For someone who made a career out of performing high-flying moves, Rob Van Dam sure doesn’t like modern aerial spots too much. The Whole F’n Show spent the greater part of his career entertaining fans with his unorthodox style, with his matches against Jerry Lynn and Sabu cited as a huge influence on modern pro wrestling.
Speaking to Bill Apter on Sportskeeda WrestleBinge, RVD broke down modern high-flying spots. Apter asked if RVD felt that spots like a suicide dive were overexposed today. RVD noted they are not necessarily to his liking because of the consistency with which they are performed.
“I do agree with you. I don’t see how it means anything anymore,” RVD said. “It’s just like an obligated pop from the crowd now; that’s what it seems like to me. Everybody does it. Even I don’t wanna do it anymore. I faked it in my match on Saturday. I was gonna run out, I just stopped and gave a couple of these (does RVD pose) thumbs to the boys on the floor. That’s just not even going to make sense [for me to do it].”
The former ECW Champion believes chops are even more overused than those dives, but most workers of today try to outperform basic aerial spots with more flashy high-flying moves.
“… You’re right! The dive used to be like for the extra risky, daring, high-flying dudes that really went out of their way. And now you have to top it and you gotta do like a 450 to the floor and then that almost feels like a standard, as opposed to really standing out as a record-breaking event anymore – that’s kind of what it [has] evolved to.”
RVD believes today’s wrestlers have a lack of commitment to the craft
According to RVD, today’s generation of wrestlers have a lack of commitment to the craft. He says they are not trained the way wrestlers in the past were.
“When they do it, it just becomes so obvious that the other guys are just standing there waiting to catch him. And that’s a big problem with me. That’s so not the way that I ever got trained… I think it’s because safety is more important than it has ever been. So they try to want the other guy to feel comfortable and know that they are going to be there for them. Screw that! That is so not, not at all the way I work. I think that’s really a big thing – if not the biggest thing – that’s missing. It’s that commitment to every moment.”
RVD wraps up his point of view on modern-day wrestling spots. He feels that such a conversation is not for public consumption but for people within the business.
“To me that’s all examples of the exact same style that has become what wrestling is now, like a ‘safe for work environment’ or whatever they say.”
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Also read: RVD Wants To Be Remembered For Individuality
