In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet as part of the INSIGHT With Chris Van Vliet podcast, TNA World Heavyweight Champion Moose discussed his decision to re-sign with the company.
“There were a few things, number one, I’m a very loyal person, my relationship with Scott D’Amore, honestly I wouldn’t be in the position I am today if I never met Scott ten plus years ago, so it’s hard for me to ever say no to him when we’re discussing numbers and what my future would be.
First of all, I played in the NFL for seven plus years, I’ve made a ton of money doing that, I was good with my money, you hear bad stories, luckily for me, fortunately for me, I did good, I saved a good bit, so money has never been something that rained heavily over my head like, oh I need money, but I’ll stick to Scott for right now for the first reason.
My relationship with Scott, playing in the NFL for so long and knowing that that business can be so cut-throat and they can really let you go in any second, but my relationship with Scott is more than just a boss-talent relationship, it’s almost like a big brother, little brother, so he’s had to be my coach, be my friend and be my boss, so now I had to think about that.
If I go to AEW, I don’t have a relationship with Tony, so he’s literally just my boss. If I go to WWE, I don’t have a relationship with Hunter, he’s really just my boss, so some of the situations I could potentially be in are just a boss-talent conversation, where here in TNA is a friend first, a friend-friend conversation, a big brother, little brother conversation, and then there’s a boss-talent conversation, so I had to throw that in, that was a big decision maker for me.
Number two, because I’ve made money playing over seven years in the NFL, money wasn’t a huge burden for me where I needed money, so going to AEW or going to WWE, the money wasn’t attractive, because I’ve made that. The guys who know me will tell you, everybody loves me, because my goal is to make everybody love me, but some people hate dealing with me, because my greatest gift is also my greatest curse.
I take wrestling so seriously that if I’m going to go somewhere, I know how good I am as a wrestler, I know that in my humble opinion, I’m one of a kind, I know what I could do in the ring, I know how I look physically, I know that I could talk on the mic, so if I’m not in a spot that I deserve, money is not attractive to me to get me to be happy with where I’m at.
I want to play, I don’t want this much money to be on the bench, I want to be on the field, so I had to think about that. At that point, I don’t know if I was confident enough to make that jump and be the starter, wrestling is one of those things that it doesn’t matter how talented you are, it matters how somebody perceives you, so your control is out of your hands.”
The full interview is available at this link.