Most recently, during an episode of his “1 Of A Kind” podcast, famed wrestler Rob Van Dam addressed the outcry prompted by his latest remarks concerning Jon Moxley’s notorious nail spot. He also gave updates about his present affiliation with AEW, among other topics.
Here are some key moments from the podcast:
Opening up about the backlash he received following his critique of Jon Moxley’s spiked bat maneuver, Rob said, “Anyone who got the impression I was criticizing AEW got it all wrong. I had no intention to, and never will, criticize AEW. Unfortunately, the most unsatisfactory aspect of AEW, in my opinion, is the IWC fans. They seem uninformed. To clarify, during my wrestling career — even in ECW and prior to that — I was trained to wrestle in ‘garbage matches’. These matches involved a lot of weapons and blood, often featuring wrestlers who didn’t even need to understand wrestling to participate. These have always been my least favorite kind of matches. Anyone who thinks I don’t have the right to share this opinion because of my ECW history is completely mistaken.”
Rob continued, “These ‘garbage matches’ – characterized by thumbtacks, glass, fishhooks, and fire – sometimes feature players who don’t execute a single wrestling move. To me, that’s not wrestling. When AEW incorporates more of this style, such as the Jon Moxley spiked bat incident, it diverts from what I believe is wrestling. If this continues, I would rather have RVD associated with traditional WWE than AEW. If this triggers you in any way, you need to reevaluate your perceptions. I am not criticizing AEW, not even that particular spot. What seems to perplex the fans is that they call me a hypocrite for criticizing something I’ve been a part of. But that’s not what hypocrisy is.”
Regarding his ongoing involvement with AEW, he stated, “Let me clear this up – I didn’t leave AEW, if that’s where the confusion lies. I had a single-match contract each time. Actually, I spoke with Tony (Khan) quite recently – we have a good rapport. AEW fans, through their lack of understanding, make baseless assumptions. They have been the same people who didn’t understand how I could join AEW when I cleverly coined the term, ‘All Petite Wrestling.’ This concept seemed to trouble some people, believing I shouldn’t be allowed to join and thus disrupting their simplified ideas of wrestling.”