Rob Van Dam is glad to see that Paul Heyman's hard work has paid off.
WWE previously announced Paul Heyman as the first inductee in the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2024. Heyman revolutionized wrestling as the head of ECW in the 1990s. He has since had a successful career in WWE as well, both on-camera and behind the scenes.
Speaking with Bill Apter for Sportskeeda WrestleBinge, Rob Van Dam, who worked with Heyman both in ECW and WWE, was asked to share his reaction to Heyman's induction.
“It’s pretty cool they’re giving him his flowers because he was the man. He was the one that made ECW happen. He’s the one that really, not just him, but he’s the guy that made everything possible. It couldn’t have happened without him. He changed the business, he set new standards. ECW is because of him, his leadership, his braveness, his passion, his artistic direction. All of that is like, ‘Man, thank you, Paul. Thank you, Paul.’ At the same time, since he’s been in WWE, man, he’s just moved right up. I knew when I was there back then, we’re bringing ECW and all that, he didn’t get a lot of respect in the way of the other agents didn’t like ECW, were trying to fight it, didn’t want it to come in. They were giving him a hard time. They were like an opposition in a lot of ways. But man, all the boys seemed to know right away that, man, some people say he’s a genius. A lot of the boys have been really always commenting on how smart he is, and he would take the time to pull wrestlers aside and give them advice and everything, even before he was in a higher position where that was part of his job to do that. So to see him work his way up to being one of the, I don’t even know what he is now. At ECW, he ran everything. So to see him do that on a bigger platform with WWE, and I know he’s making bank. For all those dreams and sacrifices from back in the day, it paid off," Rob Van Dam said.
Heyman recently said that he turned down a WWE Hall of Fame induction multiple times. Check out his comments here.
ECW's legacy also lives on in HOOK, the son of TAZ. Click here to see what Rob Van Dam had to say about the FTW Champion.
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