AEW Name Recalls Rob Van Dam Refusing To Lose To WWE Hall Of Famer

WWE

An AEW name has recalled Rob Van Dam refusing to lose to a fellow WWE Hall of Famer.

In 1997, Rob Van Dam made his WWE debut as a member of the ECW roster during an invasion of Raw.

On a recent edition of the Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross, who was a WWE commentator and backstage executive at the time, recalled WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon wanting RVD to lose to Road Dogg during that period.

Reflecting on Van Dam believing the booking would make ECW look bad, Ross said:

“Awkward, unfortunate, I thought he got bad advice. Here’s the deal, should he have put Road Dogg over? If that’s what the booker wanted, yeah. Is it the right thing to do?”

“Well, I could argue that point, but I sure as hell would have stayed on my post and done my work, and that’s just how Rob was raised.”

In a 2016 interview on The Steve Austin Show, Rob Van Dam claimed that Paul Heyman told him to walk out on WWE if he ever disliked the booking presented to him. He later realized that Heyman likely purposely gave him bad advice to decrease WWE’s interest in him, so RVD could still wrestle in ECW.

Reacting to Van Dam’s comments, Jim Ross added that the issue would have been resolved if all parties communicated to each other better. He stated:

“Communication is such an important part of our lives, whether you’re in the wrestling business or not.”

“I think it’s just hard to do business with people that are not forthcoming, and I think we had a little issue there. Everybody involved in the equation wasn’t forthcoming.” 

Transcription via Sportskeeda

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• jim ross
• road dogg
• rob van dam
• wwe

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