Rob Van Dam revealed recently the tale of how he tried hard to get former WWE boss Vince McMahon to appreciate the unique talents of one former ECW champion.
During a recent edition of his “1 Of A Kind” podcast, RVD explained how Vince McMahon’s personal feelings played a massive role in why former rival and ECW champ, Jerry Lynn, never caught on during his short time in WWE.
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“Well there’s only one way to put it: Vince didn’t like him,” RVD said. He remembered trying to show off the chemistry he had with Lynn during a match on “Sunday Night Heat” a secondary show at the time.
“We had a match and we did our stuff out there. It was short but I liked the match,” he added. But despite their efforts, Vince wasn’t impressed. “What I was told was that Vince wasn’t a Jerry Lynn fan for some reason,” Rob Van Dam said.
The Impact of Vince McMahon’s Personal Opinions Forever Affected WWE
Jerry Lynn was great in ECW but struggled to adapt to WWE and its backstage politics. He did win the WWE Light Heavyweight Championship during his short time there but was let go in early 2002 after a knee injury kept him out for a while. The match RVD mentioned happened to be one of Lynn’s last matches in WWE.
After leaving WWE, the two wouldn’t face off in the ring again for nearly a decade. Their rivalry was picked up again in 2011 in TNA Wrestling. And throughout their tenure, they provided some of the most memorable matches for the company. Their last match was in 2013 before Lynn retired from professional wrestling.
RVD’s comments revealed how backstage politics and McMahon’s personal opinions could directly affect how a wrestler’s career prospects would unfold. In ECW, Jerry Lynn established a legacy as one of the most gifted in-ring performers. His brief run with WWE is a reminder that even the most gifted wrestlers can face roadblocks in their career that sometimes have nothing to do with their ability in the ring.