Rob Van Dam Reveals WWE Pushed Him to Ditch His Iconic Ring Gear for Kurt Angle-Style Attire

Rob Van Dam’s colorful, form-fitting ring gear was as much a part of his identity as the thumb-point pose or the Rolling Thunder — but it turns out WWE once tried to change all of that. On a recent episode of his podcast, 1 Of A Kind with RVD, the Hall of Famer revealed that the company pushed him to swap out his signature look for something closer to the style of attire worn by Kurt Angle.

The disclosure came as part of a broader conversation about how much creative control WWE exercised over its talent. RVD’s gear — typically featuring bold colors and a distinctive cut — was a fixture throughout his tenure and helped cement his larger-than-life persona both in ECW and during his time on the main WWE roster. The idea that the company wanted him to conform to a more traditional amateur-wrestling aesthetic, in the mold of a decorated Olympian like Angle, underscores just how far the proposed change would have gone against the grain of everything Van Dam represented visually.

RVD has long been open about the friction that can exist between a performer’s personal brand and corporate preferences, and this anecdote adds another layer to that ongoing conversation. That his look ultimately remained intact is a testament to how embedded the gear had become in his overall presentation — it’s difficult to picture the five-star frog splash landing in anything else.

Van Dam was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021, with his distinctively recognizable ring gear very much part of the legacy being celebrated.