Van Dam in St. Louis

He’s been known as “Mr. Monday Night” and the “Whole F’N Show” but when Rob Van Dam takes the spotlight at Pops it will be on stage instead of in the ring. The former ECW, TNA, and WWE Champion will be performing a stand-up comic set following the St. Louis Cardinals home opener.

“This is really me, not speaking about how important my Intercontinental championship match title defense coming up on Friday means more than anything in the world and how I’m eating, sleeping, and breathing that,” explained Van Dam. “No, you’re not gonna get that character. You’re going to know me if you see this set and afterwards, you’ll say ‘Oh my, I had no idea you were so intelligent.’ How could you know, how could you?”

Still active in the ring, Van Dam has always been a fan favorite–both for his charisma and innovative, high-risk moves. But doing stand-up is something RVD is doing for himself, not for the accolades.

“This is just about my message,” he shared. “I enjoy writing, explaining my views, and I enjoy delivering it. That’s what I get out of it. I’ve had other comedians say if you need any help writing–like get the hell away from me. How are you going to express me?”

Van Dam drew a wrestling comparison.

“It would be like if you were, I don’t know maybe Triple H and every wrestling match was totally just like your view and the match went exactly 100% how you wanted it and it wasn’t a compromise of two people,” he chuckled with a clarification.

“Actually, it’s not like that working with Hunter–I just threw his name in there to throw him under the bus. But it would be like that. Any wrestling match, you’ve got somebody–a promoter or the agents, whoever, who has their idea of something that they want out of it. And of course, the guy you’re wrestling has ideas of what he wants out of it. You mesh it together and the result is the finished, compromised product. That’s what you get. I don’t enjoy that stuff, really. It’s like negotiating, which I don’t like to do. It is negotiating. When I go on stage, no negotiating. It’s me, mic in the hand and I’m going to tell you what I want to tell you.”

Van Dam actually began working on his stand-up about ten years ago, but normally only performs around Los Angeles and Las Vegas as he lives nearby. But this comedy trip worked out to eventually wind up on the East Coast where he will be working for his friend Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion.

“The energy was right,” said Van Dam, who’s looking forward to a post-Cardinals game crowd taking in the show. “This is the real me. I don’t do characters, I don’t like scream and yell to get people’s attention. In fact, to take it all in the crowd needs to keep it down while I’m up there–and I am talking about their level of expectation.”

Doors at Pop’s open at 7pm for the show, which begins at 8pm.