WWE legend Rob Van Dam has revealed that he came close to returning to the WWE ring, but a series of incidents prevented it.

RVD, despite making a few appearances on WWE television in recent years, hasn’t wrestled in the promotion in over a decade. The veteran star recently spoke on “Busted Open,” where he said that his return to WWE on “WWE NXT” was meant to lead to a match in the promotion, but a health checkup resulted in the program getting called off.

“That’s when it all started. I was taking the physicals, and then I found out I had high blood pressure, which was the hold up for that NXT match, and I had to get on medication and stuff, and then my feet, you know, once my heels busted, it was like, okay, conversation’s done,” said RVD. 

RVD was particularly looking forward to getting in the ring with one of his greatest WWE rivals, John Cena, during his retirement tour. While he made it to Cena’s final match, he was merely a spectator in the front row for Cena’s clash against GUNTHER.

“Because I was looking forward to being on Cena’s retirement tour, and now I realize, which I didn’t realize then, but that would be like the last chance that I would ever have to do something that big again. That moment’s gone,” he said.

When Mark Henry, who was also on the podcast, stated that there are other WWE stars RVD could have a match with, the Hall of Famer said they’re not Cena. The ECW Original also revealed that he prefers getting in the ring with wrestlers of his generation rather than the current crop of stars, saying that the wrestlers of his time know what they’re doing in the ring.

RVD, who has wrestled on a few occasions in AEW and continues to appear in indie promotions, returned to the ring in February after nearly a year out of action due to a heel injury.