RVD reacts to Vince McMahon and Steve Austin’s CTE stance, Kurt Angle laments WWE return

During a recent edition of his “1 Of A Kind” podcast, Rob Van Dam discussed Vince McMahon and Steve Austin expressing disbelief in CTE in the “Mr. McMahon” documentary series on Netflix.

RVD also discussed WWE’s decision not to end Over The Edge following the tragic death of Owen Hart.

You can check out some of the highlights from the podcast below:

About McMahon and Steve Austin saying they don’t believe in CTE: “It surprised me and made me wonder if that footage was out of date. Because in the beginning, the whole idea was nothing but throwbacks, you know? And also, we hear Vince even say after describing: you know, chris nowinski went to chris benoit’s dad and had to talk him into giving his brain, chris benoit’s brain to chris nowinski so they could study it up there in boston and that was just like a big thing. And then because of the WWE perception, ‘Oh, they were talking about this bulls**t.’ happened, but wow. And even the way they told that story, it even made it seem like when Vince contacted Chris Nowinski, he said, “If you’re going to do something, at least let’s do it right and not just put this.” no bulls. Like that’s how it came across. But that might have been a little bit of what you were asking with the editing and stuff, maybe.

“It’s hard to believe (that) with everything we’ve learned over the last few years, that his thoughts, that is Vince’s. Also, I find it hard to believe that Steve Austin’s thoughts are still the same as now. That’s what at the time, it was just to deny it. And that’s it: change always backfires on the good old ones time, you know, that’s why you hear parents say, “Oh, we never wore seat belts when we were younger.” And our parents smoked cigarettes with the windows up. And yes, I went through all of that. Look at us. That’s where we differ. You know what I mean. You don’t even know .And you know, it might have been that. Anyway, the fact that Chris Benoit’s brain was… is that just a coincidence? it happened, in addition to having alzheimer’s like a 70 year old, on top of that, he also acted unlike the guy i knew, or many of us know and respect, and he spent the weekend doing this shit. king of the family? I don’t know I mean I don’t really believe in coincidences, because of synchronicity. I know that everything has its meaning and its place, and that it seems to be written right there for us.

On whether WWE should have ended Over The Edge after Owen Hart’s death: “Now most of the fans are like, ‘Yeah, I can’t believe he went on with this show.’ This shows you that he is the devil. I’ve always had the opposite opinion about it. You know, I get it. I totally get that. But then when I think about it, I think, like Vince said, I think if it were me, I think I’d want the show to go on. So how can I feel this way, not knowing how Owen felt?

During a recent appearance on the “NotSam Wrestling” podcast, Kurt Angle discussed his WWE career from 2017 to 2019, expressing that he didn’t feel valued during that time.

Despite being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Angle made limited wrestling appearances and ultimately lost his retirement match against Baron Corbin at WrestleMania 35.

You can check out some of the highlights from the podcast below:

Having his last match against Baron Corbin: “I wanted John (Cena) to be my retirement match, I don’t know if you knew, but I asked Vince. He said, ‘You’re going to have to wait until next year because you have a show with Baron Corbin “. So I said, “Okay, but I don’t think I can go another year, Vince.” He said, “Well, it is what it is.”

In his second career at the company: “I love Baron Corbin, but I just felt that my second time in WWE, I wasn’t appreciated as much. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I left the company on a high in 2006 and went straight to TNA. See, I was supposed to be back in WWE in six months. Vince wanted me to take six months off and come back. So, literally, when I left his office, I called (TNA) and I got a contract that day. I knew what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. And they said, ‘OK, if he comes back, we’ll give him a little lesson.’ You know? (laughs) Which is fine, I got it.

To wrestle with Cena during Cena’s retirement tour: “Listen, I’m sure if I made a call I could make it happen, but there’s no way I could (physically) do it. Unfortunately. But I would have loved to be one of John Cena’s retirement matches. I mean, I’m the one who had his first game.”