Rob Van Dam is the only man in the history of professional wrestling history to ever hold the WWE and ECW Championship simultaneously, but he hasn’t been shy about letting the world know his career is winding down.
RVD has been doing a lot of interviews as of late to promote his new documentary “Headstrong” and he’s been opening up about his history with concussions.
During a recent interview with TV Insider, Mr. Pay-Per-View revealed that Vince McMahon gave him some very important advice when it came to taking chair shots to the head in WWE.
“I never knew I could be doing long-term damage. For me, one of the things I enjoy about professional wrestling is showing how tough I am. That’s an outlet for it. I would get hit in the head with a chair, and I knew it would knock my senses a little loopy. This was part of the job for me. I just thought I was really tough because I could take it. Now I feel very fortunate that at this point in life that I don’t have the CTE that the football players have suffered…Vince McMahon told me when I first got into WWE to put my hands up to protect my head from those chair shots.”
The former WWE Champion went on to say that he argued with Vince McMahon because he wanted to be tough.
“I was arguing with him because I was stupid because I thought I was tough. He went all father on me, ‘I’m your father telling you to put your hands up. He was really serious. Now I won’t be cheering on chair shots to the head, but most of my concussions have probably come from landing and hitting the back of my head. So, I’m going to be cautious of that as well. There’s been once or twice I’ve had similar things happen since shooting the movie. Thankfully, I didn’t get concussed.”
Rob Van Dam is set to make his return to Impact Wrestling next month at their United We Stand event, and he’ll be teaming up with Sabu to take on the Lucha Bros.
