Jim Ross says Vince McMahon was right to suspend WWE legend without pay in 2006
Jim Ross recently recalled how Vince McMahon made the difficult decision to take the WWE Championship off Rob Van Dam (RVD) in 2006.
RVD and Sabu were pulled over by police after a WWE show on July 2, 2006. Van Dam, the WWE Champion and ECW World Champion at the time, was initially stopped for speeding. A police officer then discovered that he was in possession of 18 grams of marijuana and five Vicodin prescription pain pills.
Ross was working as a WWE commentator and talent relations executive when the incident occurred. On his Grilling JR podcast, he explained why McMahon had no choice but to suspend RVD for 30 days without pay:
"Well, we had to get it off the front page, so to speak," Ross said. "I think we handled it fine. We just followed policy. The policy was 30-day suspension without pay and you get a strike. We just followed policy, Connie [Grilling JR host Conrad Thompson], I think is the best way I can explain it to you. We were aware of what the policy was and the talents had agreed to the policy by signing the contract. We just followed the rules." [1:34:24 – 1:34:57]
WWE fined Sabu $1,000 due to his possession of drug paraphernalia. However, unlike RVD, he did not receive a suspension.
Jim Ross explains why Vince McMahon was right to take RVD's titles away
Vince McMahon booked Rob Van Dam to lose the WWE Championship to Edge on the July 3, 2006, episode of RAW. The following night, he lost the ECW World Championship to The Big Show.
Rob Van Dam with his WWE Championship back in 2006.RVD of course held the WWE Championship and ECW World Heavyweight Championship simultaneously,becoming the first to ever do so as well as being the first to hold both titles https://t.co/qFWxXKz5hQ
Jim Ross further explained why McMahon made the right call by immediately removing RVD from television:
"You had to, Conrad, you had to. You had to. I mean, it went public. It got out there. It made a headline. They had police involvement, all this other s**t. They shouldn't have been speeding. Look, here's the issue, real simple. If you're not speeding, you ain't gonna get stopped." [1:35:19 – 1:35:38]
Ross also told an interesting story about RVD refusing to lose against a former WWE Tag Team Champion on RAW in 1997.
Do you think Vince McMahon handled RVD's situation well? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit Grilling JR and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.