It took Raven just minutes to come up with his iconic character in ECW.
The former ECW Champion created one of the best characters in wrestling in the 1990s. His work in ECW is still heralded as an all-time great run, although he was not used well in WCW or WWE.
The wrestling legend spoke with Wrestling Shoot Interviews, and discussed how he came up with the Raven character. He revealed that he wanted to be a “chicken shit heel”, but DDP convinced him to go more “alternative” and grunge with his new persona instead.
“I liked being a chicken shit heel because I could be really creative with it. But I was talking to DDP, this was after I quit Vince [McMahon]. I was telling him, ‘Man, it sucks. I can’t get a spot as a chicken shit heel. There are no chicken shit heels in the business anymore.’ And he goes, ‘Yeah, nobody’s buying it. You really ought to go alternative, like the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the movie Point Break.’ I thought about it. He goes, ‘Look, you wear a leather jacket, ripped-up jeans.’
“I thought, ‘I wear ripped-up jeans, I wear a leather jacket, I go to a lot of concerts.’ I was like, ‘I can do that without being too much of a stretch.’ Then I just put my internal pain into the character’s voice, and pretty much the whole name and the catchphrase all came to me in like two minutes. The outfit, everything.”
Raven: It Took Me Three Minutes To Develop The Whole Character
Raven continued, revealing that he thought of the whole character, including his name, look and catchphrase, in just three minutes.
“I was sitting there thinking, ‘What can I wear?’. So I said, ‘I’ll wear some ripped-up jean shorts,’ which I wore anyway. I tied a flannel around my waist. At first, I said I’d put a flannel on, but then I put a flannel on with the sleeves cut off, and it looked like Big Josh. So I took another flannel shirt that I had and tied it around my waist. I thought, ‘Alright, that’s good.’ Then I needed a ring jacket. A leather jacket was perfect.”
“I needed a shirt because I had big arms and shoulders, but no chest and no abs. You have to highlight the strengths and hide the weaknesses. So I decided to wear a T-shirt. I also figured with a leather jacket, you wouldn’t wear anything but one leather jacket, but you want to have different ring jackets. So this way, I could wear different T-shirts every match and get some variety in there. I’d wear a different concert shirt all the time and just cut off the sleeves.
“Then I thought to myself, ‘I need a name.’ I was thinking of influences like the movie The Crow. The character’s name was Eric Draven. Draven… Raven… ‘Quote the Raven, “Nevermore.”‘. In like three minutes, I came up with the whole thing. The look, the name, and the catchphrase. But then, putting the character together, I had to dig into the depths of my personality and pull out the pain.”
