Rob Van Dam weighs in on the “Wrestler vs. Superstar” debate

WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam (RVD) recently appeared on an episode of his “1 Of A Kind” podcast where he discussed a number of topics, including the debate over whether a wrestler should even be referred to as a superstar in wrestling -Talents.

RVD said: “I think it’s subjective. I think maybe that’s what those words mean to her [Mone]because all they are are two words, right? When I was in WWE from 2001 to 2007? Everyone knows that when I was in WWE, Vince had decided a long time ago that we were going to do sports entertainment, right? We weren’t allowed to call ourselves wrestlers… Anyone from 2001, 2002 to at least most – if that ever changed, I don’t even know when the hell it was. But when I was there we were all supposed to call ourselves superstars. If we did a promo and said, “Hey, right, one of your favorite wrestlers is coming to your city!” They’re like, “Cut, cut!” One of your favorite superstars.’ “Oh, okay,” and that was the rule. And maybe that has changed. But here too: All it is is a word, and words have different meanings for different people. Obviously a dictionary can’t prove what she said or what you or I would say because then they wouldn’t be specific. But to what she said, when a superstar is someone who – she said – the fans look at them and say, “Oh, wow, that’s special!” I’m paraphrasing because I don’t remember the exact quote can. But if we just assume that, is everyone on the squad a superstar? I do not believe that. I don’t think the audience can 100% say that about them, can they? But if they’re on TV every week and people know who they are, if they have action figures and merchandise and are part of the show, are they superstars? In my opinion, yes.”

On the policy of changing terms:

“The rules and guidelines are constantly changing. And you know, it has to. They are constantly evolving and adapting to changing times. And oh my God, how many times have I said in the last week that the world is changing so damn much and so quickly. For example, we were talking about the future and I said, even what I’m doing – you know, when I’m working in ten years, whatever I’m doing – I might be involved in something that I’m not involved in now once existed. something we couldn’t even dream of. And that’s how it is, you know? I go back to 2001 when we picked up our first cell phones. You know, they weren’t very smart back then and had the damn line. And anyway, the folding up. But we never could have imagined that: “Yeah, take a picture and send it to Japan, he’ll get it right away.” We couldn’t have imagined something like that before it happened.”

You can watch the full podcast in the video below.