Former WWE Superstar Rob Van Dam revealed touching advice that Vince McMahon gave to him about taking chair shots to the head years ago.
While promoting his new documentary ‘Headstrong‘, Rob Van Dam spoke to TV Insider and discussed about a conversation that he had with Vince McMahon when he first signed with the company. RVD revealed that McMahon advised him to put his hands up to protect his head from the chair shots but he didn’t want to do it because he wanted to show how tough he was.
“I never knew I could be doing long-term damage. For me, one of the things I enjoy about professional wrestling is showing how tough I am. That’s an outlet for it. I would get hit in the head with a chair, and I knew it would knock my senses a little loopy. This was part of the job for me. I just thought I was really tough because I could take it. Now I feel very fortunate that at this point in life that I don’t have the CTE that the football players have suffered…Vince McMahon told me when I first got into WWE to put my hands up to protect my head from those chair shots.”
Eventually the former WWE Champion argued with Vince McMahon but the boss “went all fatherly on him.”
“I was arguing with him because I was stupid because I thought I was tough. He went all father on me, ‘I’m your father telling you to put your hands up. He was really serious. Now I won’t be cheering on chair shots to the head, but most of my concussions have probably come from landing and hitting the back of my head. So, I’m going to be cautious of that as well. There’s been once or twice I’ve had similar things happen since shooting the movie. Thankfully, I didn’t get concussed.”
RVD also talked about his his wrestling schedule, his upcoming marquee match teaming up with Sabu to face Pentagon Jr. & Fenix at Impact Wrestling’s United We Stand event, AEW, and more. You can read the entire interview by clicking here.
