Interview: Rob Van Dam
The whole F'N Show talks about USA, TNN, the WWF, and how he broke into wrestling and got his name.
August 18, 2000
The following interview was conducted by Shannon Rose of IGN Wrestling affiliate, Pro Wrestling Daily.
From the top rope he soars, executing moves like no other athlete. In the last few years he has become a top name in the wrestling world. He is arguably one of, if not the, most popular competitor in Extreme Championship Wrestling. He has faced all comers and put together a 2 year reign as World TV Champion. He was once known as Mr. Monday Night. He is Mr. PPV himself, the Whole F'N Show, and Bill Alfonso's star performer...Rob Van Dam!!! I recently caught up with RVD and conducted an awesome interview with the ECW megastar at RVD Appreciation Day in Sanford, Florida.
Shannon Rose: I'm joined here with Rob Van Dam, the "Whole F'n Show." How are you doing?
Rob Van Dam: Pretty good. I'm Rob Van Dam, just like you said.
Shannon: How'd you get your start?
RVD: Just like everybody else, I went to wrestling school. That's just mandatory unless you're a second-generation wrestler. I didn't know anybody in the business. I was trained by the Original Sheik, who I hooked up with in December of '89. Up until that point I had done some shows on an amateur basis. Really small Indy shows that were probably only a step up from backyard wrestling. I was also a kickboxer so I was familiar with the ring. I found out when I got in the ring with the Sheik that I had a lot to learn before going pro. Had my first match in 1990 and I've been going strong since. It's been a steady climb up hill.
Shannon: How did you get the name "Rob Van Dam?"
RVD: Ron Slinker gave me the name Rob Van Dam in Dec of 1991 when I went down to Florida. I had met him the previous summer when I was wrestling. He was the first guy to tell me that he thought I had a lot of natural talent that most other wrestlers don't have, and that I was going to be a real big star.
Shannon: You had actually started doing some of the high spots, like the Split-Legged Moonsault, at the Tampa Sportatorium (Tampa, Florida) going way back when.
RVD: A lot of that stuff I already had. Like the Split Legged Moonsault, I was doing that in the ring when I was working out before I ever had my first match. When I had my first match in the USWA in 1990 I debuted with Chris Candido and I did the Split Legged Moonsault there. That was where my name started picking up momentum. Pretty soon I'm in the magazines and before I knew it I was able to go from one territory to another and to start getting work. In Japan is where I really where I learned to use all of my stuff at it's best.
Shannon: You also started off working with Terry Brunk (Sabu) when you were in the USWA. How was that to start off in the business with some who you grew to have some legendary matches with?
RVD: It was a very good experience. That makes us family throughout our entire lives I'd imagine. Sabu was actually the guy who would get in the ring with me when I trained with the Sheik. The Sheik would be sitting outside the ring sitting on a chair. He would only step in the ring when I wasn't being stiff enough, to teach me a lesson. He threw Sabu in the ring with me when I first met the Sheik, when I was 18, to test me, and to have Sabu stretch me and to test my coordination. From there we grew to be big stars. Sabu is doing very well, but of course he's no Rob Van Dam. {Laughs}
Shannon: Where's Sabu now?
RVD: He is doing Canada and wrestling in Japan. He's talking to the three companies in Japan, so I don't know which one he's going to stick with. And he's doing independents in the states. He's probably the top independent, as he was before he signed with ECW. He says he doesn't have any plans to return to ECW so I wouldn't expect to see him for a while.
Shannon: You started with ECW after leaving Florida, correct?
RVD: Yeah, I believe I was living in Georgia after I left Florida when I started with ECW. I was workin' for All Japan and Paul called me one day out of the blue, which I wound up not going. But then a few months later I wound up going in to work with Sabu.
Shannon: How was the transition from the Indies to ECW?
RVD: The added exposure never bothered me. It's a good thing that everyone was paying attention to ECW and watching it but there was no added stress that I was on TV. At that point I had done a lot of TV with USWA, IWF, South Atlantic…whatever. And like I said, All Japan was my bread and butter at the time. I was on every week there. It was more of just the difference of style I had to change and adapt to. I knew going into ECW that they had a more hardcore crowd. They're bloodthirsty young adults. They want to see the wrestlers slip on the ropes so they can chat "You fu***d up" at them. At that time I was just a smiling babyface that clapped to get the fans to support me, and I knew that wasn't going to work. And now that I've mastered ECW's style and how do get the most out of the crowd I have an appreciation for the style and for the fans, and for the work ethic that the fans demand of the wrestlers. I have such a respect for it that I don't fit in anywhere else.
Shannon: You've had quite a year this past year. Tell us a little bit from Sonja's accident to when you broke your leg recently.
RVD: In July of '99 we were in a really bad accident in the water, and it messed her leg up pretty bad. She's still recovering from it and I had to take quite a bit of time off and missed a lot of the TV shows and most of the house shows. I was just getting back to a full work schedule, and then I broke my ankle in February right here in Florida. It wasn't as bad as a break as she had . I couldn't even feel sorry for myself after what she's been through. Her life was changed so quick and me, I'm used to getting bang around pretty regularly. She never felt pain before that.
Shannon: Do you still have that rookie of the year award I gave you a few years back? {Laughs}
RVD: Is David Arquette still the WCW world champion? I still have it hanging up with my other awards in my Vannasium at home.
Shannon: How does your wife and family feel about you being in the business?
RVD: I would imagine that they're proud. They know that I'm stubborn and that I have to do things my way. I'm a leader and not a follower. I think they appreciate that I have a lot of fans and that I mean a lot to a lot of people.
Shannon: What do you feel your current role is in ECW? It seems like you're destined for the top eventually.
RVD: I've been at the top of ECW for the past three years. I've been the top guy whether I had a championship belt or not. Before I got the TV title it was already decided that Rob Van Dam is the most popular wrestler in ECW history. When I come out it doesn't even matter who has the belts. I beat Bam Bam Bigelow for the TV Title and had a two year run without losing it, which is unheard of in this business. Of course that earned me a number of fans along the way. That, and my ever revolving style adapting to it's best. I'm always try to improve. To be at my optimum means I'm always going to improve and find ways to counter my own moves. So that's why I think I earn all of the fans that I get and why a lot of them stay with me. The fans would like to see me go after the heavyweight belt. From my perspective I see it like this:
One, sometimes when you're the brightest star in the sky, sometimes you have to put metal on the other stars so that they can reflect off you. It's hard to be a one man show and to expect the fans to tune in just to see me, and to compete with the other top companies like that. I want the fans to like some of the other wrestlers in ECW, and in fact we do have some of the hardest wrestlers in the business. As far as me having a running with the heavyweight belt, I would rather wait until ECW has stability with a major network. It's been such a steady climb in the last four and a half years that I've been with them that I have no doubt we're still moving upwards. We've move so slowly that there's no way ECW can fall. We've gained one fan at a time and we have a strong foundation. It's a fact that we're changing networks from TNN to another network. At this point it looks like it's definitely going to be USA, but it hasn't been confirmed yet.
When we signed with TNN we thought we were doing something really huge. National TV exposure and promotion. TNN never promoted us. They swept us under the carpet. We're still they're highest rated show and they took all the money they made off of us a spent it on Rollerjam. I just saw a billboard for Rollerjam on the highway. That's ridiculous! F*** em! If we go on USA, I expect them to put the word out about ECW. We'll be on the cover of TV guide, billboards, newspapers, whatever. We'll offer the mainstream audience an alternative to the other crap they have to watch Monday nights.
I want to have my heavyweight title run, once we're on a major network, once everyone eyes are looking at us, and once we're getting the attention that we deserve. That'll be a fun time. Once I have the belt, then where do I go? There's not another step up to go from there.
Shannon: What are your feelings about guys like Lance Storm and Mike Awesome going to WCW?
RVD: I don't think it's good when anyone leaves ECW because we have to have a strong foundation of wrestlers that people want to see. You have to buy and ECW ticket to see RVD. You're not going to see him wrestle for the other guys or at an independent show. I don't care that Lance Storm left. Mike Awesome, no feelings except that I thought he was a hell of a heavyweight champion and a hell of a talent. As far as and me being about to work with them? I don't care. It's just another match.
Shannon: What happened with the "invasion of the WWF?" How come you didn't do anything there?
RVD: I was brought in there as an angle. It was an ECW vs. WWF angle, which was unheard of at the time as far as crossing the line. I was an outside wrestler so this was my chance to show everybody what ECW was about, and also I was there because I told everyone in ECW that I was too good for them. I deserved to be wrestling on Monday nights with the true superstars. Okay, with all that build up, let's take a look at this wrestler from another company that we don't know anything about. He says he's too good, let's take a look at him. Well, they only give me six minutes. That includes my entrance, and interview with Jerry Lawler, and my match in six minutes. Six minutes isn't a job. To me I didn't do my job. But then they cut it down to five minutes, so already I'm disappointed. Still had a good match. Came back and wrestler Scorpio, had a good match. Now it's working. Now we have this outside guy beating WWF wrestlers. You can really do something with that! But no. They completely dissolved the entire angle while I was there. I come back form a trip to Japan, and they have me and Jerry Lawler wrestling the Headbangers. Now I'm already lost. I've only had two matches, so now you're done building me? Why am I tagging with Jerry? He's getting beat. Now I already have a shi*** record there. I had a match that was so bad, they liked it and they wanted to do it on Monday Night RAW. I came back for the fifth match, I was supposed to wrestle Road Dogg back when he was Jesse James, and what they wanted to do with the match was ridiculous. They wanted Jerry Lawler to interfere. They wanted me to get DQed. F*** all that. The same night we have everybody in world coming into the WWF who doesn't wrestler there. They went from one outsider to the WWF, to all of a sudden in comes Brian Christopher, here comes Sabu…all without any explanation. There was no reason for me to stay there. I had a talk with Vince and he said he wanted me to work exclusively with the WWF. Which was completely by surprise because I was told by Paul Heyman that they didn't want us there. "Watch your back." "If at anytime they want us to do something we don't like, we'll leave." It ended up falling apart because while I was there…if I stayed any longer it would have made ECW look bad with what they wanted me to do as a representative of ECW. It would have made me look bad. It was time for me to get the hell out of there.
Shannon: Has WCW sent any feelers to see if you'd go there?
RVD: Yeah. About a week ago they called me on the phone and said that ECW is going to fold any day now, and I should go there. I hung up the phone and laughed. {Laughs}
Shannon: You're considered the greatest pure athlete in wrestling today. What would you attribute to that?
RVD: I don't know. That's interesting because throughout school I wasn't involved with sports that much. I messed around a little bit with track and wrestling. I found out with wrestling that all the wrestlers wanted to try and lose as much weight and be skeletons by the weekend, which is the exact opposite of what I wanted to do. I only started hearing in the past three years about my gift, but all along I was a show off. As a kid I would play on a public diving board and always had to out do everyone. If the thing to do was a flip, then I had to learn to do two. After that if I could do two and a half flips, I had to do a backwards flip and a half. I'd walk on the board, do a handstand, walk out on my hands to the end of the board, and do a flip. I was showing off and even if there were only two people impressed I liked the idea that they like what I did. That's why I always try to out do myself. I challenge myself because I'm on the road three days a week, home three days, I don't spend weeks in a Martial Arts Dojo. Basically when I'm in a ring, that's my training. When I'm home I do what I can, but my schedule is pretty much busy with other things I do in my life. But when I'm in the ring I'm challenging myself. I don't know why it winds up looking like so much more then the other guys. My question them is, "Why don't they do more?"
Shannon: How did you come up with the Van Terminator?
RVD: It was an extension of the Van Damninator. I would leap up and spin kick my opponent in the face while he was holding a chair, and then I started crotching my opponent in the ropes and kicking him in the air. I found that the further away he was the more impressive it was, so I started thinking about clearing the distance of the entire ring. So I tried it and I did it.
Shannon: How'd you come to meet Fonzie and how did he become your manager?
RVD: He was managing Tazz when I first came into ECW and I got thrown into the mix as a back seat player. What I mean by that, I was being showcased. At least not to my satisfaction. I was quite unhappy with the company. Sabu was on top of the company wrestling Tazz, and I was kind of the whipping boy. Tazz would come out and choke me out since he couldn't do it to Sabu. Also at that time I was wrestling the Eliminators which I was also unhappy with because it was me and Sabu vs. the Eliminators and since I was the new guy, no one else was going to get beat. That's why I saw myself going nowhere and deserving more. I was going to quit ECW. At the first PPV I had an offer on the table from WCW that I was considering.
Shannon: Are you looking to do a lot of movies now that you live in California?
RVD: When I moved to LA I had very low goals. I had done two martial arts movies at that point, Superfights in 95 and Bloodmoon in 96, and I found that I enjoyed being in front of the camera. Again, I was being appreciated for something that I liked to do. The choreographers were impressed with the way I could take a punch and with my physical reactions, so I enjoyed that. In Orlando I couldn't get much work, so I moved out to LA in the chance that I could pursue it. Now that I'm out there I've done four TV shows that are currently playing. City Guys, X-Files, 18 Wheels of Justice, which is currently playing, and VIP.
Shannon: When is VIP going to air?
RVD: I don't know. It's going to be the premiere of the next season. Working with Pamela Lee, it ended up being my favorite job that I've done so far. And 18 Wheels I'm given a lot of lines, it was a pretty big part. In VIP I have a lot of lines. My character is pretty developed, but there's a lot of action too. A pretty good fight scene should come out of it.
Shannon: What do you like doing outside of wrestling?
RVD: Well, I've only got so many hours in-between each match. My life always seems to be like that. Whenever I go home, whether it's a Sunday or a Monday I know it's only like 72 hours until I have to go right to the airport. I'm usually wiped out from traveling by the first day, maybe two days. I'm trying to recuperate from getting banged up or bruised in the ring. I'm trying to get all my days in at the gym. I'm trying to get in my acting lessons, and I'm hitting auditions when my schedule permits. There's a lot of pressure from not having time off. It's been a long, long time since I've had so much time off that I can actually take a deep breath and enjoy it, and not feel like I'm rushed to get somewhere. I've got so many projects that I have to prioritize, and some of those have to get put off for a couple months. But that's just the way it is.
Shannon: How would you describe RVD in three words?
RVD: Whole F***ing Show. Too easy!
Shannon: Thank you Rob.
RVD: Thank you Shannon.
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