Well, that’s unsurprising.
Rob Van Dam is one of the most elegant high fliers in pro wrestling. He has made a career of incredible feats of agility and insane bumps. While he may not the credit that Darby Allin and Jeff Hardy get, RVD is certainly another star that throws caution to the wind whenever he steps foot into a wrestling ring.
While speaking on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, RVD talked about the modern-day pro wrestling landscape. RVD made it clear he is offended by the safety first rule in pro wrestling nowadays.
“The number one rule was to protect the business, always, always, always was, and then somewhere way down the road, it became, ‘number one rule: safety first.’ Like, what?!”
“The way we trained, if you got bloody, that was good for the match, it made it looked good. And there was no air allowed between anybody, my whole training with Sheik was about grabbing each other and bringing each other in tighter. Bringing each other in whether its a headlock, or a waistlock, or an armlock, it was always about coming in and squeezing. Anytime someone was on their back, boom, you better be jumping on him trying to pin him, trying to win. And that’s not the way I see a lot of wrestling today. A lot of times, it eats me up.”
“What’s the right way to put it? Some things are less than enjoyable for me to watch just because of that mentality, old school perspective that I have,” Van Dam continued, trying to be as political as possible with his answer, “because I see what’s missing and the audience might not always know what’s missing, but they just know they’re not connecting in the way they used to be, you know, back in the day with other wrestlers when it was different.”
Rob Van Dam on Two Man Power Trip
What do you make of RVD’s comments? Let us know in the comment section and on our social media pages.
H/T to RingsideNews for transcription
Follow Corey at @CoreyBrennanBS on Twitter
If you enjoy Bodyslam’s content, you can help donate to the site here. You can also visit our PWTees store and buy Bodyslam official merchandise here.
You can listen to all of Bodyslam’s podcasts by following us on Spotify and subscribing to our YouTube Channel, or any of your favorite podcast platforms.
