Booker T has given his reactions to Rob Van Dam’s first-ever match in AEW.
RVD had his first match on a major televised promotion in over 3 years on the August 9th episode of AEW Dynamite, challenging Jack Perry for the FTW Championship. Giving the fans what they came to see, the Hall of Famer busted out the classic moves including the Rolling Thunder and the Five Star Frog Splash.
Speaking on the Hall of Fame Podcast, Booker T praised the ECW legend for still performing the acrobatic moves years later:
“It was good to see Rob out there doing his thing, because I’m gonna tell you, Rob loves the squared circle. Rob is in his zone when he’s inside the squared circle, and I give him props for going out and bringing back some of the old hits.”
What was even more impressive was that Van Dam was still diving onto guard rails and jumping off of the top rope at 52 years old. The 6-time World Champion continued his review of the match, believing that RVD was slightly hesitant before executing the higher impact moves.
“I thought Rob did damn good. You could tell, though, one thing about when you get to that number, you got to think about everything before you do it. You don’t just think, you asked God to help out a little bit.”
Prior to the surprise debut the week prior, Van Dam would go to great lengths to keep his appearance a secret.
Booker T And RVD Are Former Tag Team Champions
The two Hall of Famers would work together to reach the top of the tag division during the Ruthless Aggression Era. Teaming up on the February 16th 2004 episode of Raw, Van Dam and Booker T would defeat Ric Flair and Batista to capture the titles. The reign would only last 35 days when the champions would lose the gold back to Batista and Flair.
Whilst discussing NXT, the commentator for the show believed that there was no reason why the WWE brand could not draw more than 1 million viewers.
H/t to Wrestling Inc.