Rob Van Dam On Jeff Hardy, 'Hardcore' In WWE & What To Learn From Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock

Plus, RVD teased his AEW appearance on the latest "1 Of A Kind."

The latest episode of “1 Of A Kind With RVD” released everywhere last Monday at 4:20 PM ET. I’ve included some quotes where RVD looks back at his battle with Jeff Hardy over the WWE Hardcore Title at WWF Invasion back in 2001. Plus, Van Dam gives some insight as to what Rock vs. Hogan at WrestleMania X8 meant for crowd reaction. (If you use any of the quotes please embed/backlink to the episode)

Rob Van Dam Gives His Thoughts On The WWE Hardcore Title:

“I was insulted by it until I got it. And that was because I felt like they were making fun of us and ECW because we have this, in my opinion, superior artform, making wrestling cool.

“To people that aren't even wrestling fans like something like ‘you've got to see this’ and and and obviously I was a big proponent of it and and always will be but then I would see the Hardcore Title match on Monday Night Raw or whatever and in my opinion from that competitive state of mind I thought they were making a joke out of it.

“It pretty much meant the hot dog stand is going to get tipped over. They're going to fall in the pit of balls in the kids area. Like, that's, the hardcore match was something to laugh at. Stick a plunger in your face. And for me, I had a lot of pride in it.

“So when I was the Hardcore Champion, guess what? And all of a sudden, the Hardcore Title matches sometimes are the best match on the card. That can be subjective, but to the people that enjoyed it, continuously the best match on the card. I even main-evented. And I know they didn't want the Hardcore Championship to be a main event on their shows and so what do they do? They got rid of it. I was making the belt mean too much. 

On being enthralled by The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8

“WrestleMania X8 and just like that for me, like I want to go back and rewatch it sometimes just cause it was like the way that they were controlling the crowd and just getting the reaction that they wanted was just like so superior. That's what it felt like when I was there.

“The Sheik told me, when he was training me one time … he said, ‘One day,’ he says, ‘Everything's going to click and it's going to be like you're just pushing buttons. You want the people to stand up? You can really make them stand. You want them to sit? You will make them sit down.’ I was like, ‘Wow,’ and I think about that right now, when I think about how Hulk was with The Rock cause I didn't even see a lot of that match but they were like a face-to-face and there was so much excitement, you know? And I was like, these are like the two biggest stars ever.

“It was like pushing buttons. It was amazing.”

On working with Jeff Hardy when he was only 23 during WWF Invasion in 2001:

“I loved everything about working with Jeff from hearing the lineup, you know what I mean? And saying like, ‘Oh, sweet, I got Jeff tonight.’ And just everything is good and similar vibe.

“And I didn't know he was that young. That makes sense, you know, in a different way now because now I get why he always seemed so giving and trusting 

“It was more like he was excited, you know, Looking forward to going out there and f***ing crushing it.”