Rob Van Dam Offers High Praise For A Few AEW Stars

Rob Van Dam made his return to "AEW Dynamite" this week, losing to Swerve Strickland in a hardcore match. On his "1 of a Kind" podcast, "The Whole F'n Show" shared praise for several current AEW stars.

"Brian Cage is pretty awesome," RVD said. "I kind of like to watch everyone and try to learn who they are, learn about their character, whatever. But there's certain guys — I know when Penta is in there, and his brother [Rey Fénix], I know they're going to be doing some pretty cool and amazing stuff. So I look for that. I like to watch people, and I look for what you expect from them, I guess. I mean, Darby [Allin] is known as the crash dummy now, right? ... I'll be looking for him to see what kind of crazy bumps he takes."

RVD has been making sporadic appearances for AEW since last summer. On the August 9, 2023 "Dynamite," the former WWE Champion unsuccessfully challenged Jack Perry for the FTW Championship. The following month, RVD teamed up with HOOK against Angelo Parker and Matt Menard on "AEW Collision." The WWE Hall of Famer then tagged with HOOK again in October, defeating The Dark Order's Alex Reynolds and John Silver on "Dynamite." Last summer, amid rumors of backstage discontent, RVD said that wrestlers he encountered backstage in AEW were "generally happy to be there." However, late last year, he questioned if AEW's up-and-coming stars respected the veterans enough, after hearing that they do not approach legends for their input.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "1 Of A Kind" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.