🔥 “I Was Everywhere — and It Burned Me Out!” Rob Van Dam Opens Up About the Grueling WWE Schedule That Pushed Him to His Limit
WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam has never been afraid to tell it like it is — and this time, the high-flying legend is getting brutally honest about the side of wrestling fans don’t see: total burnout.
On a recent episode of his podcast, 1 Of A Kind, RVD reflected on how the nonstop WWE grind took a toll on him, and how he’s always been uneasy about wrestling being stretched so thin across countless shows.
“I Was Concerned About Oversaturation”
Van Dam admitted that even back in his prime, he worried that wrestling was becoming oversaturated.
“From a firsthand perspective, I’ve always been concerned about it,” he said. “But whatever analysis they use must be working, because they just keep doing more and more.”
Despite his concerns, RVD said WWE’s approach clearly works — the more content they produce, the more fans tune in. Still, for someone living that schedule day in and day out, it wasn’t easy.
“Why Does Everyone Have to See Me Every Show?”
RVD recalled what life was like when he was one of WWE’s most popular stars, appearing on Raw, SmackDown, house shows, and pay-per-views every single week.
“I used to say, ‘Why does everybody have to see me every single show?’” he laughed. “I felt like I had to show them new moves every week just to keep things fresh.”
That pressure to constantly reinvent himself was one of the secrets behind his incredible connection with fans — but it was also mentally and physically exhausting.
“It Just Never Stopped”
Van Dam pointed out that back then, WWE only had two hours of Raw each week — not the three-hour marathons fans get today.
“Even then, I thought there were too many hours of wrestling on TV,” he admitted. “When they made Raw three hours after I left, I was like, ‘Holy crap, really?’”
Despite not understanding how there could be that much demand, RVD acknowledged the company must be doing something right — because the machine just keeps rolling.
These days, Rob Van Dam enjoys a much slower pace, making special appearances in AEW and on the indie scene while reflecting on a career that redefined what it meant to be “one of a kind.”
