Despite her best efforts, McMahon’s argument wasn’t quite enough to convince Van Dam, and the former WWE Champion recalls going to speak with producer Bruce Prichard about the storyline after speaking to McMahon.

“I remember talking to Bruce Prichard about it,” RVD said. “Man, I was brand new at this time. … [I was still] trying to figure out the chain of command. … Bruce was like, ‘I’m glad we had this talk. If you didn’t tell me that you were uncomfortable with certain things, then how would I know?’ … I thought everything went well, right?”

Van Dam stated that he came back for television the next, read the script, and found out they planned on taking the romance angle with McMahon further, despite RVD’s protests. After getting upset and vocalizing that he wanted to slap Prichard, Van Dam said that Paul Heyman was able to calm him down.

After Van Dam had some time to settle, he sat down with members of the WWE creative team, possibly including Prichard. Together, they worked out a compromise, bringing Chris Jericho into the storyline to get involved with McMahon and seemingly allowing everyone to move forward agreeably.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “1 Of A Kind” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.