stepped aside with me and personally offered me a job,” Rob Van Dam revealed. “So somehow that got out online instantly, and then the industry knew that I was gonna be leaving ECW for WCW because that’s what you do.
“That’s what everyone does. They use it as a stepping ground to get up to more exposure, more money. A bigger job. So everyone knew that’s where I was gonna go. And then I’m not on the pay-per-view anyway, so it doesn’t seem like Paul’s offering me much to get me to stick around.
“So Paul brought me in and we had a big meeting where Paul said, ‘Is there anything I can do to make you wanna stay?’ And so that’s not a bad way to start negotiations, especially since I really didn’t want to go. I really didn’t. I loved the ECW style. It was my favorite and the most fun that I’d had and I appreciated very much how my efforts were making a difference, not just in ECW but [in] the whole industry. Cause everyone’s watching ECW.
“And the company’s growing so much right now. Like, we’re hot and the crowds are doubling. And it’s like, ‘Man, I really would rather stay there and be the ‘Whole F’n Show’ than be a cog in the wheel, so to speak.’ And so Paul and I worked it out and he put me on a guarantee. I had favorite nations, which I’ve heard, a few of us did, I’ve heard recently.”
At one point, there were rumors that WCW had plans to utilize Rob Van Dam as Glacier, which ended up being a knockoff of the Mortal Kombat character Sub Zero. RVD said while Eric Bischoff supposedly didn’t know anything about it, he was told at one point from Diamond Dallas Page that was the plan.
“Eric Bischoff recently, well, a year or two ago, I saw him in an interview respond to that situation, and he was like, ‘What? Rob Van Dam was gonna be Glacier? Where did this come from? And he had no idea,” RVD said. “So when I saw him, I brought it up. It must have just been DDP in the middle.
“They got that confusion because that’s definitely where I got all my info from DDP. And he acted like he was talking to Eric every day like he was sitting with him at his desk or something. So I don’t know how far up the plans went for that to happen in the big picture.” [H/T: Wrestling Writing]
READ MORE: Rob Van Dam Says Sabu Would Intentionally Botch Spots To Work The Marks
What do you make of Rob Van Dam’s comments? Do you think Glacier could have been successful if RVD had been portraying the character? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
