In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, the hardcore legend Raven commented about his experience in ECW, the reasons for which he had to quit WCW and more.
After his success in ECW, Raven returned for another stint with WCW in 1997. Much like his previous tenure, his second run in the company didn’t last long. Heading into Starrcade 1997, Raven was unimpressed with the way the creatives were booking his character.
Despite his appearance at the pay-per-view. Raven didn't consider it as an opportunity because he was not involved in any in-ring competition at WCW’s biggest event.
In 1999, a backstage meeting was held, which involved every WCW Superstar. Eric Bischoff clarified that any contracted wrestler unhappy with their position in the company would be allowed to leave. Raven was the only wrestler to walk out from that meeting and he was soon released from the WCW.
Raven believes that if he had stayed with the company, he’d have found more success:
“If I hadn’t quit, I would have ended working on top”.
Raven pointed out that WCW had to hire the likes of Vampiro and Jeff Jarrett to fill the spots left vacant by stars who left for WWF:
“They wouldn’t have needed Vampiro because they had Raven.”
The former ECW World Champion also voiced his displeasure about the ‘unreal’ storylines of ECW.
Although he agreed that such booking was the reason behind the popularity of the promotion, he mentioned that ECW required such methods "because a lot of the guys sucked”.
Raven commented that the matches of ECW could not be technical masterpieces as the wrestlers involved weren't up to the mark.
Raven is one of those few wrestlers who have captured gold in WWE, WCW as well as ECW. In fact, he has the most reigns as the WWE Hardcore Champion, with him winning the Championship a record 27 times.
His last appearance in WWE was in an episode of WWE Network where he discussed the legacy of the Hardcore Championship with two other notable Hardcore champions, Rob Van Dam and Mick Foley.
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