By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

TNA World Hvt. champion Rob Van Dam says one of the key reasons that brought him to TNA was a bond with Jeff Hardy, who he says called him regularly to talk about joining TNA.

Before RVD officially debuted on March 8, RVD says they figured they could take over TNA together and wouldn't have to deal with the "stuff they hated" in WWE.

"He (Hardy) started to call me regularly before I even knew I was going to sign with TNA," RVD told Alex Marvez for his weekly wrestling column.

"That was different. I don't know that Jeff had ever even called my cell phone before. He told me how much he thought we could take over TNA and how much better it was than WWE because we both hated the same stuff about that job. While I didn't sign just because he told me to, I do feel an extra-deep connection with him."

RVD also talked about the move back to Thursday nights. He said "WWE is king" on Monday nights, they were tired of getting beat up on Mondays, and he's buying the idea they can build their audience alone on Thursday nights.

"WWE is king. I didn't expect going in to throw them out of their position, but I thought maybe we could make a little run at them," RVD said.

"It sounds like this was probably a good move. We already were airing a Thursday replay anyway and getting our (butts) kicked on Monday. Now people can watch new shows exclusively on Thursday nights. I really expect that's going to show a positive spike in the ratings."

Link: Read RVD's entire interview with Alex Marvez, including RVD's thoughts on Hardy's drug charges, fan reactions, his cardio conditioning, and more.

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