
WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam (RVD) recently appeared on an episode of his โ1 Of A Kindโ podcast, where he discussed a number of topics including pro wrestling having a potential off-season.
RVD said, โSo an off-season for wrestling, I mean โ You wouldnโt get the same f**king energy out of it. I donโt think that wrestlers can take time off. You know, hereโs one of these rules of thumb, or expressions in the business: they say that a wrestlerโs worst enemy, Iโve heard this like my whole career. A wrestlerโs worst enemy is time off. Iโve always heard that, and I take that to mean, especially from the wrestlers telling me that, that when they stop moving, thatโs when all the pain sets. And thatโs what Iโve always heard. Theyโre active, theyโre bumping, bumping every night, theyโre conditioned to go with it. And then when their job ends, or theyโre not getting booked or whatever, and they sit home then all of a sudden, then theyโre feeling all the aches and pains and stuff. And then itโs not easy to to go back and do it again. I think if they continue their lifestyle on the time off, then it could work. Even for me, like I mean, I continue to be active on months in between matches. Most people couldnโt do that I donโt think, the way that I can. Iโve always people say, โOh, I donโt know. Iโm feeling a little rusty tonight. What about you?โ No, but I do feel better and more conditioned after day one, especially if we spend a lot of time off. And then if like, a tour to Japan, letโs say. Day oneโs the hardest. Day two a little bit better and then, boom, pretty soon youโre like, โOkay, I got the hang of it.โ You feel all the bumps and bruises from that first night. So it would be counter-conducive to give wrestlers time off in some ways. But you know, it could work. But like [Katie Forbes] was saying, I think they would have to report to a ring, depending on their experience, at least a couple times a month, if not more on the time off.โ
On how to protect yourself from an unsafe worker:
โWell first off, at my level you shouldnโt be in the ring with unsafe workers too often. Sometimes I do work [with] some green person that a promoter wants to give a rub to instead of other like main eventers. That does happen sometimes. But by receipting them. So if somebody is unsafe, then thereโs a physical way of letting them know by you know, kind of shooting on them, hopefully for just one move. But it could be a little something. Itโs like โ thereโs like a balance and checks system out there. But if thereโs someone thatโs overall unsafe with everything and heโs just unsafe, probably doesnโt belong in the business, you know. So what are you paying me all this money for to be in there with someone like that? So people that I wrestle โ you know, TNA, AEW, WWE. Even if once in a while somebody does something thatโs a little careless, I donโt think anyone that I work with I would consider an unsafe worker, like overall.โ
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)