Rob Van Dam Wouldn't Have Found His Voice Without Paul Heyman And ECW's Influence

03/22/2025 04:20 PM

Rob Van Dam wouldn’t have been the wrestler he later became without the influence of Paul Heyman and ECW.

The WWE Hall of Famer was a star in ECW, both the original and the WWE reboot. While he never won the world championship in Paul Heyman’s promotion, he was the only ECW original to win the belt when the show was brought back in 2006.

Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Rob Van Dam was asked about where he’d be without Paul Heyman in his career. He admitted that had he not joined ECW, RVD would have jumped to WWE or WCW and not become the wrestler he did.

Rob Van Dam on Paul Heyman’s Influence

“If I hadn’t met Paul Heyman, I probably would have jumped right up to WWE or WCW. Because, at the time, they were the top two. There was no seeing one of them going down and the other sticking around. I wouldn’t have developed the way that I did—I probably wouldn’t have been as comfortable or fit in,” Rob Van Dam said.

Before ’96, when I came to ECW, I was hardcore. I was doing things I hadn’t seen done in the ring. When Sabu and I would wrestle, we were diving into the crowd, breaking tables, and stuff like that. Then, when I wrestled Sabu in ECW, the crowd had never seen anything like what we were giving them, but we had. I feel like if I hadn’t come to ECW, I wouldn’t have found my proper voice. I probably would have been much, much different,” added Rob Van Dam.

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