WWE veteran claps back at recent criticism from Rob Van Dam (Exclusive)

A former WWE writer, who was recently on the receiving end of criticism by Rob Van Dam, has responded to the ECW legend and explained his side of the story.

RVD, who made his AEW debut this past Wednesday, spoke about Vince Russo on the latest episode of his 1 Of A Kind podcast. He openly criticized the WWE veteran for being the mastermind behind Jeff Hardy's infamous heel turn in TNA in 2010, calling it "the stupidest idea ever."

Speaking on Sportskeeda Wrestling's The Wrestling Outlaws, Russo defended himself, noting that he has never had an issue with RVD in the past and that he respects the decorated WWE Hall of Famer.

"I don't remember this conversation. I'm sure it took place if [RVD] said it did. I don't remember. You know what I get so sick of sometimes? Everything's my fault. (...) This is when [Eric] Bischoff and [Hulk] Hogan were with the company. There was [Ed] Ferrara, me, Bischoff, Hogan — there were a few on a 'creative team' at the time. Bro, we did a big angle that was a great angle because I even remember. It was called '10/10/10,' and on October 10th, 2010, something was gonna happen," Russo said. [01:18 - 02:03]

The '10/10/10' angle led to the formation of the Immortal stable, supported by Jeff Hardy's heel turn at that year's Bound For Glory pay-per-view.

Hardy's run as a villain would ultimately be cut short following his notoriously shambolic match with Sting at Victory Road 2011, just five months later.

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WWE veteran Vince Russo directly addresses RVD

Vince Russo further defended the rationale behind turning Jeff Hardy heel in TNA by directly addressing Rob Van Dam. He added that all parties involved with the famous angle, including WWE legend Hulk Hogan, were on board with the idea:

"First of all, Rob is talking about something that happened 13 freaking years ago. But I'm glad he said Jeff [Hardy] was into it, you know, so, 'Okay bro, I'm sorry you had a problem with it, but the guy doing it was into it.' [...] We all agreed upon that. You know, Eric, Hulk, me, Jeff. There were many, many conversations. It was a big angle. It paid off. It would have been really [good]. I don't know how long after that Jeff had that incident in the ring with Sting." [02:06 - 02:45]

Rob Van Dam is set to make his AEW in-ring debut this week against Jack Perry with the FTW Championship on the line. Meanwhile, Jeff will team up with his brother, Matt, to take on The Young Bucks on the upcoming episode of Dynamite.

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