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Outside celebrities wrestling in the ring is not a new practice in the world of professional wrestling. It has been going on since the 80s, and it has also been criticized by many fans and critics. Ultimately, celebrities working with regular wrestlers have no gain apart from earning a few more fans.
One of the earliest examples of a celebrity working in the ring and earning success was Laurence Taylor wrestling Bam Bam Bigelow in the main event of WrestleMania XI. Today, we cannot imagine such a match as the main event of WrestleMania, but WWE was going through a transition period back then, so it was not that surprising.
Rob Van Dam explained why he does not like outside celebrities working in the ring
Thirty years have passed since that incident, and outside celebrities still work in the ring occasionally. WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam has never been a fan of celebrities working in the ring with professional wrestlers. Speaking with TMZ Sports recently, the former WWE Champion Rob Van Dam explained the following;
Rob Van Dam was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame back in 2021
“I changed my mind to the extent of where I can say, look. I got no control over it. The business is changing in so many ways away from what it used to be, and I know there’s nothing I can do to stop it.” said Rob Van Dam, “So I’m watching it happen. I’m understanding it less and less. Am I enjoying it? No, not really. Celebrities coming in, I’ve always felt like it takes like, one, it really hurts the credibility of what we’re doing.”
Jelly Roll is the latest outside celebrity to work in the ring
“Two, you got to work around them to make it look like they could do something that they really couldn’t do. And three, it’s just bad for the business. That one that I got taught, I was taught, protect the business first. That was the number one rule. And this is the opposite of protecting the business.”
Some of the outside celebrities have started working in the ring regularly and have also become quite successful. The biggest example of such has been Logan Paul, who is now a regular in WWE and is also doing really well. Jelly Roll is one of the latest examples of an outside celebrity working in the ring. He performed at SummerSlam in a tag team match. He worked with top stars like Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre, and Logan Paul.
