Rob Van Dam Comments on Strict Language Rules In WWE

During his recent podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam reflected on the restrictions he faced regarding terminology during his time in WWE. He stated, “Everybody knows that when I was in WWE, Vince had long ago decided that we were sports entertainment, right? We weren’t allowed to call ourselves wrestlers… Everybody in 2001, 2002 through at least most of — if that ever changed, then I don’t even know when the f**k it was. But when I was there, we were all to call ourselves superstars. If we did a promo and said, ‘Hey, that’s right, one of your favorite wrestlers is coming to your town!’ They go ‘Cut, cut! One of your favorite superstars.’ ‘Oh, okay,’ And that was the rule. And maybe that’s changed.”

Rob also elaborated on the nature of change within the industry, saying, “The rules and policies always change. And you know, it has to. They’re always evolving and adapting as the times change. And oh my god, how many times have I said in the last week that the world changes so fking much and so fast. Like, we were talking about the future and I was saying, even what I do — you know, if I’m working ten years from now, whatever I do could be — I could be involved in something that’s not even here right now, something we couldn’t even dream of. And that’s how it is, you know? I go back to 2001 when we picked up our first cell phones. You know, they weren’t very smart back then and had the fking cord. And anyway, the flip-up. But we could never have imagined that, ‘Yeah, take a picture and send it to Japan, he’ll get it instantly,’ Like, what you couldn’t imagine before it happened.”