WWE Hall Of Famer Rob Van Dam is known for being one of the more laid back Superstars in history.
The former WWE Champion is arguably most associated with the original incarnation of Extreme Championship Wrestling, having held both the ECW World Television Championship and the ECW World Tag Team Championship during the company’s industry shaking peak in the late 1990’s.
An attempted reboot of ECW was launched under WWE ownership in 2006 and was never able to recreate the magic of the original brand. But it was not without drama, as the Battle Creek, Michigan native revealed recently.
Rob Van Dam Reveals Confrontation With Kurt Angle
Speaking recently on his podcast 1 Of A Kind With RVD, Van Dam recalled a time during the attempting relaunch of ECW when he had an issue with fellow WWE Hall Of Famer Kurt Angle.
“We might have bumped heads or something in the ring … the match was almost over.
He said something like, ‘You’re not listening to me.’ I took so much offense to that, you know? Being the veteran, and being in the position that I was, I was like, ‘What? I’m not listening to you?’
After the match, he left first, and I was still in the ring so hot about it. I got myself all worked up.”
A furious Van Dam stormed backstage to confront the Olympic Hero, who he encountered in a relaxed mood whilst eating some food. After a quick discussion the situation was quickly diffused with Angle seemingly having no recollection of his words:
“I was like, ‘Kurt let’s talk outside — right now. I was steaming. You said, ‘I am not listening to you? Who the f–k are you?’
He goes, ‘I didn’t say that, did I? I didn’t mean it if I said that.’
Just like that, it was over and funny. It was him being crazy Kurt. He kinda got that nickname for some of the people.”
Van Dam went on to highlight Angle’s talent and how much he enjoyed working with the Olympic Gold Medalist:
“First of all, Kurt is such a great wrestler. He took to the business so quick, he was so gifted.
I liked the competitiveness of wrestling with somebody like that, because you know it was going to be way different than wrestling someone like, I don’t know, One Man Gang.
And because I had that ECW spirit and fire inside me, I wanted to stand up to him, even though he was an Olympic hero.”
With thanks to WrestlingInc for the above transcription