Can anyone tell me why this shitter was so over?

RVD 1996-1999 was one of the greatest things I've ever seen in pro wrestling. Young fags don't understand how revolutionary, new and incredible Dude Weed and Sabu were in their day.

Young fags who haven't seen his ECW work just don't know. He was Dude Weed in ECW but it was soooooo much better because he was a cocky dickhead with the most obnoxious manager ever in pro wrestling.

There were plenty of flippy shitters at that time. The only difference being guys like RVD gave it their own unique twist. He was that Zen/martial arts type of guy and he tailored his moves to reflect that. So did his music and costume.

Same with mysterio. Else you would end up with bland flippy shitters like Rollins.

He had a completely original style, especially by 1990's standards. There is no one else who worked the way RVD did. The idea of someone using a chair to kick people in the face was just mindblowing.

You cannot imagine what it was like to see RVD for the first time when you were trained to believe that the WWF and WCW styles were the only way to do wrestling.

He also had a pretty cool look that really fit the character.

He also really fit the times as everyone in the 90's grew up on action hero people like JC Van Damme and others.

this motherfucker is the goat seller of piledrivers and ddts and rkos tho

This. Too many newfags here who didn't live through the 97-2001 glory years of the business

youtube.com/watch?v=dbNETsr4KZ8

>is so fucking flexible and strong he invents his own lift

truly based

I dont know but he was one of the only guys to get my dimes as a kid during his last E run, to this day hes in my top 5 on aesthetic alone

>one of the best sellers of all time doesn't know how to sell
is this a joke user?

HEY HUNTER!!

still seething that Rob signed with TNA over some retarded NXT contract or """"legends"""" deal?

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I saw him at an ECW house show in like 1999. It was at some 2 bit armory or some shit in Winston Salem, NC. He almost hit hit head on the lights when he did his 5 star frog splash. Pretty based.

youtu.be/RBsiJGpmgYM Based

I thought he stil owed vince some favors or some shit

>RVD 1996-1999 was one of the greatest things I've ever seen in pro wrestling. Young fags don't understand how revolutionary, new and incredible Dude Weed and Sabu were in their day.

This.

Barely Legal was my first ever time seeing ECW when I was kid and I immediately thought everyone in it was like the coolest and realest dudes ever. I swore for years that the Eliminators and RVD were the best wrestlers ever. The whole promotion was just so different and so fit the times when you grew up on New Generation and Hulk era WWF. These guys all looked extreme and just did shit you never saw anywhere else. I was obsessed with that promotion.

Most of the flippy guys had actual characters and good storylines too.

It also felt like WWE's standard was ex bodybuilders and football guys so it seemed like they were doing something forbidden.

I keep hearing this but what was so special about RVDs flippy shit compared to say other flippy shitters at the time like Eddie, Malenko, Mysterio or current ones like Rollins?

>Eddie, Malenko
>flippy
zoom zoom

>comparing RVD to Dean Malenko on the basis of flippyshit
just stop user. you're exposing yourself

the absolute state of this zoomer

THIS IS PURE ZOOMER

How related was he to Van Damme? He actually looked like him.

I should've worded my post better. He's great at selling individual moves, but he can't sell in terms of ring psychology. Like I just watched him and Eddie at Backlash 2002 the other day and despite Eddie working on Rob's leg the entire match, Van Dam didn't adapt his move-set or sell any serious leg pain. It just took all the stakes out of the match.

t.overdosing boomers.

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THIS IS NOW AN RVD APPRECIATION THREAD

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RVD was one of those guys that Vince tried to push despite being from another company. It's because of his lackadaisical attitude that he wasn't a bigger star than he was.

Before RVD went to the E had his moveset neutered to nothing but kicks and splashes and became "Dude I'm implying I'm stoned" he was very different. He wrestled that Japanese style where he could mix strikes in with actual moves in an era where big leagues still unironically had back rakes and he adapted it to the ECW hardcore style. His character was that he knew full well how good he was and was laid back out of arrogance not because he was stoned (I mean he was but not as part of the character). He was Mr.Monday night and could jump to the WWF or WCW if he felt like it and the TV title was more important than the ECW title because he had it and couldn't be beat.

>6'
>High flyer
>Technical
>Hardcore
>Charismatic and with a natural personality

Just watch some ECW/WWE highlights to see why he was an organic product

HO-LY SHIT!
HO-LY SHIT!

He's one of the only wrestlers in the business where flippyshit matched his gimmick so it was way more believable. RVD is supposed to be this martial artist wrestler so his moveset complimented his character in comparison to other wrestlers where the flippyshit of other wrestlers seems more like an unnecessary meme. Watch some of his old ECW work user. He also did a few matches in WWF back in 97, look at the reaction of the crowd, they have no idea what they're seeing since it was different at that time

>I keep hearing this but what was so special about RVDs flippy shit compared to say other flippy shitters at the time like Eddie, Malenko, Mysterio or current ones like Rollins?

Eddie, Malenko and Mysterio were not flippy shitters. Malenko didn't even flip. Rey is one of the best babyface workers ever.

There were no indy shitters at the time because there weren't really even any indies. And there weren't tons of flippies and spotty people like you have now. Liger, Pillman and Muta were like the flippy dudes for WWF and WCW. X-Pac was probably the first indy guy who really made it big and then the Hardyz Omega was probably the first big Indy promotion next to ECW.

>He's one of the only wrestlers in the business where flippyshit matched his gimmick so it was way more believable. RVD is supposed to be this martial artist wrestler so his moveset complimented his character in comparison to other wrestlers where the flippyshit of other wrestlers seems more like an unnecessary meme.

Well put. Same with Sabu. He was a high-flying maniac. You expect him to do dumb and dangerous shit. Wrestlers of today have forgotten that part.

If he somehow averaged 3 star matches (he didn't) he's better than every single person currently wrestling in the US. Unless you're a faggot who overrates everything and think the women's match last night was 3+ stars like plebbit.

RVD vs jerry Lynn is some of the goat matches

His character was way better too in ECW and he was violent as fuck. Some those Van Terminators Shane is trying to steal now where he'd throw the chair in a guy's face and then full on jump kick is still some of the most vicious shit I've ever seen in pro wrestling.

Shane wouldn't be trying to rip off RVD wholesale if it wasn't some of the coolest shit in wrestling.

Plus he was this cocky dick who was constantly talking about how he was too good for the ECW fans and was going to sell them out to go to the big companies.

The WWE character was literally about 5% of the ECW character and about 20% of what he was in the ring.

Yea I still remember that WM where Shane stole the VanTerminator. Pretty disappointing desu but unsurprising as Shane admitted he was an ECW mark

Eh, not really. The gooks juniors were more inovative while also wrestling smoother and with less botches. But I get what you're saying that the average burger wouldn't know about them and found RVD and Sabu more revolutionary than they really were.

Lol do you know how to read?

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Look at this hipster zoomer fagoot. The internet wasn't a thing back then. You had magazines and that's about it. And no one gave a fuck about bland gooks back then. The only gooks anyone had exposure to was cannon fodder on the first hour of WCW

There were some BASED japs in ECW from FMW and Michinoku Pro

cant do a promo but still had more charisma than 90% of the current wwe roster. really makes you think

The thing about Rob Van Dam is, he made his appearance in ECW right before WWF's attitude era actually kicked off.

Pro wrestling hadn't really seen things like MMA and lucha libre adapted in wrestling yet. Eddie was more of a technical wrestler at the time with one flippy finisher. He wasn't anything like RVD. Rey Mysterio is the only remotely close comparison but even he only really had the lucha libre style.

RVD had this unique blend of MMA, lucha libre, and even hardcore blended in. The dude could literally be put in any type of match and it would be 10/10. He also invented the coast to coast move but it looked a lot more devastating than Shane's modified version because RVD kicked a chair directly into your face, as per Shane who kicks a trash can which collapses in your face.

Before the days of ECW, nobody had seen someone jump off the second row of the crowd and slam directly onto a concrete floor or a table onto a concrete floor. RVD and ECW completely revolutionized the way we see extreme wrestling today. And like all the other user's are telling you, go watch some of his old ECW stuff. You'll see no one was doing what he was doing at that time

Which is why I included the last part, ya brain dead mark.

He is flexible as fuck, it was always nice to watch him do those really high bendy kicks

he's probably my all time favorite, i've loved him since I was a kid

Hell watch his ECW promos in general. He was always based as the arrogant pot head that backs up what he says. One of my fav. promo moments was him and Sabu and he kept taking shots at Sabu and Fonzie had to hold him back, then at the end he closes with the line
>"The real question tonight is how is RVD gonna carry all these titles, and my partner too?"

The stretcher match between him and Sabu is one of the most Kino matches in ECW.

Yeah, OP says he averaged 3 star matches at best, implying he averaged around 3 star matches. He is a 2 star (at best) wrestler who did the same 4 extremely choreographed fake looking spots for 20 years.

>RVD flips
Make a guy catch a chair and then roundhouse kick the chair into his face
>NXT shitter flips
Attempt a Canadian destroyer and botch it because you're a 120lbs manlet with no functional strength

He didn't have a character in WWF and he barely got the mic to talk. He did good promos in ECW.
As for his in ring style, it was really unique at the time, at least in the states with lots of kicks in an era where most guys could barely lift their leg high enough to reach the other guy's groin. Booker T was really the only other guy doing high kicks like that but Book had more power moves while RVD could work hard or with cool unique spots. Vince can suck a dick for not pushing both of these guys.

>He is a 2 star (at best) wrestler who did the same 4 extremely choreographed fake looking spots for 20 years.
Van dam spots look better than almost all floppy shit today.

I'd 100% hold a chair in front of my face after RVD throws it, especially after I've seen that spot 5000 times. Very realistic.

>Vince can suck a dick for not pushing both of these guys.
HHHetty is at fault for booker and from everything I hear vince loved rvd and wanted to push him but he wasn't interested in being the main guy.

If you were tired and you didnt want the chair to go in your face when he threw it you would

Prime RVD was one the most fun wrestlers to watch in the 90's. Even today his style is somewhat unique.

You sound like a retard, willing to gobble up most shit in this fake ass children's stunt game of pretend fighting but will bitch and some just because. It's human instinct to catch something thrown at your face.

>just because
People have been shitting on RVDs trash for decades you zoomer faggot

Booker had long been geeked out before that Pauletty match, that was just the final nail in the coffin.

>I'd 100% hold a chair in front of my face after RVD throws it, especially after I've seen that spot 5000 times.

As opposed to letting your opponent to letting your opponent slowly put you in position for overly complex circus trick which is what most flippy shit is today.

If you wanted realism then the only style of wrestling you should like is brawling.

>If you wanted realism then the only style of wrestling you should like is brawling.
I don't like people holding a chair for several seconds when there is tons of time to drop it, move it, or hit RVD with it while he does he gay ass spin kick he missed half the time anyway

As opposed to letting your opponent slowly put you in position for an overly complex circus trick which is what most flippy shit is today.

If you wanted realism then the only style of wrestling you should like is brawling.

Brawling is still choreographed and overly slow.

What is this, a high-spot for ants?

>there wasn’t any indie wrestling in the 90’s

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>Can't do a promo
The whole point of the character was that everyone in ECW was fucking nuts or took drama 101. Then, here comes this nigga on his "DUDE WEED LMAO" shit and the crowd would eat it up. His whole character was that he was the shit and didn't fuck about anyone.
His promos were very-effective for his character to the point that he was main eventing over the fucking world champion of ECW.

He had to be tamed in WWE, but he still managed to get over because he was doing flippy shit and always stood out. Say what you want, but everyone fucked with RVD. This is why Haitch buried him.

Same reason Riddle is over today. Dude Weed LMAO. Marijuana is always over regardless of the era brother.

Paul Heyman is to thank for most of this. He took a misfit cast and turned them into the coolest most revolutionary fuckers in pro wrestling history. ECW leading up to Barely Legal was the goat era of pro wrestling

Yeah. I recommend that anyone who's trying to get into ECW to torrent VHS rips. Another part of it was the music that ECW would play. You'd have stock music in WCW and WWF, while ECW was getting away with playing Grunge, Rock and Hip-Hop, because they aired at like 2, and were small enough to get away with it.

Then, you have the angles and storylines. Shit, Raven/Dreamer alone spawned so many acts that branched away from that one feud. It was something different that can't be done.

here you go fren
youtube.com/watch?v=u24BYBUIsKA

is he too old to wrestle now?

for sure, no shame in that but he doesn't seem to get it

He and sabu had a match against the lucha bros last week