Rob Van Dam has caused many a packed house to pop, but one bout in particular stands out to Mr. PPV.
Just last night, RVD got the AEW Dynamite crowd on their feet with his surprise appearance, but on the latest episode of his “1 Of A Kind” podcast, Van Dam called back to a match that caught his eye during the height of WWE’s popularity at WrestleMania X8 with The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan. RVD thought the battle was a master class in how to handle an audience.
“I want to go back and rewatch it sometimes just cause it was like the way that they were controlling the crowd and just getting the reaction that they wanted was just like so superior. That’s what it felt like when I was there.”
Rob Van Dam “Pushing Buttons”
Van Dam, along with Sabu, were trained by The original Sheik up in Detroit. Him seeing how Hogan and Rock orchestrated the crowd in the Toronto Skydome that evening made him recall something that he’d eventually know how to do himself.
“The Sheik told me, when he was training me one time … he said, ‘One day,’ he says, ‘Everything’s going to click and it’s going to be like you’re just pushing buttons. You want the people to stand up? You can really make them stand. You want them to sit? You will make them sit down.’ I was like, ‘Wow,’ and I think about that right now, when I think about how Hulk was with The Rock cause I didn’t even see a lot of that match but they were like a face-to-face and there was so much excitement, you know? And I was like, these are like the two biggest stars ever. It was like pushing buttons. It was amazing.”
Van Dam will aim to push some buttons next week in his debut match for AEW as he’s scheduled to face Jack Perry for the FTW Title.
Please credit “1 Of A Kind With RVD” and h/t Inside The Ropes for the transcription.