The Ugly Truth About Jean-Claude Van Damme And Steven Seagal’s Bitter Feud

Back in the early 1990s, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal were on their way to becoming Hollywood’s next iconic action stars. But while the pair struggled to reach those lofty heights in the end, they stumbled into a bitter rivalry with one another instead. So we’ve got a question for you: are you Team Van Damme or Team Seagal? Revisiting the truth of their bad blood may help you decide.

Now feuds between famous action stars aren’t anything new. For instance, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger had their own friction in years gone by. Here’s the thing, though: that quarrel was purely based around outdoing the other with their films. It wasn’t particularly malicious. Yet the same can’t be said about Van Damme and Seagal.

In fact, Seagal and Van Damme’s rivalry has come close to exploding on multiple occasions throughout the years. It isn’t a case of friendly one-upmanship! But no one could’ve predicted this as the pair started to rise up the Hollywood ranks in the past. After all, their paths seemed pretty similar.

Yes, Van Damme and Seagal made their respective breakthroughs in the same year. The Muscles from Brussels did have a couple of credits to his name prior to this, but be honest with us. Have you ever seen 1986’s No Retreat, No Surrender? It’s not a classic, let’s put it that way!

Anyway, Van Damme’s big break came with Bloodsport in 1988. In the pantheon of martial arts films from that period, it’s up there with the best of them. And it was a sizable box office hit too. The movie earned over $11.8 million across the world from a supposed budget of $1.1 million.