It seems as every big name in wrestling not currently signed to a major promotion gets linked to AEW one way or another. Rob Van Dam is the latest of those but while many other wrestlers are seeking opportunity or something different, RVD says that money talks when it comes to his future.

RVD joined our WINCLY podcast where he talked about what his future holds and if there was a certain promotion he saw himself wanting to attach his name to.

"There's not. Money talks," replied RVD. "I'm always interested in considering good business, but over the last several years my goal has been to work less, have more time off and make more money.

"I'm really looking to do less and less  travel less. I consider myself semi-retired. At the same time I stay ready, so I don't have to get ready."

RVD joined ECW a couple of years after it had transitioned from Eastern Championship Wrestling to Extreme Championship Wrestling. ECW reached its greatest heights during RVD's tenure with the company and he was asked if he sees similarities between AEW and ECW.

"I don't see it," said RVD. "I think ECW was a gradual thing . I don't remember it making a boom out of nowhere like this seems to be.

"As far as the Monday Night Wars goes, c'mon, these guys don't even have a TV deal yet. I wish them all the luck in the world  I hope they do well. Over the years I've seen many companies want to come up and be a competing brand, but eventually the guy funding it decides he doesn't want to keep losing money and he pulls out .

"They have to prove history wrong that they are different and that they're gonna stick around. People who have a whole lot of money usually don't waste a lot of money. That's why they have money. I'm not saying that they are wasteful but if things aren't set up right and they're paying guys the rumored reports, then they've got to make the money back and I hope they do."

The genesis of AEW was the success of All In which was a major milestone for independent wrestling. RVD says he predicted this boom in indies wrestling a couple of years ago.

"If you listened to interviews I did 3-4 years ago, that's exactly where I said the business was going to go," stated RVD. "I could tell all of the different wrestling promotions that had their cult followings were gonna grow . We're gonna see all of these indies grow and it's gonna be a place where the boys can have a lot more options to work instead of just trying to go to WWE or possible TNA.

Despite the presence of AEW and other promotions like Impact Wrestling and ROH, RVD thinks that none of them are a threat to WWE as the top wrestling promotion.

"I just don't see WWE getting knocked out of its first place position, but history is what it is and I'm all about breaking tradition," said RVD.

You can see more of Rob Van Dam in his upcoming documentary "Headstrong." It will be released Feb. 19 on iTunes and is available for pre-order now.

Rob Van Dam's full WINCLY interview can be heard in the embedded audio player below. In it he discusses the "hundreds" of concussions he has suffered in his career, Dean Ambrose's decision to leave WWE, pulling himself out of a recent depression and more. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.