Rob Van Dam Defends Ricochet Over Inflammatory Tweets

When Ricochet, in full character as a heel, responded to a disabled fan criticizing him on Twitter by saying he was glad they had MS, the fan reaction was swift and outraged. Ricochet initially doubled down, saying it was hypocritical of fans to send him death threats while criticizing him for being similarly outrageous. Ultimately, though, he did apologize.

(Ricochet may have been inspired by MJF notably staying in villain mode for fan interactions, which has also drawn criticism in some corners.)

On TMZ’s Inside the Ring podcast, ECW and WWE legend Rob Van Dam took Ricochet’s side in the situation. Asked if Ricochet went too far, RVD responded, “You guys know I have a history with the Internet mark community. I think they went too far, you know.”

He then compared it to the kinds of things ECW talent used to say to the audience. “I’m not saying I got his back, but I think ooh, big deal. Is it that much worse than saying, you know, f**k off and die? I mean, that’s like, nobody would care if you said that, right?”

“I do look at it different than than most people. And I expect to get a lot of hate for saying that, by the way. But who cares? You know, it’s freedom of speech. What a horrible thing to say, but come on. Like, so what? Like, why take it that seriously? And who even knows if he was just trying to get being a heel? I doubt that he really truly felt that way, you know, and I always think that you should judge by intentions behind the the words.”