In 1986,Jesse Ventura opened the floodgates on what he thought would benefit professional wrestling in general: unionizing. Decades later, former independent wrestler David Starr reopened the dialogue with a more rooted trek than Ventura, but still not enough to make it a universal stance for the industry. While their efforts did not go unnoticed, it seems unions in pro wrestling aren’t likely to come to fruition. Rob Van Dam can see the positive effects unions have on other industries, but not in pro wrestling. On his “1 Of A Kind With RVD” podcast, Van Dam clarified why he does not support this movement.Â
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“So, I don’t know that I would say that I dislike unions. Mostly when I’m having discussions about unions, it has to do with my business, my industry, that I’ve been in for like 35 years. I don’t see a union being a good thing and working cohesively with pro wrestling,” Van Dam noted. “I’ve never understood it. I still don’t. And so, I’m not a fan of it, and when it comes to wrestlers wanting a union, I don’t get it. So, I’m not pro-union, that’s for sure.”
Van Dam further explained that while pro wrestling remains a popular pop culture attraction, it remains a small community with very diverse personalities. This explains why he does not see union tactics ever being universally applied in the squared circle.Â
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 “Pro wrestling is such a rare thing. You gotta figure how many people out of the population are going to be pro wrestlers. Not very many,” Van Dam pointed out. “When you look at it, what a small entity pro wrestling is already, and then you want to put demands on wrestling, no, you just want to put demands on the one big company.” Â
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “1 Of A Kind With RVD” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.      Â
