Bruce Prichard Reflects on RVD's Arrest While WWE Champion

On the latest episode of "Something To Wrestle With," Bruce Prichard discussed RVD’s 2006 arrest as WWE Champion and the revival of the ECW brand.

Regarding RVD’s 2006 arrest, Prichard described the situation as embarrassing and horrible. He reflected on how societal views on marijuana have changed, noting its legalization in various locations, including Amsterdam, several Caribbean nations, and numerous states across the USA such as Nevada, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. Prichard explained, “It’s a plant, it’s an herb that you smoke and makes you feel better. Doesn’t get you drunk, drunk and doesn’t get you hungover…. Rob was partaking, everyone knew Rob partook. Rob liked to smoke a joint and chill out."

Prichard elaborated on the unfortunate timing of the incident, saying it was detrimental to both Rob and the company. He emphasized, “It was bad for the company. It was bad for Rob and it was bad for the company to be pulled over by the cops. And the fact that it was a Rob Van Dam, of course made their news cycle, made them big deals. So that’s what it was. And it was something that probably, had it not been Rob, may not have made the papers. But it did. And that’s what you have to deal with. You know, you don’t have to deal with the what-ifs, what could have been, what should have been or anything else. You have to deal with what it was. And what it was was Rob got busted for having drugs on him and made the papers, and he was our brand new champion.”

Prichard noted that RVD did not fully grasp the magnitude of the situation initially. He stated, “Yeah, I don’t think Rob realized that it had become as big as that did. It wasn’t Rob was like, ‘Oh, this is no big deal.’ No, I don’t think that Rob was like that at all. I think that Rob didn’t realize that hey, everybody knew and that it was a big deal. And then it had caused embarrassment, and it had done all this other s**t. So he just didn’t know that. He thought, ‘Man, we got pulled over. Got to pay a fine, I got to do this, and life goes on.’ It wasn’t the case.”

Prichard highlighted the impact on RVD, particularly the trust issues that arose. He explained, “I think there was a big-time trust issue. Because anytime that you are the champion of whatever it is, you’re the billboard for the company. You’re what everybody looks at, what everybody strives to be at that point in time. So when you’re the billboard of the company and there’s a mark all over it, that reflects poorly on the company. That’s where we were at this point.”