RVD Talks MLW Debut, Battle With Matt Riddle, And Birth Of The Frog Splash

Rob Van Dam in WWE
Rob Van Dam | WWE

WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam (RVD) recently appeared on his podcast, “1 Of A Kind,” where he discussed various topics, including his debut in MLW.

RVD said, โ€œWhat a popโ€ฆ. Great reaction from the people came out to. Came out to Kushinatorโ€™s music, the one that we used in TNA. And the people loved it because they knew within the first == what do you call that a measure in a song? Within the first few beats anyway, it was โ€˜Rob Van Dam,โ€™ and everyone was screaming, great reaction all the way down. And then yeah, I came in at the end of the battle. Ended up being me and Riddle. Thought he wanted to smoke an air doobie with me. Next thing I know, heโ€™s dumped my ass on the floor. But good experience. MLW was really cool. From my limited one-day experience, they were very professional and I respect their hustle and admire theirโ€ฆ I appreciate what theyโ€™re doing.โ€

On going from a split-legged moonsault to a frog splash:

โ€œI ended up switching that โ€” Damn, so thatโ€™s โ€™97. Itโ€™s weird because I thought I switched that like way before. Because Ron Slinker told me, โ€˜You got the split-legged moonsault. Itโ€™s pretty, but itโ€™s soft. And youโ€™re wrestling guys that are way bigger than you, you need to come up with a finish with more impact.โ€™ And it was Slinker, the same guy that named me Rob Van Dam. And then I came up with the frog splash, thinking. โ€˜Thatโ€™s the most impact I can think of is jumping up as high as I can and just coming down and throwing my weight and gravity on somebody, bam!’โ€

You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.

(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)