During the latest episode of his “Grilling JR” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and AEW commentator Jim Ross commented on Rob Van Dam’s big push in WWE back in 2001, why he believes the “Whole F’n Show” was a missed opportunity for WWE, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Rob Van Dam’s push in WWE in 2001 and if he could’ve been elevated into being a top WWE star like Chris Jericho: “Without a doubt [he could’ve been elevated like Chris Jericho]. Absolutely. You’ve gotta have the balls to make changes. You’ve gotta have the balls to change quarterbacks. You’ve gotta have balls to do these things. We apparently didn’t have the balls or the commitment, or maybe outside influences were manipulating Vince’s pattern. Vince is too smart of a promoter to not hear the audience. Van Dam always consistently got a big pop, telling me that the audience was glad to see him and were excited about what he was getting ready to do. He had a unique style, and nobody else was like RVD.”
On the reason RVD was a huge missed opportunity for the company: “You shouldn’t allow your company to penalize a guy because of some of his social situations i.e. 420, smoking weed. Who cares? As long as you’re not smoking it before your matches and it doesn’t affect your performance or put somebody at risk. RVD, that was a huge missed opportunity. He would’ve added at least that youthful feeling and that unique style. We missed the boat on that deal, simply because the office didn’t have the confidence that RVD was reliable in the sense of, ‘Well, you know he does smoke a little weed.’ C’mon. Shit. Yeah, we missed the boat on that one big time.”
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(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
