Recap of Rob Van Dam on Between the Ropes

by Richard Trionfo

This week on Between the Ropes, Mr. Monday Night, Rob Van Dam, joined Fritz and Dickerman to talk about his return to Raw, the ECW:  One Night Stand pay per view, how his rehabilitation is going, and other issues. 

Rob commented on how he was late because he was working out.  He mentioned that the Van Dam lift is only something to do for photo opportunities and promotions.  The record for the Van Dam Lift is 166.5 pounds, which is the official body weight for Bill Alfonso.

He had a lot of welcome backs when he showed up on Raw this week and wondered if they meant it.  He thinks it depends on who was saying it.  Now that he opened up his mouth at One Night Stand, maybe they got a desire for them to hear more from him.  The important people are feeling that they need to hear more from Van Dam.

He says that he will not be cleared to wrestle in the near future.  He said that he will need 6 to 12 months for recovery.  However, the doctors have never seen anyone like him before.  Rob talked about how he broke his ankle before and had a hairline fracture in his ankle when he wrestled barefoot in the early 90s.  He slipped on some beer in a match against Pistol Pez Whatley. 

He continues to do the stretching and is expanding the things he is doing.  The workouts are going great and he plans to use them in pre-match warm-ups.  He is not hurt unless he cannot continue to fight.  Until January 6, 2005, he was able to fight. 

He does not want to continue to wrestle if he has to change his style.  He does not plan to change things.  Everyone backstage wanted to make sure that coming back too early is not an option if he is going to get injured again.  It is all good right now.  He will continue to do the Rolling Thunder and Five Star Frog Splash as well as a few Van Terminators.

Rob talked about the ECW pay per view.  It was an amazing night.  He had high hopes going in and told everyone that it would be a kick ass show.  He heard positive comments from everyone.  It was a great feeling in the arena that night.  He did not like the people up in the balcony, and the fans said that they did not like that part.  However, they liked the rest of the show.  Rob said that he watched the entire pay per view and appreciated how Joey Styles put over all of the hard work in the ring.  It did not sound like Joey had been away that long.  It was a surreal feeling, and he had to remind himself that it was 2005. 

He would have put less into advertising the pay per view because it would have sold itself on the name.  The more the WWE was involved, the more it would scare some people.  He is expecting the pay per view to be one of the best of the year. 

He talked about some of the new people in the company like Psicosis, Juventud Guerrera and Super Crazy.  He would like to see Kid Kash come in and work in the WWE. 

He does not know if there will be anything else with ECW, but would love to see it.  There was a lot of momentum from June 12^th, and they should not let it stay idle.  He might want to pitch some more plans to people in the company one-on-one.

Rob said that he had some language restrictions about his ‘potty mouth’, but he had the freedom to give an unscripted and unrehearsed speech.  He felt like he was home when he got in the ring.  Rob said that there were people who told him that they didn’t mind that he was in a match on the pay per view.

He would love to wrestle Jerry Lynn again and hopes that someone will book it.  It might not be the best place at the next ECW pay per view, if it happens.  When they last wrestled, they were so on top of their games that they had a counter for every move in the match. 

He feels that he is appreciated in a different way, whether it is due to his injury or his comments at the One Night Stand pay per view.  Vince has always talked to him as if he was an important part of the company.

Rob prefers performing in front of a live crowd because he is able to be better showcased in front of a live crowd.  The ECW cameras would be able to capture some of his kicks.  However, on Smackdown, the camera angle would change before the kick made contact.  He was asked about working with Shelton Benjamin, and he is looking forward to having some good matches with him.  He is looking forward to see what is in store for him.  Maybe if Rey Mysterio is traded to Raw, they can reform the tag team.

Rob talked about the new location for his comic store.  It can be found at www.5starcomics.com.  Their two year anniversary will be on July 24^th and will feature Matt Hardy.  Rob does not know if Matt is coming back to the WWE, but hopes if he does that he will not be wrestling on the 24^th. 

Between the Ropes airs every Wednesday from 10:00 p.m. until Midnight on 740 The Team in Orlando, Florida with hosts Brian Fritz, Dickerman, and Vito DeNucci. Check out www.betweentheropes.com to listen to the live stream of the show every week. Archives of past interviews with Paul Heyman, Mike Tenay, Terry Funk, A.J. Styles, Rob Van Dam, Tully Blanchard, Mick Foley, Ric Flair, Matt Hardy, Jerry Lawler, Bobby Heenan, Steve Corino, Shane Douglas, Elix Skipper, Harley Race, Bubba Ray Dudley, and many more people in the world of professional wrestling can also be found on www.betweentheropes.com.