Former NWA and Mid-Atlantic legend Manny Fernandez was overjoyed when Rob Van Dam mentioned him during Van Dam’s WWE Hall of Fame induction speech.
On the latest episode of Manny Fernandez’s ‘No BS With The Bull‘ podcast, he explained what happened after the now Hall of Famer, Van Dam mentioned him during his induction speech over WrestleMania 37 weekend.
“My phone blew up after he did that,” Fernandez admitted. “All the people that I had trained or mentored were texting me and sending messages (that) Rob Van Dam had mentioned (me) in his speech…I appreciate that.”
On working with a young RVD, Fernandez touted Van Dam’s attitude:
“Oh yeah when he was young he came in and worked for a guy named Greg Price; we had a couple matches throughout Georgia,” Fernandez continued. “The kid was respectful and listened…he was taught right, he was taught respect.”
Manny Fernandez then explained an incident where RVD busted him open the hard way:
“When I was younger and training people and mentoring people, I was hot headed,” said Fernandez. “I had a quick temper; if you did something out of the norm in the wrestling ring, I shut you down and did something (back). You got put in your place right away…(if) you gave me a potato I gave you a receipt… We were in there and Rob knows his karate, and he was so limber and he could stretch and do the splits and the spinning kicks like (Jean Claude Van Dam). Rob could do the same things as him. So I let him do that; I let him be himself… I came off the rope maybe too hard and too fast and he was too close; I called for a spinning kick to the face, and I caught his heel right in my mouth and I was bleeding and it busted my mouth open… I turned around and the ring was empty, I didn’t see anybody… the referee (says) ‘he took off for the dressing room because he thought you were going to (retaliate)’… back then when I was young and stupid, I had a very bad temper and I was quick to react.”
‘No BS with the Bull’ with Manny Fernandez drops every Friday on the VOC Nation Wrestling Network podcast feed.
Related: RVD: My Hall Of Fame Induction “Gives My Career Genuine Credibility”
