Rob Van Dam shares his thoughts on the controversial spot in a match between Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.
At the pay-per-view on June 25, Ospreay challenged Omega for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion. At one point late in the match, Ospreay slammed Omega on his head with the Tiger Driver ’91, and the move has sparked a lot of controversy.
Speaking with 1 Of A Kind With RVD, the WWE Hall of Famer shared his thoughts on the spot. He stated that the move is dangerous, but he’s not going to shame anyone or assume anything.
“So, you know, either way – dangerous, but I’m not going to shame anybody for it because I don’t know,” Van Dam said. “I’m not gonna act like I know what I don’t know. You know, I’m not gonna assume anything.”
The legend went on to describe how he would always tell his opponents to practically dump him on his head because his style was action-oriented. He stated that the spot looke good, and the risk was worth the reward because no one got hurt.
“I know that because I was so flexible and because I always wanted to put everything into all of my bumps and because my style is so action oriented. I used to always tell people like if they give me a back suplex to go ahead and like, throw me on my back of my neck and have my knees overshot and have my knees bounce off the mat while I’m landing on the back of my head. I did that to guys…and they would really take advantage of it, so they would like really put a lot into it and like, wham. And, uh, even if it did hurt sometimes my ego would never let me expose that. So I would just be like, ‘Send it in brother.’
“Did anybody go to take a a stretcher ride afterwards? Then the risk is probably worth the reward. It looked pretty f*cking good. It’s got us talking. Good job.”
The full podcast is available here.
Kenny Omega discussed the Tiger Driver ’91 spot and stated that he wouldn’t do anything he didn’t trust himself to do. Check out his comments here.
