WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam recently spoke on his podcast, “1 of a Kind,” about a variety of professional wrestling topics including Paul Heyman going into the WWE Hall of Fame:
“I think it’s really cool. I think that it’s giving him his well deserved flowers. I worked with Paul obviously in ECW so I have that perspective of him with his hands-on skills of building superstars, helping talent find their way and connect with their skills, and maybe even, definitely even exposing some of their weaknesses so they know about it. He’s just always been that guy that obviously we can all say ECW wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for him. The whole F’N show wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for Paul. When I was in WWE with Paul, I really got a kick out of seeing the WWE wrestlers giving Paul the same respect that we did in ECW.”
If he should be the one to induct Paul Heyman into the WWE Hall of Fame:
“I think they can definitely find somebody better than me. It would be an honor, and of course if I was nominated and asked to do it, I would give it my best. I think that I would want input from other wrestlers, too that I think should have got picked probably over me. I mean, Dreamer, Bubba, Taz, those guys know Paul a lot more than I do. They were in New York. I would see him on the weekends. They’d see him all week and they were there in the office and the production studio, helping move the TV forward, also with merchandise and just booking towns. Everything. They really worked with him, and so there’s that. Even before ECW, he managed a lot of wrestlers. Some of them could probably tell some good stories about Paul transitioning from being the fan that was selling programs to the camera guy to, you know, actually managing talent, or however. If that pathway is flawed, then excuse me, but it was something like that. The Samoans, I don’t know if they speak English that well, but there’s definitely some others. Franchise Shane Douglas, I put him on my list. I don’t know what their relationship is, but that’s how I feel about it. I’d be honored. Of course I would do it. I would want input from everyone else and I feel like I only knew one, maybe two sides of Paul.”
You can check out the complete podcast below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
