Once RVD reiterated his desire to skip the tour, John Laurinitis informed Vince McMahon of the same, which led to McMahon confronting one of his top stars. “Vince was like, ‘Rob, I understand that you don’t want to go visit the troops.’ I was like, ‘Thank you for understanding.’ He goes, ‘I think you’re gonna see this is one of the best experiences of your lifetime.'”

As McMahon further tried to convince RVD, the latter admittedly “started getting offended” at the lack of control over his personal decisions. RVD added that McMahon urged him to speak to some of his peers in the back before making a final decision. “I was stewing about it, and other wrestlers were coming up to me and saying, ‘Rob, I respect you for saying no. I don’t want to go either, but I can’t say no, I’m not RVD!'”

Those conversations with his peers started to anger RVD, who maintains that the Christmas break was a legitimate reason for him to skip the tour and that his decision had nothing to do with his rebellious nature, or his unwillingness “to be a puppet.” 

As the days went by, McMahon had yet to truly accept RVD’s decision, prompting “The Whole F’N Show” to seek a meeting with McMahon after a television taping.