WWE Hall Of Famer Finds It “Always Offensive” When Celebrities Try To Wrestle

A WWE Hall of Famer is not a fan of celebrities wrestling in promotions.

For the Stamford-based company, the trend started in the 1980s as part of the “Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Connection,’ when it leveraged names like Cindy Lauper and Mr. T.

It was a move directed by Vince McMahon to boost the popularity of American professional wrestling.

The strategy worked, and it has remained ingrained to this date, with Hollywood stars, athletes, etc., making their presence felt inside the squared circle time and again.

One WWE legend, however, considers the practice offensive and insulting.

Rob Van Dam was one of the wrestlers brought from ECW during the Invasion storyline. He gained immense popularity among fans and stayed with the company till 2007.

During his 1 of a Kind with RVD podcast, he was asked to share his thoughts about the upcoming celebrity match at WWE SummerSlam.

RVD spoke about his disdain for it, saying it undermined full-time wrestlers, who shed blood and sweat every time they enter the ring.

You have to be an athlete to be able to do it. And so, like for me, it’s always offensive, because I take the perspective that in order to have a celebrity take a spot on a wrestling card, everyone else has to work around them to make it look like just anybody could do it. And I don’t like that, because not everybody could do it… It’s always insulting, though, for me, like when people feel like it’s, like it’s easy, like we’re just playing, or like just anybody can do it…

I always will feel defensive about the fact that my career took an incredible amount of physicality, an amazing amount of durability to be able to take, you know, a s–tload of punishment on a nightly basis, besides having the talent to even pick up the timing and have cool moves and any of that. And so I feel like a lot of that just gets thrown out the window in order to f—ing make, make this work. [H/T WrestlingNews]

Celebrity Match Added To WWE SummerSlam Card

Jelly Roll and Logan Paul are set to be on opposite corners at ‘the Biggest Party of the Summer.’

Jelly Roll was interrupted by Paul during a live performance on SmackDown, which resulted in Randy Orton verbally shredding him for insulting the music legend.

This resulted in Drew McIntyre attacking the 14-time world champion, leading to a singles match between them at Saturday Night’s Main Event XL.

While Orton won that match, McIntyre took out Jelly Roll with a Claymore Kick, setting up a tag team celebrity match at WWE SummerSlam.