ECW legend and current IMPACT star Rob Van Dam was featured in Fight Network’s Retrospective to talk about his time in the WWE, and the politics that the company forces you to play, something that RVD admits he was never a fan of.

I had to pay my dues and work my way up obviously, but at the same time I’ve never been one to put over the political agendas. In fact, I’ve always found it to be offensive. When I was first adapting to being in WWE and learning how all that worked, I was like ‘Look I’m here because of my talents, because of what I do in the ring. You guys have invested in me…how about you do whatever you need to do to make your money back by placing me accordingly, by using me the right way?’ It’s almost like an ignorant perspective for me to have that.

I’ll hit my head on the glass ceiling that was meant for me. Connect with my fans, and they’ll realize that I was held back because of this or that or whatever. In order to really be the best there, to get ahead, to stay ahead, you do have to play politics. There’s a lot of unscrupulous people in the higher-ups beneath Vince that I think will hold you to the same stuff that they had to go through to get where they are. That is part of it.

RVD expresses how uncomfortable he felt due during his run there due to the WWE not understanding who he was, and recalls being handed promos (similar to Jon Moxley) that made him feel like an idiot.

The whole atmosphere was so different in WWE that I really never was comfortable there. I did one promo at One Night Stand that was from the heart. No one there had heard me talk like that. I was shooting from the heart. Nobody had to approve this promo. No one knew what I was going to say. I was out there talking about what ECW meant to me, what that night meant. I heard that Steve Austin was watching that and said ‘Damn why don’t he cut promos like that for us?’ and someone said ‘Because we don’t let him.’

The fact is I never really was that comfortable being myself because I always felt like myself was always compromised to some extent. Whether it was them handing me their idea of a promo and I would read it and be like ‘They really want me to say this?’

He concludes by stating that he’s in a different mindset these days, and is truly happy with the way his career turned out.

Now it’s obvious for me to look back at how different my perspective was when I was in the mind of competition. “F**k that guy. F**k that guy.” Now, I don’t look at it that way. Now I think that we all have our own paths, and I’m happy with my path. I’m happy with my life up till now. I’ve exceeded any of my goals that I had when I was a kid. I became a much bigger superhero than I ever imagined I would be.

Watch the full Retrospective below.