Whether his love for smoking marijuana affected his standing in WWE is unknown, but what isn't unknown is that Val Venis is a major advocate of the activity. Spending well over a decade with the company, he never escaped midcard to lower-midcard status; he simply floundered for most of his run. A former European, World Tag Team and Intercontinental champion, he was largely marginalized in his final years with WWE and was let go in January 2009 after missing months of action. In the years since his departure, Venis has made it quite clear he has no intention of returning to the company, or at least until they change their Wellness Policy. When asked on Twitter in 2013 if he'd ever consider making a comeback, he replied with, "Nope, WWE would have to stop with the stupid testing and fines for THC before I would ever even consider working with them again." Once again made headlines, he revealed earlier this year to Bill Apter of 1Wrestling.com in an interview he plans on opening his own "Mary Lounge Lounge" with some help from fellow stoner Rob Van Dam. Along with the former ECW champion, he's a big believer of weed being legalized and makes no bones about his passion for it. That said, it's a shame he didn't amount to anything more than just a gimmick in his ten year career in WWE.
Since 2008, Graham has been a diehard pro wrestling fan and, in 2010, he combined his passions for WWE and writing when he joined Bleacher Report. Equipped with a master's in journalism, Graham has contributed to WhatCulture, FanSided's Daily DDT, Sports Betting Dime, and GateHouse Media. Along the way, he has conducted interviews with wrestling superstars like Chris Jericho, Edge, Goldberg, Christian, Diamond Dallas Page, Jim Ross, Adam Cole, Tessa Blanchard, Ryback, and Nick Aldis among others.
