How do you sneak Rob Van Dam into an AEW arena without anyone noticing?
The ECW legend made the shock debut on the August 2nd episode of Dynamite, confronting FTW Champion Jack Perry and defending the honour of the extreme promotion.
The debut was kept as a surprise for the fans, with backstage reports only rumouring the Hall of Famer for an appearance at All In. Hours later, Walk by Pantera could be heard blasting through the arena as RVD walked out to a massive ovation from the live crowd.
Following the debut, Van Dam would disclose some behind-the-scenes information on his One of A Kind podcast. The Whole F’n Show revealed the lengths he went to so the secret wouldn’t get out:
Even a lot of the boys were surprised, and they went through so much trouble to hide me. Even after we pulled into the garage, they put me in a wheelchair and put a black curtain over the top of me and pushed me all the way back to this room and I just had my own room, so I was like, ‘I’m not gonna f*ck it up after they went through all that trouble’ and so I just stayed into my room until after my appearance. I was still seeing guys at the end of the night, Jeff Hardy and Matt and Brian Cage and they were still surprised. Everyone kept the lid on it pretty good,”
Rob Van Dam Makes AEW In-Ring Debut
Following the confrontation between RVD and Perry, a title match was made official for the following week’s episode, which would be Vam Dam’s first-ever match for the company. Despite the former ECW Champion coming out of the gates strong and hitting a Five Star Frog Splash, Jack Perry would hit a low blow and grab the trunks to walk out still the champion.
H/t to Fightful.