As noted, Impact Wrestling star Rob Van Dam returned to WWE TV for last night’s RAW Reunion special in Tampa. He appeared at ringside with “The Hurricane” Shane Helms, and WWE Hall of Famers Kurt Angle and Sgt. Slaughter, during the Sami Zayn vs. Rey Mysterio match. The group of Legends came down to prevent Sami from walking out on the match. Sami had previously insulted the Legends during a backstage segment.
This was RVD’s first WWE appearance since 2014. As noted on Monday in our pre-RAW spoiler report, RVD remains signed with Impact Wrestling through the Bound For Glory pay-per-view in late October, but he received written permission from the company to appear on RAW.
Above is video of RVD talking to the WWE camera after the show. He was asked how it felt to be back on RAW, and praised WWE for drawing a crowd like no other.
“Dude, that was awesome. I mean, obviously I haven’t been in front of a crowd like that since 5 years ago. I mean, where do you experience that in everyday life or anywhere else, except WWE? So, lots of energy. I can’t say I didn’t expect it, you know what I mean? I know I can count on my fans, but at the same time it’s really nice and I was a bit of a surprise, so super cool,” RVD said.
RVD was also asked what it was like to be back with familiar WWE faces and friends.
“It’s really nice,” he said. “Over the years there’s been a lot of reunions, lots of times at WrestleMania we say it’s a reunion. You see guys you haven’t seen in a while, but what I’m noticing is, its not always the same because we are getting older, and if everyone’s doing it like RVD, I’m getting wiser, too. And just because I don’t have as much competition behind my motives everywhere, I’m able to love a lot more instead of being like, ‘Ah, that guy, man. I’ll crush him, I’ll kill him!’ And instead, now it’s helped my zen even more to appreciate and love everybody. I mean, I’m not saying I won’t knock him out in the ring, don’t get me wrong.”
He continued, “You can’t have a RAW Reunion without Mr. Monday Night RVD. Alright, broke the fourth wall, bam!”
As seen below, RVD told one fan on Twitter that he was prepared to wrestle a match last night. It was indicated before RAW that the permission from Impact Wrestling included the appearance, but not a match.
I was. 😏 https://t.co/KDPMm0tWvU
— Rob Van Dam (@TherealRVD) July 23, 2019
