TNA star Rob Van Dam on being hazed as a new comer to wrestling, if Vince ever wanted his version of ECW to succeed, and if he had actual heat for busting guys open in matches

Shining Wizards Podcast with Rob Van Dam
Hosts: Tony Z, Eddie, and Matt
Interview available at Shiningwizards.com.

Recently the Shining Wizards spoke with former ECW Superstar, WWE Champion and Current TNA Star Rob Van Dam . Here are some highlights:

On other wrestlers taking liberties on him when he first started: Oh sure, thats just part of the coming up. Thats part of what you do. You're at a disadvantage, because you're just trying to do the right thing. It's not like it's an all-out fight in the street where you just wanna like take the guys eye ball out and leave him lying there with a punch to the throat or something. You're trying to be respectful to him and the business. And you're trying to gauge the whole ratio between entertainment and the physicality thats going on. So when you're young and green like that it defiently happens. It's not like an all-out challenge, it's about using tools against you that you don't even know, they can use yourself against you at that point.

Nothing comes to mind at the moment, but it happens. I remember one time in Japan, when I first started wrestling in Japan. I was young and green. I wore this happy coat like it was a karate gi. It was actually what japanesse wear when they get out of the bathtub, so they must have thought I was an idiot. I tied a black belt around it, and I had electric tape that I put around my ankles for some reason. For whatever reason, I thought I was getting support out of that. So they would kick the shit out of me. Kawada would make it a point of not reacting to when I was kicking him, and then he would kick the shit out of me and at first I really took offense to it, then it really fired me up. Made me want to give back, then I realized, thats what he wanted, thats what the match needed. Out of respect to him, you had to lay it in to him, or he can't react to it. He was at that level. That really helped me step up my game. It was years later, that I was stepping my game up too much for most americans.

His thoughts on weather Vince wanted the ECW Brand to be successful in WWE: No, No. I think that his ego was more important to prove that WWE was superior to ECW, then it was to try and do business. I think the king wants to be the king, and wants any competition to be visibly destroyed and devalued so everyone knows the king is the king.

Rumors of having heat about busting people open: When I came in, no one knew how to take the Van Daminator. I split open Booker T, Raven, Steve Austin, Test, everybody. The internet was going crazy with it. I had a match with Kurt Angle, and he got busted open, between the chin and the lip, I hit him with a leg drop on the table, and boom he was busted open. And when I was walking back, I passed Vince, and I said, Oh Vince, sorry about your boy, and Vince said, well next time he will learn to turn his head.