On the most recent episode of 1 Of A Kind With RVD, Van Dam discussed a wide range of topics, including his thoughts on the WWE Hardcore Title. Initially, he thought the title was making a mockery of ECW.
“This is very relevant. When I was in WWE and I won – well, first, even before I got to WWE, like when I started watching the product before I got there, I was a little insulted by the Hardcore Championship because I felt like they were kind of making fun of ECW. And no offense to Crash [Holly], but he would do things to make them laugh. They would fight in the pit of balls for the kids and knock the taco cart over and fight at weird places. And when I won the WWE Hardcore Championship, I was Rob Van Dam. Just kept being me and, and, uh, and having great f***ing matches, and I loved it.”
Although he loved his reign, he thinks it ended the tenure of the title.
“I was f***ing loving it, and then it meant too much. So that wasn’t their plan. So what do they do? They retire it. They retire the f***ing championship while I’m wearing it while I’m having these kickass matches. Me and Tommy Dreamer had a match I think to retire it.”
(H/T to Wrestling Inc for the quotes)