Raven recently spoke with ESPN.com‘s Michael Wonsover about his wrestling career; you can read a few highlights below:
Raven talks about how Diamond Dallas Page’s advice influenced his character change into Raven:
“I didn’t want to necessarily be a badass because there’s so many badasses in the business, but [Diamond Dallas Page] talked me into it. [He] said, ‘if you want to be a chickensh** heel, you’re not gonna be booked. Nobody’s buying that character anymore. You gotta be something different. You gotta be tougher.’ And I’m like, ‘alright, I’ll be the character that I actually am inside. The tortured soul.”
Raven explains who his character is, who he patterned himself after:
“Raven was a tortured, poetic soul. I patterned him after Robert Plant if Robert Plant had childhood baggage. I patterned him after Jim Morrison. These are timely characters.
“He was something the fans could identify with. Whether they approved of it or not is a whole other matter. I caught the wave of the grunge era. I tapped into a part of America that people either love or they hate. When I was being a villain, I always made sure that people understood my motives. I made sure that it got a visceral reaction. My outfit was a whole new look nobody had really done before. My style of promo was unique in that no one had done before. The whole misfit culture was starting to become part of mainstream. So I caught the zeitgeist.”
Raven says he regrets leaving WCW:
“I really wish I would’ve stayed. That’s one of my regrets. I didn’t stay because the idea he told me did nothing for me. I was gonna lose stock as a character, so I didn’t but I wish I would’ve [stayed] because the way things worked out with [Vince] Russo coming in six months later and Russo being a huge fan of mine, I probably would’ve been in the world title mix. I know I would’ve got way, way more money on my contract on my next deal because it was a year from being up, so I would’ve probably doubled what I was already making. So it really was a stupid idea of me to go, but I wasn’t having fun. It’s still a huge regret.”
Raven reveals why he’d turn down a behind-the-scenes role in today’s wrestling:
“No, I wouldn’t take it. Here’s the problem– creative you’re just a cog. The problem is you create great ideas and then you don’t get to see them come to fruition. That’s so taxing to me emotionally because you get so involved in the characters. So that would suck. As far as being a backstage agent, I don’t have any interest in that because I’m not using my creativity in any really strong way. You’re just an agent, so that wouldn’t interest me. It’s a whole different world now. The old days I would’ve definitely been a booker somewhere, but now it’s a 24-hour, 7-day a week job. I have no interest in being on the road that much because after 30 years of being on the road I’m happy at home.”
