Rob Van Dam Backtracks After Raja Jackson Incident

Rob Van Dam has explained his unpopular take on the sickening Raja Jackson incident that left a pro wrestler fighting for his life.

At a recent KnokX Pro show, the son of UFC star Rampage Jackson, Raja Jackson, got in the ring and dumped wrestler Syko Stu on his head before hitting the unconscious star in the face 21 times before eventually being dragged off him by other wrestlers.

The incident sicked the entire industry with Stu’s long-term health left in serious doubt as a result of the attack. That’s why so many fans were perplexed when Rob Van Dam took the chance to make the situation all about him, as he posted “I back Raja” on social media.

Rob Van Dam Explains Poor Taste Take

Speaking on his 1 Of A Kind podcast, Rob Van Dam explained his post and why it didn’t necessarily mean what people thought it meant:

I want to start out by saying, best wishes to f***ing Syko Stu Smith. Hopefully, he will regain his health and do it quickly. That’s a shame. He definitely didn’t deserve what happened to him.

If you thought that me saying that was somehow hypocritical because my text said that ‘I back Raja,’ then you are one of the basic thinkers that can’t understand how those can both be true in the same universe.

I’m not picking a side [with that post]. If I did, I’m not even saying that it would be Raja. All I’m saying, it’s like when [Jim Ross] said that Vince [McMahon] was looking ugly, and then he said, ’Well, that’s the pot calling the kettle black.’ One has nothing to do with the other. Right? So I’m not saying that this guy Stu deserved what happened to him by saying that ‘I got Raja’s back.’

When I watched everything and when I say that ‘I have his back’ I’m not saying I’m going to stand back to back and fight a crowd of f***ing million people that are trying to lynch him. What I’m saying is, I see the pathway that he took that led to what happened.

RVD followed up by noting that, as an outsider to the pro wrestling business, Raja Jackson should never have been put in the position for things to go so tragically wrong:

He’s not a pro wrestler. He shouldn’t have been part of this at all.

KnokX Pro is owned by WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi, which seemed to be enough for it to be affiliated with WWE as part of its ID program. WWE has cut ties with the wrestling school in response to the Raja Jackson incident.