Wrestling Superstar Rob Van Dam Reveals CTE Diagnosis After Suffering Hundreds Of Concussions In Ring
Nov. 12 2021, Published 10:42 a.m. ET
Rob Van Dam has an announcement to make, and it's arguably every professional athlete's greatest fear.
The 50-year-old longtime wrestling superstar – whose "RVD" chants have have reverberated from arenas to homes across the country for nearly 30 years – has chronic traumatic encephalopathy, commonly known in the sports world as CTE.
CTE is a progressive brain condition that's believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head and/or repeated episodes of concussion. It's particularly associated with contact sports, and after a three-decade career marked by hundreds of concussions spanning thousands of wrestling matches, it's something RVD knows all too well.
In Breaking Celebrity News's exclusive sneak peek of REELZ's upcoming documentary, Rob Van Dam: Headstrong, the Michigan native chronicles his rise to fame and the price he's now having to pay for it: irreparable cognitive damage and decline.
Though a definitive diagnosis of CTE can currently only be made by examining the brain tissue of a deceased person (in fact, most of the available studies on the condition are based on ex-athletes who donated their brains to science), many wrestlers, boxers and football players have become increasingly aware of the signs.
Fans will learn of Van Dam's diagnosis as cameras follow the superstar to a therapy session, but they'll also get to see how the condition affects his everyday life.
"Usually, it shakes off in a few seconds, like, bam, I smack my head, my equilibrium is off, and I'm like, 'Whoa,' give me a minute,' I'll tell the referee," he says about a recent match.