10 Wrestlers Who Go Back Further Than You Think
9. Rob Van Dam
Accompanied by a quality interaction with company legend Gorilla Monsoon, Rob Van Dam shared details of his one night with WWE as "Matt Burn" after footage did the rounds of the former WWE Champion working a squash loss to The Mountie in particularly scruffy gear.
As 'Mr Monday Night' put it himself alongside the image in an Instagram post:
"So... in. 1992 Pat Tanaka hooked some of us boys from the Tampa Sportatorium up with jobs while the WWF was touring through. I thinks I got paid but didn’t work, then booked the following week in Biloxi. $150 bucks a shot was AWESOME compared to the $35 bucks I was making every Thursday at the Sportatorium. My problem was I didn’t want anyone to recognize me. I knew I was there to make the other guy look good, and although I hadn’t been wrestling long, I had a little magazine exposure as Rob Van Dam and I was planning on running with it. So, I wore a shirt( inside out) and my og blue trunks, let my hair down and called myself Matt Burn for an inside joke.After a quick match with the Mountie, some agents were complimenting my bumps when Gorilla Monsoon noticed my shirt. “We’re you wearing that in the ring? What’s the matter with you?!!” He was pissed and wanted to boot me in the ass! Lol They never did notice the irony of the name tho"