Rob Van Dam has been lucky enough to have a long career in the world of professional wrestling, and throughout the course of his career he’s worked for some of the most well known promotions in the world.
Van Dam has taken quite a few chair shots in his time, and during an appearance on the Steve Austin Show he explained why he never put his hands up.
“As an artist, yeah, I guess so [it was a machismo thing] because yeah, I got trained to really believe in it, to really believe in the moment. Do you know what I mean? And so, I’d like to think that that is reflected in my work and that’s part of it. I think I still believe in what I’m doing when I’m out there. Do you know what I mean? So yeah, that’s what it is. I wouldn’t recommend anyone else do it.”
RVD went on to say that when he got to WWE Vince McMahon took notice of how he was taking the chair shots, and McMahon gave him some very important advice.
“And, by the way, when I first got to WWE, one time I was coming through gorilla [position] and Vince McMahon said, ‘when you take those chair shots,’ he said, ‘you put your hands up.’ And I was like, ‘naw, that’s cool. That’s for everybody else, Vince.’ He said, ‘no, you listen to me! You put your hands up.’ I go, ‘but I do this all the time.’ He goes, and this is the only time he said anything remotely like this, he goes, ‘now listen, I’m your father! I’m telling you to put your hands up.’
“It finally got through and I was like, ‘alright, he’s the boss. He’s paying me to put my hands up. I think I can do that.’ And that was probably after I had been there, went through the Hardcore title era and the ECW era. I might have been there a minute, but I’m just saying, he did say that, Vince, in his defense, like, right off the bat, but I was stubborn. But it did effect me though. I don’t know if I did it every time afterwards, but I remember thinking I probably should.”
Rob Van Dam last appeared on WWE programming last year during the Raw reunion episode. He’s currently working with Impact Wrestling.
H/T Wrestling Inc.
