Rob Van Dam Reveals If Backstage Vibes At WWE SmackDown Were Different
Rob Van Dam has given his thoughts on what the new era of WWE feels like compared to when he was wrestling there.
During his illustrious WWE career, Rob Van Dam was known as one of the most popular wrestlers alive during his run in WWE, which began after the death of ECW in 2001.
That popularity, along with his incredible talent in the ring, led to RVD becoming a WWE Champion while also holding the Intercontinental Title six times, Tag Team Titles, the Hardcore Title, the European Title, and several other accolades including the Money in the Bank briefcase.
As a WWE Hall of Famer, RVD shows up on television from time to time such as when he appeared in the crowd on the September 13th edition of WWE Smackdown with his wife Katie by his side.
While speaking on his “One of a Kind” podcast, Rob Van Dam spoke about how the wrestlers were happy to be at SmackDown.
“In general, I hung out in catering quite a bit, saw a lot of the wrestlers… the boys don’t look so tired anymore. You know, they look legitimately happy to be there and happy to be part of something fun.”
“It used to be a different kind of vibe after a long drawn-out day of tired people trying to get to the end of the day, and it didn’t ring true to that so much this time. I’ve heard a lot of people tell me, like, ‘Oh, you just gotta see how it’s changed.’ But I gotta say, they wasn’t lying.”
The change that RVD is referring to is what is being called the “Triple H Era” of WWE with Paul “Triple H” Levesque running the show as opposed to his father-in-law Vince McMahon, who officially left the company earlier this year after retiring initially over two years ago. When RVD worked for WWE, it was Vince McMahon running the show, so it’s different now.
Rob Van Dam Says There’s A “Fun Vibe” In WWE
Since RVD has wrestled for AEW in the last few years, he was asked about how the backstage environment was in both companies.
“Overall, it seemed to me like more of a happy and having fun vibe in both places as opposed to the tired, long, drawn-out days. It might be a reflection of the schedule.”
In AEW, they have no live events so they have two TV tapings per week for Dynamite (with Rampage) and Collision (with Ring of Honor). In WWE, they have cut back live events significantly so a lot of the talent gets most weekends off now as opposed to the past when there were over 300+ shows per year. TKO President Mark Shapiro said this year will have about 250 WWE events and it should go down to about 200 events in 2025, so the numbers keep going down.