7 months ago
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Between 2010 and 2013, the main promotion fans could see Rob Van Dam perform for was TNA Wrestling. The WWE Hall of Famer joined after spending three years on the independent circuit and quickly found a home in the main event scene, winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship less than two months into his run with the company.
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RVD hasn't spoken much about his time in TNA, but during a recent edition of his "1 Of A Kind" podcast, he admitted that he felt great being made the champion of the second biggest promotion in the United States at the time.
"It was awesome," RVD said. "At that time, TNA was being talked at as another option, an alternative place to work that could possibly take care of you so that you're making a comparable amount of money."
Van Dam defeated both Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles in two separate matches to win TNA's top prize. But before his match with Styles, he recalls being told something by Eric Bischoff that he didn't seem that happy with.
"Eric Bischoff didn't seem too impressed with AJ," RVD said. "Before going out there, I just remember Eric saying just make it really short and quick, five-star frog splash middle of the ring, it sounded like he wanted me to squash the dude, which of course I didn't want to do. AJ's very talented, and we had a lot of matches together that were really good."
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Van Dam said that he suffered from a back injury throughout his TNA run which he felt prevented his matches with Styles from reaching that next level, claiming that the bouts, as good as they were, might not have lived up to expectations in Styles' mind.
Please credit "1 Of A Kind" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
