Rob Van Dam on WWE legend refusing to sell his finisher
Rob Van Dam (RVD) held the WWE World Tag Team Championship with Kane in 2003. In a recent interview, the Hall of Famer recalled how he felt after facing The Legion of Doom.
On May 12, 2003, Kane and RVD defeated Animal and Hawk in an impromptu match on RAW to retain the tag titles. The finish saw Van Dam hit a Five-Star Frog Splash on Hawk before defeating him via pinfall. Hawk then quickly stood up and left the ring, seemingly no-selling his opponent's finisher.
RVD said on the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast he was unsure why the legendary wrestler exited the ring so abruptly:
"I remember everybody talking about his no-sell because I think after the one, two, three he popped right up or something. I don't even know. I wouldn't remember that if it wasn't for fans commenting about it as if it was some incident that meant something to somebody. That stands out because I saw that and then I watched it and then was like, 'Oh, yeah, what's he doing?'" [28:21 – 28:50]
Animal and Hawk, aka The Road Warriors, were one of the world's most well-known tag teams in the 1980s and 1990s. They had not wrestled in WWE for four years before returning to face Kane and RVD.
Rob Van Dam on WWE's Legion of Doom decision
A day after the match, Animal and Hawk defeated CM Punk and Doug Delicious in an untelevised contest at a Velocity taping.
Based on their performance in the RAW bout, Rob Van Dam was not surprised WWE did not re-sign the tag team permanently:
"He [Hawk] hadn't worked in a long time either. Who knows? Who knows what was on his mind? It wasn't a great match. They didn't feel like the absolute best most compatible fit that I've ever been through the ropes with, and I don't think they had a job after that. I think it was just the one match and I don't think they got hired or whatever." [28:50 – 29:19]
Five months on from his brief WWE comeback, Hawk passed away at age 46. Animal wrestled again for WWE in 2005, 2006, and 2012 before passing away in 2020 at age 60.
Do you have any favorite Legion of Doom memories? Hit the discuss button and let us know.
Please credit the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use Rob Van Dam's quotes from this article.