Rob Van Dam Explains AEW Match With Jack Perry Will Put His Doubters 'To Shame'

On this week's episode of "AEW Dynamite," Jack Perry will put his FTW Championship on the line against WWE Hall of Famer and ECW alumni Rob Van Dam. Though Perry is literally half his age, RVD attests that he is fully capable of keeping up with the FTW Champion. During a recent episode of his "1 Of A Kind" podcast, Van Dam addressed some of the criticism he's received ahead of the title match, specifically in relation to his age.

"There's going to be a lot of doubters put to shame next week, let me just put it that way," he said. "Some of the comments that I read, like one dude said, 'He's too old and fragile from beating his body up.' Personally, I don't identify with old, because I don't feel old. But I understand that at 52, the younger people would look at that as old. I get that, it just is what it is. I'm not insulted, but I don't identify with it because I feel great."

While RVD can understand the remarks geared toward his "old" age of 52, he clarifies that his body is by no means in a fragile state like some commenters suggested it was.

"Fragile? Where did that come from? That's so alien, that's just weird to me too, that somebody [says that]. It's weirder than somebody thinking that my lungs are definitely damaged and [Perry]'s got better lungs than I do," RVD said, referring to his long-time use of marijuana. "That's weird to think like, 'What is that even based on?' I feel the same way but even weirder about 'fragile,' because that's just something that I've never been identified with."

As Van Dam later alluded to, he still continues to bump inside a wrestling ring every single year. Excluding his upcoming title match against Perry, RVD has already wrestled on two occasions this year, including a triple threat match against 2 Cold Scorpio and nZo (fka Enzo Amore).

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "1 Of A Kind" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.