Rob Van Dam believes Brock Lesnar is “good for the business.”
The Beast has been one of the most dominant forces in professional wrestling ever since he debuted on Monday Night Raw back in 2002. However, Lesnar’s perceived attitude towards the business, and his massively reduced schedule mean he hasn’t always been the most popular figure with fans.
Despite this, there’s been a shift in more recent years, with many praising Lesnar for his work, and talking up his impressive legacy.
One person who has always been a fan of Lesnar is Rob Van Dam. The Beast defeated Van Dam to win the King of the Ring tournament back in 2002, and they met again a month later at Vengeance for the Intercontinental Title.
After the match ended in disqualification and Van Dam retained the gold, Brock Lesnar headed to SummerSlam to become the youngest WWE World Champion in history.
Speaking during an appearance on the Insight podcast with Chris Van Vliet, Van Dam opened up about his appreciation of Lesnar.
“Yeah, I’m a fan. I always have been. Definitely, you know, like, what’s not to love? He’s good for the business and the fact that he can back it up and has backed it up. When he was UFC World Champion that was, like, there’s nothing else that would legitimise. If you want to go that far. What we do doesn’t get enough respect. Because every fan thinks they can do it. And that seems to be more and more what they’re after.
You know, like with that all-inclusive, whatever it is, it seems like they’re reaching out to get normal people like to get a skateboarder and a basketball player, it seems like athletes that are normal kids or whatever, so that people do relate more, and then people do think it’s easier, and then everybody can do it.
At least that’s one observation I’ve had looking at where it seems to be going, you know, when I grew up, someone had to tell me that they could get me in, you know if I started lifting weights and stuff, they’d get me in. Otherwise, I don’t think I ever would have had the idea. These guys were just larger than life. Don’t you have to be born a pro wrestler? You know, you think I could do that.”
Rob Van Dam Lifts Lid On AEW Collision Appearance
Despite seemingly winding down his in-ring career after leaving IMPACT Wrestling in 2020, Van Dam has enjoyed something of a career renaissance in more recent times. The star has continued to wrestle on the independent scene while also appearing for Pro Wrestling NOAH and latterly AEW.
Van Dam’s most recent appearance for the Tony Khan-led promotion came on the September 23rd episode of Collision where he teamed with HOOK to see off Angelo Parker and Matt Menard.
Speaking on his podcast, Rob Van Dam revealed the appearance came together incredibly quickly, explaining he got the call from AEW out of the blue.
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