WWE legend seemingly supports Tony Khan's allegedly harsh treatment of Rey Fenix

The AEW status of Rey Fenix remains a hot topic of discussion within the world of pro wrestling. One-half of The Lucha Brothers recently had his contract extended, preventing him from joining brother Penta in WWE for the time being. Tony Khan and his company have caught significant heat for the decision, but now a WWE Hall of Famer has seemingly defended the practice.

The Man of a Thousand Lives and Zero-Fear were rumored to leave AEW for WWE last year, despite Khan wanting to keep the brothers on his roster. Penta ended up leaving late last year when his deal expired, and he debuted for WWE on January 13 to immense fanfare, which has continued. Rey Fenix will reportedly be under contract to Khan until later this year, but he is still expected to join WWE. Rob Van Dam is now among the fans and workers who have debated the matter.

The Whole F'N Show knows a thing or two about injuries and contracts as a lifelong fan and 35-year industry veteran. On the latest episode of his 1 Of A Kind podcast, RVD was asked about the controversial Fenix-AEW situation, and if it's normal to have injury time added to your contract. RVD agreed that this is often how it goes.

"Yeah, in 2005 I got my only surgery I've ever had, and got my knee... not replaced, but reconstructed, and I took the whole 12 months off. They say 6-12 months, so at six months they brought me back into have a look at me. I was like, 'F**k no, not ready!' And to be honest, I loved 2005, that was one of my favorite years of my career because I got paid to be home and smoke weed, and watch TV for the whole year, and do therapy, and they bring me back at six months and I said, 'I'm not ready yet,' and I wasn't," Rob Van Dam said. [From 2:53 to 3:51]

Van Dam continued and noted how he wanted to take the full year off because so many people, such as Rey Mysterio, returned too early from surgery, messed their knees up again, and then had to go through the whole process once more. RVD wanted to avoid that and said he's glad he took the full year off.

"I came back and then I found out they were going to extend my contract by 12 months. I don't know if I knew they were gonna do that, but here's the thing: they paid me to do nothing for 12 months, so I felt like, 'Are they going to expect me to come back for 12 months now, and work for free?' Because they already paid me, and I have that in mind, which thank God, no, they extended my contract by one year, and it was just another year to make more money. So, it ended up being good because I needed to wrestle after surgery," Rob Van Dam said. [From 5:35 to 6:23]

The Battle Creek Barbarian added that the Rey Fenix situation can be typical for pro wrestlers, but he has heard horror stories over the years. He cited the situation with Test and his broken neck but reiterated that he never had one problem with WWE failing to cover something.

Rey Fenix reacts to Penta behind-the-scenes footage

Penta made his official WWE RAW arrival earlier this month with a win over Chad Gable. The debut seems to have been a major success for everyone involved.

WWE celebrated Penta's arrival this week by releasing behind-the-scenes footage from that night. As he looks forward to joining his brother in WWE, Rey Fenix took to X this week to react to the footage with a nod to his partner.

"[heart emoji] [OK hand emoji] MIEDO," Rey Fenix wrote.

Zero-Fear returned to the RAW ring on last night's show with a win over Pete Dunne. The two-time AEW champion later told Cathy Kelley that he wants everything WWE has to offer, and reiterated that this is the Penta Era.