Wrestler Rob Van Dam recently weighed in on the heated discussion around a brutal nails spot from the AEW World Title Street Fight between Jon Moxley and Cope. His comments came during an episode of his “1 Of A Kind” podcast.
In the podcast episode, some noteworthy points emerged:
On his view of such matches: “Likely predictably, Sabu and I referred to these types of matches as garbage matches, and didn’t hold much respect for them, even in the ECW. I’ve never participated in a barbed wire match, except for one Sabu-Terry Funk legendary match. During ECW, it wasn’t unusual for New Jack to have several garbage cans by the entrance, filled with weapons brought by fans. It was his gimmick to inspect them and choose which ones he’d bring into the ring. But I’ve never been a fan of this approach. I believe in a different wrestling style.”
On how he was trained: “Sheik, my trainer, would never have approved of me dancing and bringing a toaster into the ring. I was trained to wrestle, not dance. The Gangsters had their fanbase, and everyone had their own style. But I was taught to consider it a replacement for actual wrestling if you don’t incorporate wrestling into the spectacle. This wasn’t always the case but in my opinion, they replace wrestling with wild antics instead of adding an extreme moment that amplifies the match.”
On his problem with today’s style of wrestling: “Now, wrestling often includes gimmicky elements like doors and large sheets of glass that wouldn’t normally be near a ring. It replaces wrestling which isn’t right. To me, two men grappling on a pickup truck and then jumping through a set-up scene is far from wrestling. But the mindset today is different, and people are into the showmanship and planned spectacle, which isn’t the mindset we were ever in.”
On his disinterest in the deathmatch style in ECW: “I’ve voiced similar opinions about the ECW in the past. The whole stapling each other phenomenon, for instance, is not my thing.”
Check out the full podcast episode here: