Rob Van Dam Recalls Learning How to Kick Via Breaking Sabu's Jaw

Rob Van Dam's kicks were a staple of his wrestling arsenal throughout his decades in the wrestling [...]

By Connor Casey

Rob Van Dam's kicks were a staple of his wrestling arsenal throughout his decades in the wrestling business. But as he explained in a new interview with Ryback on Conversation with the Big Guy, RVD often had trouble throwing some of his spinning kicks without hurt his opponent. He recalled one of his first incidents being against his long-time ECW tag partner Sabu when he accidentally broke his jaw.

"When I learned to do that kick, I was training with Sabu," he said. "This was before my first match. And I said to Sabu, 'I want to jump out of the corner and do like this jumping spinning back kick and I think that would be cool.' Because I was into martial arts I was kickboxing before I met Sheik and Sabu. And Sabu's like, 'Okay. Just try and do it.' And I said, 'Yeah but I want to know is there a way like I could do that without breaking your jaw?' I said, 'I know how to kick your face and break your jaw, but I mean is there like an industry secret?'

"And Sabu said, 'Well, just try not to break my jaw and then if you do, then when it heals up, we'll try again and just try to pull back a little more,'" he continued. "I'm like, 'I'm not comfortable with that. Isn't there like a way, do I aim somewhere else or something?' (Sabu said) 'Just try and do it. You're good. You'll be able to pull it.' So, I jumped off the ropes. I kicked him in the face. I broke his jaw. He's eating out of a straw. And soon as his jaw healed up, I'll be damned if he didn't say, 'Okay, let's try that again. This time try and pull back a little more.' That's the way I got trained. It really doesn't take, like, an inch to be from just smacking somebody so perfect that you just kind of smack their feet. And like a little inch over, it can cause a lot of damage."

RVD recalled another instance during his time in TNA Wrestling where he accidentally knocked out Abyss' teeth with a kick. He then recalled hurt Ryback with a kick, but "The Big Guy" said he was more made at himself afterwards because, after getting nailed with the kick, the television cameras caught him dropping the f-bomb.

Van Dam is currently promoting his new documentary Headstrong and will return to the ring for Impact Wrestling's United We Stand event during WrestleMania 35 weekend. He's currently booked to team with Sabu to face AEW's Fenix and Pentagon Jr.

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