Years after his in-ring career came to an end, Raven still doesn’t want to be part of the establishment. In a recent interview with ESPN, the former ECW, WCW and WWE champion revealed that he has turned down multiple opportunities to join the WWE in a backstage role since retiring.
In true late 90s fashion, the former anti-hero says he has no interest being another cog in the machine.
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“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.”
Raven was one of the faces of ECW in the late 90s when the promotion started to catch fire. His grunge look resonated with the young wrestling fans and fit in perfectly with the upstart company’s extreme identity.
“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.”
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Raven left ECW for WCW in 1997, but after not gelling with Eric Bischoff, he looked for the first opportunity he could to get out and find his way to the WWE. Despite the fact that WCW would soon lose the Monday Night Wars, Raven says leaving was his biggest regret.
“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.”
The former Flock leader does currently hold one wrestling record that has stood the test of time. Raven is currently the most decorated champion in WWE history with 32 title reigns. Granted, his title runs were inflated by a record 27-reigns as the Hardcore champion (his longest run was 31 days, with the majority of his reigns lasting only a matter of minutes), but it still counts.
Chris Jericho is hot on his heels with 30 reigns and we wouldn’t be at all surprised for WWE to bestow him the honor before it’s all said and done.
Raven can be heard each week on Chris Jericho’s podcast network hosting The Raven Effect.
