Everyone loved RVD and it's as baffling now as it was then that he was not ruling the WWE then, great gimmick, look and what a performer he was.

Let’s be honest… it was HHH and HBK as to why RVD didn’t elevate in WWE

@user-cq5nl2gb8t

2 ай бұрын

Of course

They screwed RVD over because he was better than the vast majority of the lockeroom.

Because of how he was used, I would say RVD is, by far, the most underrated wrestler of all time. He had that "IT" factor and he had it all. He also had something that was unique to him, something you cant quite put your finger on. He deserved much more than he got

RVD wrestling style is crazy good. 2001 he made you watch the weak invasion angle they failed at. There is where I became a fan of RVD. He had great matches with all during that boring period. I can't think of a bad RVD match in WWE. Wasn't a ECW fan ever.

@kamfisher1714

2 жыл бұрын

They did the best with what they could work with. Also revisionist history is going on, look at those crowds during the invasion angle, did they look bored?

@evanclealand9231

2 жыл бұрын

@@kamfisher1714 not true, this was the Reign of Terror's early stage.

@kamfisher1714

2 жыл бұрын

@@evanclealand9231 Any person who says “reign of terror” just shows that they don’t know anything about wrestling.

@evanclealand9231

2 жыл бұрын

@@kamfisher1714 Booker T, RVD, Regal, Orton

@lmaoitsmee1812

2 жыл бұрын

@@kamfisher1714 Those crowds were hot when RVD came out. Memory is a bit hazy, but I remember his pops being up there.

I fucking love JR. He never hid the fact that he was a fan of Van Dam, and would always go to bat for him. I remember after the Invasion was ended, and RVD was just another member of the newly formed WWF roster, JR would constantly say that Rob Van Dam was in his opinion the greatest athlete to never hold the world heavyweight title. And every time he reminded the audience of that fact, a smile ran across my face. Regardless of how short lived it was, and the mistakes that were made, I'm still so happy that RVD finally did become WWE Champion. It's just a shame his belt spun... I know everyone loves the winged eagle, but I would have been so happy to see RVD with the big globe heavyweight championship belt that was being used when the Invasion was still underway.

Should've got the World Tittle back in 2001-2004

There is a lot of badass dream matches that happened during this invasion era. RVD vs Kurt Angle on smackdown is one of em. The fact RVD went toe to toe with Kurt Angle, Rock, Austin, and Undertaker to me showed he was DEFINITELY ready to be main eventing.

I find what happened to RVD's career one of the biggest "what-ifs" in wrestling. Sure, you got the tragic stuff like Owen Hart, or Chris Benoit or Eddie Guerrero. You also got the injuries like Steve Austin's. However, in terms of career explosion, RVD was heavily overlooked in my opinion. RVD hit it on the head and many others that the fact that Rob did not come from WWE itself, that he was an "outsider" with ECW, and that he got over on his own. He didn't play the game, aka the politics, in order to get ahead. He wanted to be himself, and while I respect that in a man, there is no denying that that attitude held him back from being a Steve Austin or a Shawn Michaels. Sure, he messed up in 2006, and God knows where he would have went had it not occurred, but it should have happened years earlier. Thankfully, not only is RVD still very loved by all the fans no matter where he is and very recognizable, but he is also at peace with it all it seems. For a stretch there, you could tell there was a little animosity between RVD and HHH, and a few others. I'm glad he and everyone else have moved on from it all, even if the fans find it difficult to. I myself, as a big fan of RVD, still am angered by how it all supposedly went down from all the stories from people in the business at that time, but if RVD is cool with it all now, I'll try to do the same.

@dman50amm

2 жыл бұрын

Its a shame

@Redhotshawntexas

2 жыл бұрын

Sorry to say, but RVD was never going to be a superstar on Steve Austin’s level

@sirnetflix7162

2 жыл бұрын

@@Redhotshawntexas You can say that, but none of us know that. Austin before becoming Stone Cold, wasn’t seen as a main eventer either, but look how that turned out. If the cards fall the right way, anything is possible. Look at RVD in ECW, he was their Stone Cold on that show. He could talk, WWE held him back on the mic.

@slayer21121

2 жыл бұрын

Him and Jeff Hardy are the biggest what if's in wrestling imo

@NookTommy

2 жыл бұрын

RVD should have been a main eventer sometime in 2002-2004. but HHH returns and thats it. by the time he won the wwe title in 2006, its a little too late as by then the whole product is declining. also, RVD never liked to play politics or suck up to higher ups. he said he refused to work at Tribute to the Troops because he rather spend time with family. that also hurt his opportunity to be a main eventer. but i dont think he cares about that. im a huge RVD fan and im still bitter to this day that a mediocre talent like Orton beat him in 2003. oh wait, Orton is one of HHH' favorites. makes perfect sense.

I was never his biggest fan, but RVD should have been pushed straight to the top. The fans wanted him. He was as over as any one.

Rvd was the only wrestler who was in a heel faction and won pi most popular wrestler of the year.

@deadeyedarwin

2 жыл бұрын

He did that in ECW too.

RVD was possibly the most over dude in the company during the invasion era

Prime van damme was as good and as over as anybody ever

@newageassholes

2 жыл бұрын

Your right...I especially liked timecop and nowhere to run.

@jamalwalker

Жыл бұрын

This just isn't true

RVD was the whole fucking show and it's a shame he got held back

RVD did a lot of kicks and flips but his shit looked real. And it helped that the whole roster wasn’t doing the same stuff.

@vannavanity1195

2 жыл бұрын

He was athletic if that's what you mean by real. His forearms looked weak. Then he'd do a back handspring for no strategic reason other than to do it. No one fights like that. It looks dumb to anyone who watches anything other than wrestling. Wrestling works by its own logic, however.

@JM1993951

2 жыл бұрын

@@vannavanity1195 I mean he sold well (he probably sold his own shit more than his opponent did) and he had a move set that was unique to him, they were HIS flips and they made sense for an RVD match. He wasn’t just doing flips to get a 7 star rating.

@vannavanity1195

2 жыл бұрын

@@JM1993951 He did sell quite well. I'm not sure I agree with you on your last point. RVD wasn't a workrate dweeb technically, but he started that trend. His matches with Jerry Lynn were all smoke and mirrors, not as athletic as they looked on camera, and the point was to sell an epic rather than to tell a story. RVD could think outside of that mentality, in part because he was socialized to do so and in part because the industry wasn't set in a way that made that style tenable. But he was the major start of all that we see today, not the Dynamite Kid and Tiger Mask, or the Lightning Kid and Jerry Lynn. Is that his fault? No. But he starts the trend of dumbing down styles in order to get pops from smarks. Such a style has zero casual appeal. It's exhausting and starts to look dumb when you see every match from bottom to top looking the exact same way. The audience shrank accordingly

@vannavanity1195

2 жыл бұрын

If you're wondering about the athleticism and why I said that, the match with Lynn amounted to a lot of memorized rehearsals (chain wrestling), where Van Dam might squeeze his wrist, signaling to Lynn to do a reversal, on and on, and he helps Lynn land on his feet when he does a flip over him. Then they pose. Anyone could do that style, in my opinion. Let's be real. There are dozens more talented in that business historically than Lynn. I'm not even sure Lynn is close to a top 100 ever. It's all fake The hardest parts of wrestling are bumps and running the ropes. That will take the wind from you, and it hurts. Chain wrestling is very fraudulent. You would lose more wind by doing Demolition Ax hammer blows. I guess it makes for good theatrics, but that style sucks. Even first year gymnastics students could do that style, and better than them. It's just really masturbatory and trite. John Cena was able to do that smark style with very little training. Bret Hart seems impressed by it, but I also think Hart's view of wrestling is self-centered, so he likes whatever would make him look best, both in legacy and in opponent range that would make him look best. Note, by the way, how all those chain spots looked the exactly same. Totally choreographed and void of storytelling

@outis439-A

2 жыл бұрын

@@vannavanity1195 i don’t see how you can blame him. He did it good. The WCW cruiser weights and lucha did it good. Nowadays their is a trend that does it in really poor taste.

RVD in 2001 was one of the most organically, naturally over wrestlers of all time. He immediately connected with the fans, he was unique, charismatic, great performer, solid on the mic. It was lightning in a bottle, similar to only how over IDK Goldberg was in 1998 WCW. So of course his push got stalled, there must've been a big amount of jealousy in the WWE locker room which no doubt led to politics to help derail RVD. However, it's true in 2006, RVD fucked up his own chance to shine by getting caught with weed just weeks or days into his WWE title run. To WWE's credit, they pushed him hard at that time, had Cena lose to him, and RVD was supposed to be the top guy in the new ECW brand. But by then, RVD wasn't as over as he was in 2001, the ECW brand was doomed to fail, but he definitely could've gotten more out of that run than he did. RVD is one of the greatest misses in terms of someone not being utilized to their full potential.

@KnucklesWTD

2 жыл бұрын

He was bad on the mic honestly

@jazzoj5

2 жыл бұрын

@@KnucklesWTD yeah revisionist history, he was hot in 2001 but nowhere near the level of Goldberg in 98.

@KyokujiFGC

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, he was brought as just an ECW heel, and the crowd literally refused to boo him.

To be the top star means more than having the best in ring style. It means public appearances. It means your face everywhere. It mean merchandizing. It means interviews. It means going to meetings to sell things. Being the top guy nearly killed Stone Cold. It’s way more pressure than most people understand. I know Meltzer thinks it’s all about in Ring, but it’s more.

best line from RVD .... Ur watch doesnt talk

I always liked RVD as a worker

We wouldn’t have gotten those great matches with Jeff Hardy. Some of my favorites

Yeah, Rock and Taker were the 2 guys you can rely on to do business for the most part.

RVD vs Chris Benoit was the best match I ever seen

The man with 3 H’s told the old man “ The people -uhhh, don’t connect - uhhh with the pothead -uhhh. Ignore all the signs -uhhh and the pops -uhhh. Look at my muscles -uhhhh” - btw when did triple h stop ending every sentence with “uhhh”. I think it was legit when rock made fun of him for doing it

@Mrjonezzz

2 жыл бұрын

Tonight uhhh, you gotta play the game uhhh, in the middle of my ring uhhh. Like come on.

He didn't have the attitude for a world champ, but he was world champ worthy

Van Dam and Jeff Hardy’s match at Invasion 2001 was so badass. Probably the only good match on that card.

Just blew my mind that cena and lesnar were there

Answer is hhh did not like van dam. Hhh was jealous that Rob got over faster, didn’t have to work as hard, etc.

I still think the invasion angle was awesome. One of the top 10 angles in wwe history despite not being perfect..rvd and jeff hardy tore the house down at back to back ppvs and made alot of new wrestling fans!!!

@IAWIA5

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah I agree, the Invasion angle had several missteps forsure, but I'll still happily take that era of wrestling over the shit stained product that WWE peddles out 80% of the time these days

Hayman should of been his manager..

@jacoblocklear6809

2 жыл бұрын

He had The Next Big Thang to Manage

I think one of his biggest draws is that for his bodytype you wouldnt expect a guy with that kind of build to be able to pull off that kind of moveset. If RVD was in a match you knew you were in for a hell of a ride

I feel like I can count on one hand the mediocre matches RVD had and I’m stumbling to think of a bad one.

@DavidSanchez-sl4bl

2 жыл бұрын

Facts, he didn’t miss no matter who he was in the ring with

RVD was hated because he wasn’t 6’4 250 and wasn’t the greatest at cutting promos. also because he was from ECW. he should have held that championship from 2001-2002, easily a year long reign.

@vannavanity1195

2 жыл бұрын

Angle was 6'4"? We're the same height if I remember correctly. He was 5'8" at most.

@KingJadInfiniteHope

2 жыл бұрын

@@vannavanity1195 no i just meant Vince likes big guys, angle isn’t 6’4

@vannavanity1195

2 жыл бұрын

@@KingJadInfiniteHope McMahon likes people who can draw eyes when walking through an airport and whose presence can impress media heads. Sometimes that involves a body. Sometimes it doesn't. Randy Savage wasn't a huge guy in that regard. But he had presence. You can't separate body from presence. Yokozuna had that. Warrior did. Hogan did. Angle's credentials impress. McMahon knows what media people like. That's his real audience.

@BlackenedLiam

2 жыл бұрын

@@vannavanity1195 and Jericho was also like 5'9.

@vannavanity1195

2 жыл бұрын

@@BlackenedLiam I have never met or seen Jericho but his lifts are very noticeable. Benoit had to be 5'5" when I met him. He was about 20 feet from me. I can't think of any wrestler I ever met whose real life stature surprised me like that, except for Brock Lesnar, who was huge in a way even more freakish than the Big Show. His width was like a redwood tree. But yes, a lot of those guys are much shorter than advertised. McMahon just likes people who impress. Sometimes that's a great physique, sometimes that's being very intelligent (like Cena), sometimes it's just a very real athlete, whatever. Rob Van Dam, to someone like McMahon, is just another wrestler. He's not spoken enough to impress media heads and he doesn't have a body that catches the eye. He also doesn't have a multigenerational legacy. I'm not ripping on him. McMahon just has an eye for what's special.

he looked like jcvd, is that why he got the van dam from?

Short answer: Because he wasn't a Vinnie Mac creation.

I started watching wrestling in 01 at 12 first favorite wrestler is Stone Cold still love his stuff but once I saw RVD he quickly became my favorite the unique moves he did the two shoulder blocks in the corner then the back flip into the running shoulder the spiderman suplex the split legged moonsalt the that top rope kick,etc. The only thing he lacked was the mic skills I think wwe should of gave him a manager he could of main evented...

@commanderchaos5670

2 жыл бұрын

If you liked RVD in WWF, you should watch his old matches in ECW. He was a monster in the ring.

@nineteeneightynine432

2 жыл бұрын

@@commanderchaos5670 I have definitely he made a good heel him and Jerry Lynn and him with sabu was awesome.

People up top were jealous

@kamfisher1714

2 жыл бұрын

Jealous of what? He couldn’t cut a promo

@jovanieortiz5235

2 жыл бұрын

@@kamfisher1714 cause people gave a fuck if rvd could cut a promo. They didn't

@butchvito

2 жыл бұрын

@@kamfisher1714 - Watch RVD in his ECW run and then say he couldn't cut a promo. He had more freedom in ECW compared to his WWE run. Even in WWE there was nothing wrong with his promos. He was over as f8ck regardless of his promos...

@kamfisher1714

2 жыл бұрын

@@butchvito Name 3 great RVD promos. Alfonso was doing most of the talking for him in ECW.

@butchvito

2 жыл бұрын

@@kamfisher1714 - You want me to send you links and do research for you? I never said RVD was Flair on the mic, but he's not nearly as bad as you're making him out to be. You're also insinuating his lack of mic skills are what kept him from holding a World Title for his first 5 years in WWE. Regardless what you think of his promos he was over as f*ck with both ECW and WWE fans. RVD could have had a world title run way before 2006.

RVD didn't even need the title IMO. He needed a manager, or more depth to his chracter. He's a carefree guy that smokes weed, how do you book a face RVD in a high profile storyline. Jeff/RVD is as good as gets with him.

@whitecreamcascade5924

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly. This is what a lot of fans don't get with RVD and WWE. The story/character is a big part of what makes you get a push, as well as Vince's confidence. RVD was not interested in their creative process and just wanted to do his own thing. That's cool, but how does that help the show?

@sykeraid4944

2 жыл бұрын

I think that’s why he was pretty content with his role during the upper mid-card days.

I think it came down to Vince not walking short world champions. The hardcore title was a cool era because it was the cool guys who didn’t get pushed to the top. Great division of wrestlers.

Everyone seems to overlook RVD didnt have skills on the mic. and at this point in time, that was a must.

@tommydub7785

2 жыл бұрын

One could learn

@bryan.f10

2 жыл бұрын

Neither did Lesnar at that time. When a wrestler has no mic skills you pair them with a manager that does all the talking.

Rvd was the reason I tuned in

2001 RVD definitely should have been wwf champion even if only for one month just to establish him as a main eventer

They took ECW fanboys to heart and ignored the young males who championed RVD before Invasion was copyrighted.

Never watched Conrad before, I thought JR was talking at the beginning

RVD could’ve been the next superstar after Austin/Rock but because he was associated with Heyman and was a pothead those were 2 strikes not to mention HHH was still trying to be the man and he wasn’t going to allow any of these young guys to be bigger than him.

Rvd was hella good with out a doubt but at the same time that 2001 card was stacked RVD held it down as a mid card dude tho

Watching JR smoke in these videos is kinda crazy. I'm 31 and have been smoking since I was 14. I've seen this dude do a thousand 3 to 4 hour ppvs. If he's a smoker I don't know how the man goes that long not lighting up. I'd be losing my mind

@lloydlyall8120

2 жыл бұрын

Maybe he had patches on??🤣

@sheriffdraws8789

2 жыл бұрын

30... never smoked in my entire life. I'm straightedge I guess lol

@RIPOBJ

2 жыл бұрын

Just some jobs out there you gotta go a few hours without lighting up 😂

@mg9138

Жыл бұрын

@@jamesbarnes7045 okay, child molester

@jamesbarnes7045

Жыл бұрын

@@mg9138 you sound upset Don't be mad that you engulf your life with cigarette smoke in your life now is ruined you can never say I've never smoked a cigarette before but I can so continue living your life huffing on your Marlboro reds and every time you suck on one of them think about me

So you hired a guy to be a writer and talent scout, then proceed to bury everyone he suggests has a future? Business 101 with Vince Mcmahon.

@kamfisher1714

2 жыл бұрын

Everyone can’t be world champion wannabe fantasy booker

RVD didn’t tap dance enough for their liking and they resented him for it.

The Merger didnt work when WWE expected everybody to conform to WWE. Two examples being DDP was always WCW and RVD was always ECW, and I respect that. I liked wrestling better when it was three different shows and you got to see the best of particular talent.

His style was high end mid carder and was almost as good as Rey Mysterio with the high spots but his kicks are why I am a fan but early 2000's was the years that he could have changed his position but he didn't later he ended up on top for a while while in TNA/Impact

Anyone who got over in a rival company was never pushed to their full potential in the WWF/E. Lex Luger, The Steiners, Vader, DDP, RVD, Goldberg and Sting. Since Vince didn't make them stars he couldnt have them look better than his guys.

WWE - Were gonna fire you cause of weed RVD sorry…. Also WWE - Were gonna make your character all about weed Riddle, sorry RVD - 😮 😠

The influx of talent from '99 to 2002 pushed out the fluff honestly. A ton of guys on PPVs in 1998/99 couldn't hold Jericho/Benoit/Guerrero/RVD/Lesnar's jock. So they got pushed down the card but the show benefited. That's how it should work.

Politics.

It had nothing to do with loyalty and more to do with WWE not being ready for a changing of the guard. Taker would have quite happily put RVD over if that was what was good for business.

WWE had one or two exceptional talents on the roster, but the thing they lacked distinctly at the time was proper writing, stories of any substance. The RVD gimmick got old very quickly in opinion, there's only so many times you can keep pointing to yourself getting everyone to say your name before it gets tired. Yeah he had some great moves, but his matches were mainly meaningless exhibitions with other wrestlers. I don't even think putting a belt on him would have made any difference. This is has been wrestling's biggest problem in my opinion, there's just no meaningful and believable build up to matches anymore and especially not ones involving the titles. The rot really started setting in not long after around 2000 from what I remember.

@vannavanity1195

2 жыл бұрын

I agree with you. RVD had zero character depth even if he was likeable. If he was pushed to headline Wrestlemania in 2002, since his limitations would have marked lack of heat, they would have drawn poorly. It's just that simple. Likeable does not translate to drawing power, and it should never translate to affirmative action title runs

I mean I thought RVD should have been a champ

@SpockvsEgon

2 жыл бұрын

He was... eventually.

The fans did seem to like him put I never thought he was that great on the mic.

@abc456f

2 жыл бұрын

He wasn't nearly as good on the mic as he was in ring. To this day, I still think he was of the most exciting performers. Really had his own set of unique moves, just a super athletic, imaginative worker. Loved him in ECW!

@tommydub7785

2 жыл бұрын

He could’ve gotten better, that didn’t give him a chance to practice

RVD should've been another HBK

Lets not take the lords name in vain JR

I just hated during the invasuon era up until early 2003 right before wrestlemania 19 Everytime jeff hardy and RVD had a match it was 90% of the time best match on the card usually stole the show and was the ones most fans paid to see Rob won the hardcore match at invasion won the ladder match for hardcore title and jeff lost another hardcore match and did the swanton through the table on the outside of the ring and the match was stopped after Even in the European/intercontinental unifaction ladder match on raw rob won that too In wwe in pretty sure the only time jeff beat rvd was when rvd was defending the hardcore title vs kurt angle on raw or smackdown and both the alliance and team wwf got involved and i remember rob was down kurt had tommy dreamer in ankle lock and jeff came running down the ramp with a green white sox short climbed to rhe top junped over kurt and dreamer hit the swanton on rob and pinned him for the hardcore title At the time i hated that but thinking about it now rob was really the only guy in the alliance who the fans just loved no matter what so if anything the hardy rvd feud made rob look like a million bucks and good enough to get a spot on team alliance in the survivor series match

It makes me mad how rvd is never regarded as one of the greats

Jim Ross got that ZaZa

Connie, I don't want to sound harsh, but I wouldn't do another show with JR until he QUITS SMOKING! How stubbornly stupid can he possibly be?! I think Austin needs to pay him a visit and deliver a stunner if Jim even mentions smoking!

Wrestling would have been alot better if HHH did business like The Rock instead of taking advantage of backstage politics on Raw after Rock n Austin left and Leaner out of his path.

Watching guys over the past 5 to six years get main event pushes and title matches or less than mid card talent become world champion and Rob Van Dam never main event wrestlemania especially back in 2002 and 2003 is ridiculous

I liked RVD but I always thought he was a second or two too slow for him to be believable for me. It was the fluidity of his moves that always rubbed me in the wrong way (maybe he was too heavy or thought he might harm the opponents, I’ll never know, but hey, the guy had everything. The look, the gimmick, the hype, the martial arts a la JCVD and as many outfits as Rick Rude had tights. Definitely one I rooted for back in the day.

Conrad you should change your intro. We don’t want to save with your spammy website

There is a reason you don't push drug addicts like Jeff and RVD. They'll inevitably fuck up and embarrass the company with their drug habits.

Conrad sounds a little bit like J.R.

Jim stop smoking. We want to see you around for a while.

I’m all for legalizing marijuana and all that. RVD let weed run his life and I’m not mad at him he made a lot of money. But if he would of smoked less he would of had a lot longer of a run in WWE but then again maybe the weed was helping him perform as great as he did

Rvd could also never pass a wellness exam, he likes weed more.

RVD has stated before, he wasn’t trying, showed up late, didnt want to hang with the boys, didnt put in the work after the bell rang. Folks always quick to only judge a push based on bell to bell ring action, forgetting they have 10 hours a day where they could be a shit employee.

@senshix

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly he was a dick and hard to work w but people have to go w the narrative.

@yoholmes273

2 жыл бұрын

@@senshix MAAAARK

@senshix

2 жыл бұрын

@@yoholmes273 snowflake

@yoholmes273

2 жыл бұрын

@@senshix Child, hush..🤫

The drugs really shot RVD in the foot, as it's the one thing WWE could get him for. Otherwise he'd have been an inevitability like Daniel Bryan. Triple H could bury him all he wants but that would turn the fans on Hunter, fans who also wouldn't care about him not being a WWE guy.

@jacoblocklear6809

2 жыл бұрын

@Michael Roelle thank-you

@deadeyedarwin

2 жыл бұрын

@Michael Roelle yeah...still killed his push though

I think a lot of it had to do with the influx of talent they were going to get in 2002.

Covering AEW crap has started JR smoking...

Paul heyman owes money to all

I hated that weakkkkkk invasion angle ....it felt soooooo cheap

I'll tell you why. Because it was and is run by an unscientific Republican who was fine with his wrestlers taking strong painkillers, hard drugs, steroids, human growth hormones and getting drunk all the time (a practice that has been shown to literally kill wrestlers), but marijuana was a bridge too far. If you listen to RVD in interviews, he sounds like the sanest wrestler from the 90s out there short of Bret Hart (who himself dabbled). That horrible, self-destructive behaviour was encouraged by promoters until very recently, while the one "drug" that is proven not to kill you (unless you're allergic or it's in synthetic form) was the "bad drug." Even today, a wrestler like Matt Riddle isn't taken seriously because he openly smokes cannabis. He's comic relief, nothing more, Bro. Nobody ever makes fun of the wrestler who gets 'roid rage or gets coked or liquored up. Rob Szatkowski wasn't on the top of the card in 2001 and never got a long run with the World Title because a lot of people who live in a certain country aren't scientifically inclined and the "stoner" was seen as "bad for business" and a "bad role model for kids." The guy taking steroids and cocaine like a junkie who got a zillion concussions and took out himself and his family? He's always been McMahon's type of guy. "Family friendly." In the same way George Carlin jokingly called certain activities perpetrated by the oldest male in a family at a restaurant "family style."

@Hillthugsta

2 жыл бұрын

From what I have seen, it seems like you can do whatever you want. Just make sure it doesnt make headlines or effect your on screen performance. Because as soon as it does, it casts a bad light on the company and you are shunned.

@christhornycroft3686

Жыл бұрын

@@Hillthugsta True, but all RVD did was get caught with a DUI. There were plenty of guys doing worse things, but they got away with what they did.

Can JR Not get medical marijuana? Like if he was smoking a joint. I would be less concerned... With the whole cancer thing. RVD can beat anyone.

@sleazyfellow

2 жыл бұрын

At this point in his life he lost his wife, his mom and dad and countless other colleagues in his line of work. He's probably ready to check out, and he's not alone in doing it. Alot of others when they get the news they're dying sometimes say fuck it, what can I do.

Triple h

IDK it's just me.. I never liked RVD. He always seemed like he hit ALL his spots.. He got ALL his "shit" in.. and never really sold to anyone he was wrestling. It never really looked like he was in danger of losing.. anyone he had a match with.. I only really watched his stuff in WWF/WWE.

@davidmakai8508

2 жыл бұрын

It’s just you. When you jump off the top rope and do a somersault into an ECW crowd in the prime of your athletic career let us know

rvd didnt have a good style... it was okay but it looked so planned and determined.. he wasnt a top guy, just a good upper midcard... he didnt work good matches he just got his shit in lol it was so choreographed. people liked watching him no doubt but he worked the same match.. over and over again... he wasnt calling great spots..

This analysis was weak. You can tell that Ross is a work rate mark. I'm not. The Alliance/Invasion storyline failed because a bunch of outsiders that the WWF audience didn't care to see independently of the promotion entered, then derailed WWF's creative direction. Then people started to tune out. All of these acts had to be socialized within the company, introduced to the audience, learn to work their style, and existing within their universe. I never cared for Guerrero, for example, until he was with Chyna. Same with the rest. Outsider/crossover storylines suck. Of course Ross engages in conspiracy-mongering. It's not hard to glean why Van Dam wasn't the top guy. He was most over with smarks. He was stiff (liability). And frankly, they had better people to push: Jericho, Angle, Austin, Rock, Undertaker, even Benoit (though injured). The roster was loaded. In a less competitive year, he still wouldn't have been the top guy. Why? RVD can't build heat. It's that simple. He is an average talker. In pre-taped environments like ECW, Heyman could have him get away with that. In live environments, you can't do any kind of complicated storyline with him for Wrestlemania. He's the classic likable face who can chase the heel. That puts on the level of Ricky Morton. It's ultimately heat that will make the difference between whether WWF can break a million buys for Wrestlemania. Yes, their other choices like Jericho didn't pay off, but Jericho was in the company for 3 years by that point and could engage the audience every week. Van Dam was inferior in every sense save for likeability. It wasn't going to be RVD moving numbers, and no one ever seems to discuss whether he was a draw because he wasn't enough of one where people even entertain the question. Same reason why the British Bulldog never became a top act. Can't talk. At least Bret Hart was more appealing when he had family drama as foil. RVD was the millennial's Curt Hennig: likable but didn't move numbers and couldn't have done so in periods of high casual interest like the Road to Wrestlemania. It wasn't that he was a Paul Heyman guy 🙄

@northerncrapthattalksback6589

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah exactly I mean Jim Ross has only been in the business 40 odd years what does he know right obviously not as much as some idiot on the internet that thinks he knows everything 🤡

@vannavanity1195

2 жыл бұрын

@@northerncrapthattalksback6589 That's a pretty dumb comment. Russo has been in the industry for about 20 years, Prichard for 40 years, Bischoff about as long as Russo, Watts was in it for decades, Cornette has too. Bret Hart wrestled for some 20 years, and his analysis about what males a great wrestler not only served a criteria to place himself at Hogan's level, but it's wholly unsatisfactory. Meltzer has been writing about the industry for 50 years, since high school, and he got a lot wrong as well. You won't find that much consensus between any of them. Kevin Sullivan booked WCW into the ground since he had no concept about anyone on top but heels, which killed the face side. That's not a serious argument - it's one that only an "idiot" would make. Remember that Ross actually believed that Dr Death Steve Williams was going to become a big star in WWF. It never dawned on him that he didn't have the right personality for that company. At best, he could be placed in a Boss Man role, who fit the bill of company expectations than Williams ever could have. Williams was also stiff, yet it never dawned on Ross that Austin had to protect his own neck and Williams couldn't be trusted to do that. Now, if Bob Holly is to be believed, he claims that Ross was so livid that Williams was knocked out that he promised to bury Gunn's career. I didn't believe that story necessarily, but Gunn said the same thing. Holly also claims that Williams was paid in advance to win the Brawl for All, and that WWF paid double that since Williams lost. There's an arrogance to that. Ross also is the main reason JCP went out of business, so he's a mercenary too and was always some kind of Watts agent. He thinks like him and even goes so far as to discuss his early days when Watts would talk to him about his "theories of race." I couldn't imagine what that would entail... the Aryan Invasion Theory of the Indus River Valley? 🙄 Not to mention that Ross seems impressed by underwhelming things outside of the industry: "Kane and Val Venis are political people. They are lib-ur-tar-i-ans. They are very smart," as he then drones on about someone's GPA, playing lacrosse in college that impresses no one but Ross' own insecurity about rasslin being seen as fake, and their second-rate studies like "He has a communications degree!" Ross is like a lot of these wrestling personalities. He's pretty much a redneck with above average intelligence, and a lifelong functionary who is adaptable enough not to be like Cornette in his own echo chamber but who very much still thinks the same way as he did decades prior. You know, in the end, it might come as a revelation to you, Sammy, but there are many people who are simply a lot more intelligent and intuitive than that. I'm much more educated, well-rounded, and get what appeals to people than someone like Ross does. Wrestling isn't some kind of esoteric study accessible only to grabdmasters of Medieval Freemasonry with the keys to Scared Geometry. It's not that hard to see what gets over in WWF and why. RVD never had the necessary tools to become a main event act. He has no real personality that gives extra meaning so as to galvanize interest for casual viewers. Yet Ross says what he says... anyone critical is going to ask oneself "Why?" There is always a motive when public functionaries go on a podcast medium in order to sell a view. This isn't hard, but social intelligence seems lacking amongst rasslin fans. Ross' biases aren't that hard to ascertain if you bother to think about it. First, he has toxic shame about being in the wrestling industry. Ross has a long history of citing athletic and intellectual credentials of wrestlers that would only impress working class people (not someone like me who actually did top work). It's the whole "Rasslers aren't just uneducated and fake rednecks" game. Second, being someone who likes sports and does commentary in wrestling, it's not surprising that he places greater premium on workrate people, even when they wouldn't get over to casual viewers like Steve Austin or Hulk Hogan. He's a huge fan of the former, but I guarantee you that he has trashed the latter many times over as being "fake." No one in the real world cares about such delineations. Three, Ross still thinks in a Mid South way, which has only mitigated itself more as the decades have passed, even when Mid South looked goofy as early as 1986. Just because rasslin people want it to look real doesn't mean that viewers buy what they're selling. Mid South and Watts both look pretty hokey to anyone watching it who didn't grow up with that: "Look at that Krusher Krushchev and Junk Yard Dog! They're the best athletes in the world who could go toe-to-toe with the finest of the boxing world." What was described wasn't even a stiff brawl. It didn't even pass for basic amateur boxing 🤣 Yes, things like that make me roll my eyes. McMahon's genius is understanding that wrestling is drama, so pushing it as real just makes those doing that sound intellectually crippled. It's like listening to Christian apologists where the harder they argue, the dumber they sound. We're talking about Watts - same guy who got rid of top rope moves because "No one would do that in a real fight," as if an Irish whip is something that people would do in one. The Irish whip is already an inherent suspension of disbelief, much less a somersault spot leading to a pin struggle that looks like a 50s slapstick cartoon from the Looney Tunes. Four, to his credit, Ross has survived for decades in that industry by toning down what he needed in order to survive and to stay employed. He'll tell whatever audience what they want to hear, while spinning his own take. It should tell you a lot in the end that months prior, he lamented the WWF having "writers" and not "wrestling people" booking in 2000. That might be candy for smarks, but it's a dogmatic view. Wrestling people did write WWF for years; they also didn't draw by the mid-90s and had their worst period in company history. They were only responsible for one hour of television and one hour of squash matches on Superstars, and they still couldn't do it. That's why they were phased out. The idea that "wrestling people," concerned with their own fundamentals about drawing in the territory days, could ever write 4 hours of weekly television by 1999 is nothing more than a delusion. Yet Ross blames them for why a non-star like Jerry Lynn never got a push. You're free to address anything here, but you won't, because you're more comfortable in your cocoon. I'm much more educated than any of these rasslin people ever could be, and know a dozen subjects more than they do. Oh, and sorry for invading your mancave. 🥲 Women understand these things much better than men do. My ex thinks I am a mix of Missy Hyatt and Ole Anderson in my takes on people. She gets the organic components of what makes the sausage, which wrestlers to this day still don't get; Anderson since I called Flair a one-dimensional, slapstick wrestler, which he is.

@northerncrapthattalksback6589

2 жыл бұрын

@@vannavanity1195 how’s that meth treating you 🤡🤡🤡

@vannavanity1195

2 жыл бұрын

I couldn't even imagine what Ross' conversations were like with a retrograde hick like Bill Watts, who was a Goldwater Republican: "Son, lemma tell ya something. It all boils down to two things about the blacks: Ham's Curse and the Aryan Invasion of India. There was a population of vikings who sailed everywhere in the world. Wherever the went, they placed swastikas. The Dalit caste formed next to the Aryan Brahmins, who then made them slaves. And that's the way it is, son. Wherever you find the Aryans, you find the dark Dalits under them ruled by their masters from India, China, Persia, Egypt, Europe, and America. We forgot that. Look at how jolly those blacks are when Junk Yard Dog got the world title!" "Yes, Mr Watts. That's a very interesting theory." I wasn't born yesterday. Watts' views of "racial anthropology" had a following in the petite-bourgeoisie of Big Oil. He's also a guy who used to urinate off the top floor of CNN Tower. They're legitimately retrograde people lol. Get out of here

@vannavanity1195

2 жыл бұрын

@@northerncrapthattalksback6589 It's called a high IQ. Went to a college on the level of Georgetown. Studied history and math. Do academic work in translation theory, history of crime, war and peace, legal history of marriage, among other things. Rasslin is easy to me. It would be nice if all were born with my talent, but that isn't exactly the case. Obviously you weren't. But if you're going to talk about drugs, look no further than rasslin and the dozens of Darwin Awards handed there. Their death rate approaches Angola's. Sociopaths have a way of wiping themselves out in a manner no different than Frontiersmen in the 19th-Century Westward Expansion.

The problem with today's WWE is they keep pushing the same stale characters down fans throats because that's all they have. Roman Reigns needs a reboot. The superman punch is the most ridiculous wrestling move in history but every time he uses it Cole gets so excited like it's the first time he's ever seen it. There's only so many ways to use Rollins m. Stale product

J.r. angling for another talent to go to the embarrassment called aew.

@x2bannedyoutubeaccount408

2 жыл бұрын

Wwe blows. Cry more

@leviticuscornwall8375

2 жыл бұрын

AEW is crazy good right now. WWE is a shit show

@leelohaskin7941

2 жыл бұрын

@@x2bannedyoutubeaccount408 go outside and touch grass bum

@senshix

2 жыл бұрын

@@x2bannedyoutubeaccount408 sad boy. Didn't say it didn't but u assume ofc. Go watch 69 me Jerry Lynn I mean Kenny omega and the young birthers I mean bucks no sell moves. Maybe they'll botch even more.

@senshix

2 жыл бұрын

@@leviticuscornwall8375 it's horrible. As some who has seen so many types of companies and wrestling this is bad.

boring

Rob Van Damn is a mid card how could you have him on top especially after the attitude era with all them great champions Stone Cold undertaker The Rock mankind you cannot put Rob on top you have to go out and find the next Stone Cold Steve Austin if you don't your ratings are going to plummet like they did

Old WCW or ECW fans or just smarks in general have this weird fascination of WCW guys and ECW guys beating WWE wrestlers all the time. People are still crying saying “DDP should’ve been at the top”, Lance storm, RVD, Tazz. There were others who were better.

@steveomac385

2 жыл бұрын

DDP could have been big. The others I agree.

@kamfisher1714

2 жыл бұрын

@@steveomac385 DDP was 40 years old

@steveomac385

2 жыл бұрын

@@kamfisher1714 yeah main event age.

@kamfisher1714

2 жыл бұрын

@@steveomac385 At that time it wasn’t.

@steveomac385

2 жыл бұрын

@@kamfisher1714 Batista was like 36 when he won his first title JBL was 40 that same year. Hogan was 43 in 96.