WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam continues to be active in professional wrestling, with recent AEW appearances and regular commentary on current events — he even discussed being open to returning to WWE. On a recent episode of his podcast “1 Of A Kind With Rob Van Dam,” the industry veteran talked about the memorable WCW/ECW Invasion angle in 2001, calling it groundbreaking.

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“That was the ‘coolest’ storyline ever in wrestling I believe; to have WCW and ECW against WWF, which it was at the beginning of the invasion — that was unheard of,” the former ECW World Heavyweight Champion said. “Not long before that, WWE/F never even acknowledged there was any other organizations or any other history or place for wrestlers to get experience, if they weren’t in WWF then it just didn’t happen.”

The former WWE Champion continued to recall the unique interplay wrestlers had during this period in the context of the Monday Night Wars. “They [WWE] were just coming out from that (Monday Night Wars), and so times were changing really quick. It was exciting, they were acknowledging each other, parodying each other, poking at each other, it was awesome.” 

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Notably, Van damn became part of the main event scene during the WCW/ECW invasion storyline in the early 2000s, winning the WWE Hardcore Championship twice and going on to challenge The Rock for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin for the WWE Championship.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “1 Of A Kind With Rob Van Dam” with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.