Rob Van Dam had an ‘awesome’ time attending WWE SmackDown

Rob Van Dam had an “awesome” time attending WWE SmackDown’s first episode back on USA Network.

RVD was one of the legends shown in the front row at last Friday’s episode, which was held at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. It marked the start of WWE and NBCUniversal’s new five-year deal for SmackDown’s return to USA Network. The show had aired on Fox since 2019.

On SmackDown, RVD and his wife Katie Forbes were briefly shown in the crowd prior to a tag team match where Kevin Owens & Randy Orton defeated Grayson Waller & Austin Theory.

“How about that? RVD just pops up wherever he feels like. That’s part of being The Whole F’N Show, you know? [laughs],” RVD said on his 1 Of A Kind podcast. “It was an invite that happened not with a lot of notice at all. It was awesome to be there.”

RVD said he was contacted by WWE last Wednesday to see if he was available to fly out the next day. While at SmackDown, he also filmed interviews for future WWE content. RVD said on his podcast that everyone was cool backstage and there was a good vibe at the show.

Paul Heyman and Paul “Triple H” Levesque were among the people RVD talked with backstage. RVD said the young talent in WWE was very respectful toward him, and the fans brought a lot of energy.

In 2021, RVD was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. He’s had occasional matches for AEW since first competing for the promotion last year.

WWE uploaded a post-show interview with RVD after he attended Friday’s SmackDown: