On a recent episode of his podcast, “1 Of A Kind,” Rob Van Dam touched on why there’s been an uptick in injuries in contemporary wrestling.
Herein are some noteworthy points he made during the podcast:
On the reason behind the increase in injuries in the current wrestling scene: “I believe it’s due to the changes in style. It feels like everyone wants to be Rob Van Dam nowadays. Everyone’s executing the dives and attempting to one-up each other with risky moves. Whether it’s breaking through glass or participating in death matches — not everyone is like Darby Allin who gives off the impression of being invincible. However, they still perform extreme maneuvers like falling on steps, on cinder blocks and such. It’s rough, it’s highly athletic. The wrestlers now are generally smaller in size. Those bigger guys during my early years wouldn’t likely perform Rolling Thunders and moonsaults to the floor, you know. And those kind of moves weren’t frequently seen, and really, those larger athletes shouldn’t be doing things like that. But today, it’s more about performing high-risk, athletic stunts. Like Katie mentioned yesterday, it’s surprising that not more people end up with broken necks. We’ll delve more into that
“Not just that, but the injury rates are also surprisingly high. I mean, the chances of getting hurt are remarkably high. It’s actually surprising that more severe injuries don’t occur more regularly. There were times when I was working full-time when I was perpetually nursing injuries. There were probably others who might have considered themselves injured in similar circumstances, but I always thought, ‘If I can step into the ring tonight, then I’m not injured.’ That was my personal ethos, even if I had to mask a limp due to injured groin muscle, my knee, ankle, or whatever. Not to mention bruised ribs – those were really unbearable. However, the audience isn’t shelling out money to see a wounded RVD perform. That’s not part of the deal.”
On which of his colleagues he regretted seeing depart ECW: “Truthfully, all of them. Each exit felt like a blow to our strength. The ones that I remember departing were quite significant to us. My memory is a bit hazy about the sequence, but I recall Raven, Sandman, Taz, and Mike Awesome among others. Their departures left major voids in our company. So it wasn’t like they were just supporting players, you know. Their loss was deeply felt.
“Of course, I was saddened by their departures. Although I don’t recall being angry or anything like that. My attitude was more like, ‘Okay, more responsibilities for me. I’ll do my utmost to keep us afloat.’ That’s the perspective I held. Whenever I had a talk with one of them, I’d try to dissuade them from leaving. As I believed we were on the verge of something big here, which was not really a feasible reality, I guess. At least, it would’ve been impossible for it to go mainstream considering its very essence.”