Rob Van Dam On John Cena's Heel Turn, Who Currently Has The Best Frog Splash, Paul Heyman, Retirement

Rob Van Dam (@TheRealRVD) is a professional wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas to discuss the launch of OnlyWrestlers, John Cena's heel turn and the reaction he got at ECW One Night Stand, what Paul Heyman meant to his career, why fans never booed a heel RVD, WWE changing its stance on marijuana use, who has the best frog splash, the secret to his crazy piledrivers, if he has retired from wrestling and more!

Quote I'm thinking about: "If you've forgotten the language of gratitude, then you'll never be on speaking terms with happiness" - Inky Johnson

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On OnlyWrestlers:

“So OnlyWrestlers is an entity that I helped create, that I’m part owner of, and I like to explain it in two different halves. So half of it is a platform where it bridges the gap between the fans and the pro wrestlers in a way that I don’t think has been done before, and in such a way that I actually respond to all the messages that I get on my OnlyWrestlers profile, and the fans subscribe to their favorite wrestlers. We have over 300 wrestlers now and we’re getting more all the time, like every day. I still have a lot of my friends that I still have to teach them how to use it, but when they do decide to use it, it’s up to them how deep into it they want to go. Because on my profile I have a place for photos, for videos, I have a daily feed. I have a story on there, just like Instagram. There’s even a store where you can buy stuff on there. So each profile for each wrestler that the fans subscribe to it, they can follow their content. They can message them. There’s all kinds of ways to benefit both of them.

But the other half of it is that when they join and become a subscriber, then they’re part of this association, and moving forward, the association helps us with important decisions. So the OnlyWrestlers Association is actually everybody together, so it’s the fans and it’s us, the wrestlers, the company, and we’re running live shows. So the fans get to help us make decisions. They vote on things like who’s going to wrestle who. Sometimes it could be stipulations coming up. They’re taking a vote on which town we should actually come to, and also moving forward, the more we grow and the more the Association grows, the more the value of what they’re able to vote on grows as well. So the whole thing is just made to grow. We’re still at a point right now where that would say the beginning phases. It’s going to be our first live show on Thursday, March 20 in Hollywood. We’re excited about it. It’s star studded, a lot of fans are excited about it. And we’re also with this show hoping to raise a little awareness and some funds for the fire victims. I lived in LA for a long time, and also I was a big fan of those huge houses that burnt down, so I looked at a lot of those when I moved out there. Some of those fires were not too far from where I lived. But, yeah, we’re not gonna be able to do what the Grammys did or whatever. But it’s an important cause. I hope that we can raise attention and awareness.”

On OnlyWrestlers not being like OnlyFans:

“Very good point. But by the way, so here’s what I learned. I mean OnlyWrestlers sounds like Only Fans and that’s part of the catch with the name, it’s easy to remember. But OnlyFans got to be known for its sexual content. But did you know there’s actually a lot of profiles on there that have nothing to do with sex? So it’s up to the individuals on OnlyFans on what they’re going to want to share as content. With OnlyWrestlers, it’s what wrestlers want to share. So I wouldn’t join up if you’re hoping to see solo scenes, if you know what I mean, from the boys. But what I like to do, because it’s so easy to leave the story and it adds up. I like to keep up with me what’s going on throughout my day. ‘Hey, I just finished this podcast with Chris’, then I could add to it later I’m at the gym. Just could be whatever. But I wouldn’t go to OnlyWrestlers for this.”

On One Night Stand 2006 being the last true John Cena heel reaction:

“Yeah, that’s true. He knew what to do that night perfectly at One Night Stand, and he’s really great at what he does. So I think he’s going to really master the heel persona and take it some places that we didn’t expect. By the way, I mentioned this before, but I had seen him get booed. It wasn’t a lot, but leading up to that One Night Stand match, there was a town or two, I think it was in Wales, was the first time I think that I’ve heard it was very similar to the vibe in Hammerstein Ballroom, it was very similar. Anyway, that was the first time I saw him get booed, and he was great. I don’t know if I told you this story or not, but I’d never seen him [get booed]. Then he was like, ‘Good That’s right. Boo me. Let me know how you feel. As long as you’re out there in the crowd and you’re expressing yourself and you’re screaming that, I know you’re having a good time, and that’s what it’s all about tonight.’ Obviously he turned them all of a sudden, they were cheering him, and I was like wow, that’s why he gets paid the big bucks.” 

On if he experienced a similar crowd to One Night Stand:

“Not exactly no, but there’s certain pockets around the planet where I could tell they were big ECW fans. One of them that sticks out when you ask me that was leading up to the match with Cena, because I had the Money in the Bank briefcase, I wrestled Matt Striker and it was in Belgium, and that crowd just stuck out to me as being the most ECW crowd that I had engaged since I left ECW at that time. It was obvious that they really watched it all. And I think also with the name Van Dam there’s a connection there, with Jean Claude Muscles from Brussels. So that was part of it too. But they were awesome. I just remember thinking wow, good to know if I never wrestled here in Belgium this one time, I would never know that they were such big fans of mine and everything I stood for the whole extreme hardcore movement and perspective.” 

On what Paul Heyman meant to his career:

“Okay, so if I hadn’t met Paul Heyman I would have jumped probably right up to WWE or WCW, because at the time they were the top two. There was no seeing one of them going down and the other one sticking around. I wouldn’t have developed the way that I did. I wouldn’t have probably been as comfortable or fit in, because before 96 when I came to ECW, I was hardcore and I was doing things that I hadn’t seen done in the ring. When me and Sabu would wrestle we were diving out to the crowd and breaking tables and stuff and then when I wrestled Sabu in ECW the crowd had never seen anything like that, what we were giving them, but we had. So I feel like if I hadn’t come to ECW I wouldn’t have found a proper voice, and I probably would have been much, much different, whether I was as comfortable or not, it might have been better for business. I have a lot of things that work against me. To be the absolute best pro wrestler, what would that mean? You have to include not just your moves and you got a lot of P’s, not just your promos. What about politics? You got to be good at politics. That’s something I could never do. I forgot what I was going to say about some of the other P’s, but you have to be good at being a puppet sometimes, because you’re a vessel for other people’s values, creative ideas and stuff. And in a lot of ways, I wasn’t as flexible on a lot of stuff like that. I was more stubborn. So having all that, as details to answer that question, I don’t think it would have worked out as good for me if I wasn’t able to build myself in my more organic, natural environment. But in the end, if I would have been able to be, whether you want to see it as manipulated, but if I would have gone down some other paths and learned to like them, or deal with them, or whatever then, who knows, maybe a champion of the world right now.”

On it being hard to boo RVD as a heel:

“That sounds like a hell of a compliment. I feel like I get a lot of cheers, even against the plans or the agenda, sometimes in the wrestling environment. So that’s where everybody wishes I would just stay, but I’m so transparent, open-minded, open mouth, in a way that when I do my podcast or I do interviews or stuff, I stand up for things I believe in, and I talk against things even if they’re commercially accepted or government agenda or whatever. So I think through a lot of just being honest and genuine. There are some people out there that sure seem like they would prefer to give me a boo rather than a yay, at least that’s the way I take it when somebody tries to change me into them. But everybody has their own stink they want to put on you as the expression goes. I’ve always had that with wrestling. Even I think everyone gets it when you’re in school. ‘Why you hanging out with that kid? He’s not cool. Nobody likes him.’ I’ve always hated that. Hated all of that. So I found a common and comfortable bond with just being a non-conformist. And the more people talk about me being one of a kind and unorthodox, the more I felt like yeah, I’m proud of that.”

On the fan pushing Eddie Guerrero off the ladder:

“I’m just thinking it wasn’t the first time that I had that happen, or seen it happen, or have it happen when I’m in the ring. So I was just thinking, do they got it or do I need to do something? No, it looks like they got it. Alright, cool. I’m just going to keep working. Well, usually I find when the fans decide to breach the safety zone and get into the ring, usually everyone in the business wants them to regret it, that’s gotta be safe for us. It can’t be a normal thing to have to look, turn around and watch your back while you’re trying to watch your front. I remember Sabu talking about Puerto Rico years ago, way before I ever went, and he was saying that to get to the ring the wrestlers had to go underneath the bleachers, and that they would drop rats on them. Another thing he said they would do would be heat up coins. They would heat up coins, get them super hot, and then drop them on them, or even throw them at him in the ring. I wouldn’t want that to be the norm, let Puerto Rico keep that.” 

On who else has a great Frog Splash:

“I think Montez Ford, definitely. And, of course, Eddie. You know me and Eddie’s, that’s the lifelong contendership everyone’s going to compare our frog splashes. [Have you seen Logan Paul’s Frog Splash?] I don’t think I’ve seen it. It’s probably pretty good. I’m sure it’s a move that out of all my moves it’s the least original. That one, I mean, I watched Tonga Kid do it, Jimmy Snuka, but I did kind of make it my own by turning in the air and being able to go all the way across the ring, I started going for the furthest corner every time for a while, that was my thing. And sometimes that’s cool if a guy’s closer to one corner, or go and grab the corner, look at the crowd and be like, Nah, go over to the other ones, like that. Sometimes that’s fun. And then sometimes I regret it.”

On how he sold the frog splash:

“Yeah, well that’s inconsistent as far as that goes. I mean, you can tell sometimes my face hits or whatever, but sometimes I could be winded or could be fine, or it could be a pretty solid hit. When I would do Frog Splash to Big Show and same thing to Mark Henry, there was no way that I was going to be able to reach the ground with my extremities. Not my knees, not my hands, elbows, nothing. It would just be like boom, because they’re three feet tall when they’re on their back. So I would go [groans] it would just knock all the wind out of me, and I knew that that was going to happen, but it was part of it, and hopefully it was worth it. Hopefully it was the last move of the night.” 

On what hurt the most:

“Probably getting my ribs broke. That’s pretty painful. That’s a pretty painful thing to have happen. I guess my worst injury, because the only surgery that I’ve had was my knee in 2005 doing that 420 leg drop probably, but it was in a match with Rey Mysterio, that’s why I say that. But my knee had been hurt for a long time. I was just whittling my ACL down to nothing, and then I finally snapped, and that hurt, and I had to have surgery on that. But a broken rib is so bad, and I’ve done it a couple of times. Last time was just like three years ago or something in Qatar. It might have been 2021, otherwise 2022, and I knew soon as I did it but there’s nothing you can do to feel comfortable. It’s like everything you do, just lifting your leg, it’s part of your frame, it hurts to breathe. The whole time on the plane ride back, because I was breathing in a strenuous way, the stewards would come by and they would hear me just making these noises. They’re so bad. And they’d say, ‘Excuse me, sir, are you all right?’ And I swear every time they’d say that, I’d say no, and I look at them and they had no idea what to follow up with. Sometimes they walk away. Other times they’d be like, ‘Can I get you something?’ Yeah, another champagne.”

On WWE changing its stance on marijuana:

“It’s interesting in a good way. I can’t say I’m surprised. I always knew the direction that marijuana prohibition would go. I was just ahead of the curve like I am with a lot of things. I’m ahead of my time in a lot of ways. So when I started advocating and telling people, ‘Dude, put that cigarette down. That’s killing you, Marijuana is not.’ Everyone thought I was crazy back then. Smoking was so popular with cigarettes, which kills one out of two users statistically, long term, and I was learning that they say cannabis is a schedule one worst drug, but no one has overdosed from it because it’s not even possible. So I was like I gotta tell people about this and stuff. Back then they didn’t want to hear it, but because people like to be told what to do, they really do. I feel like people like to be told what to do, and then they determine their own self-value, self-judging by how good they’re following directions. That makes them a better person if they stopped all the way at a four way stop sign when there was no other cars around. In a lot of people’s minds, because they’re doing what they’re supposed to nowadays. Everyone before that was like, ‘Oh, marijuana is horrible.’ Now, because the government’s come around everyone’s like, well I eat a couple of gummies before I go to bed at night. It does help me sleep. What about all you guys saying it’s going to lead to harder drugs? When are all these people that are having a couple of gummies going to come out, ‘I went straight to heroin, and then that wasn’t enough.’ Because that’s what they believed before, before the government finally came around and said, Oh, we weren’t right about that.” 

On if that would have affected his WWE Championship reign:

“Who knows where it would have went? I don’t know what [was planned]. I was always last one to to know what people had planned. I don’t know how long the championship would have been around, but for sure, I would have been able to do a hell of a lot more to keep ECW going.”

On if the reign would have been longer:

“1000%. Now, that was all because of the marijuana bust, which is not even a thing right now, in that same Hanging Rock Ohio for that same 18 grams you’re not going to get arrested. You’re probably just going to get let go. I said I was just ahead of my time. To me, what I’m doing right now isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just because the authority says that it’s bad. People that think that, no, they say it’s bad, that’s bad. Well, they change that all the time. Coffee’s good for you. Coffee’s bad for you. Guess what? Do some research make up your mind for yourself.”

On if he has retired:

“I don’t [think I am], and I don’t think I will [retire]. That’s how I feel right now. I feel like even if I don’t take wrestling bookings anymore, I don’t think I’ll make a big deal out of retirement. Because when wrestlers retire and they end up coming back and wrestling anyway. ‘No, I want one more match.’ For me, that is completely eating up the credibility that I had in wrestling retirement matches. I doubt that I’ll ever feel like, ‘No, I’m going to be different. I never want to wrestle right now. I’m done.’ I just see me is just going with the flow. And someday, when you say, are you still wrestling? I might say, It’s been six years, and then I might have a match.

I've always said also I want to price myself out and not wear myself and my value down. A lot of my peers, they were worth so much in their prime and then they are not worth as much, can't get booked as much, so they come down and compromise and that has a cycle effect where they are worth less. But I'm not gonna do that, I'd rather have less people afford me until I don't wrestle that way instead of wrestling myself into a grave and my last match was $5."

What is RVD grateful for:

“My wife, my family, all the love from the fans, my freedoms and that I get to manifest my dreams.”