Rob Van Dam has recently become a big topic for WWE again. The 2021 Hall of Fame induction cemented RVD in WWE’s history books for having such a great career. Peacock also aired the WWE Icons special looking back at his wrestling work with stories from behind the scenes.
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The WWE run of Van Dam wasn’t always pleasant as he was viewed as being underutilized for years. Fans loved RVD from the start of the Invasion angle with huge cheers as a heel. Van Dam’s connection with the audience should have led to much more success. Things just didn’t work out that way with ups and downs for the legend. Find out just how much WWE dropped the ball with the instances of them failing RVD.
10 Burying Him After Suspension
WWE lost all confidence in Rob Van Dam after he was busted for having drugs in his car at the worst possible time. Van Dam was the face of the new ECW brand holding both the WWE Championship and ECW Championship at the time.
RELATED: Rob Van Dam's Last 10 WWE PPV Matches, Ranked From Worst To Best
The suspension for violating the wellness policy would see RVD suspended and dropping both belts. WWE didn’t use Van Dam in a top spot again after his return. It was fair for WWE to not trust RVD, but they pushed Randy Orton after multiple suspensions in bigger roles.
9 Makeshift Tag Team With Booker T
The duo of Rob Van Dam and Booker T saw the real-life friends becoming a tag team for WWE. This idea was fun on paper since it paired together two of the most beloved faces, but the booking did little to help them.
Booker and Van Dam only teamed up for a few months despite winning the World Tag Team Championship together. The makeshift team was done to give them something to do with no direction rather than trying to make the team a success.
8 Makeshift Tag Team With Rey Mysterio
Rob Van Dam jumping from one makeshift tag team to another showed just how little thought WWE put into his booking in 2004. WWE ended the team of Van Dam and Booker T following the 2004 Draft despite both men moving from Raw to SmackDown.
The eventual pivot for RVD landed him in a new team with Rey Mysterio. It was fun to see them in the ring together, but it showed such little direction for Van Dam just a couple of years after he looked like one of the top stars of WWE’s future.
7 Leaving Without A Farewell
The end of Rob Van Dam’s last full-time stint featured many ups and downs. Van Dam had some slight chances at progression in the World Championship picture. However, it was always done to highlight the other talent which made sense.
WWE, unfortunately, didn’t care much about how his tenure would end when reaching the end of his contract. RVD had his final match against Seth Rollins on SmackDown and stopped appearing without an explanation.
6 Never Getting Revenge On Kane
One of the better makeshift tag teams for WWE featured Rob Van Dam and Kane thriving as a face duo. WWE decided to end the run when unmasking Kane and giving him a heel push with the new version of his character.
Kane turned on Van Dam shortly after unmasking to show his heel side moving forward. The match between the two was one-sided with Kane easily winning. RVD had zero forms of revenge against Kane in the bigger picture to further hurt his standing.
5 Edge Helping Him Beat John Cena
The top defining moment of Rob Van Dam’s career was beating John Cena for the WWE Championship at One Night Stand 2006. Everything about the night was nearly perfect aside from one part of the story playing out.
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Edge made his way into the ring when the referee was down and speared Cena through a table to continue their feud. Van Dam taking advantage to steal the pin was not a typical face act at the time to make diehard WWE fans upset about the way he beat Cena.
4 Ricardo Rodriguez As His Announcer
Rob Van Dam had one of the worst feuds of his career during the second WWE stint against Alberto Del Rio. WWE was using Del Rio in a top heel spot and wanted to utilize a legendary face putting him over when having him work with RVD.
The program saw Ricardo Rodriguez leaving the role of Alberto’s personal ring announcer to start doing that for Van Dam. They had little chemistry and it felt like a pointless move that just hurt the overall program.
3 Snubbing Him From WrestleMania 18 Match Against Undertaker
The Undertaker revealed in recent interviews that Vince McMahon wanted him to face Rob Van Dam at WrestleMania 18 with the streak still intact. Undertaker was asked who he wanted to work with and adamantly vouched for Ric Flair.
Both Van Dam and Flair were the realistic choices of top faces without an opponent. Even though the Flair match worked well, RVD’s career could have been different with such an important match at his hottest time in WWE.
2 Losing ECW Championship Match To Vince McMahon
Rob Van Dam and many other ECW wrestlers spoke out publicly about the disgust they felt for Vince McMahon winning the ECW Championship in WWE’s version of the promotion. Vince winning it in his feud with Bobby Lashley used him running down ECW as a way to get heat.
Van Dam received a title shot in a handicap match against Vince, Shane, and Umaga. The same trio defeated Lashley, but this match was done to get the hate for beating an ECW legend. RVD did the job and suffered the humiliation for the bigger picture.
1 Never Winning World Championship From Triple H
The peak of Rob Van Dam in WWE during the early 2000s saw the fans rallying behind him as much as anyone else in the company. Van Dam’s rise from the breakout Invasion star to a top Intercontinental Champion made it seem like the World Championship was the next step.
Triple H’s “reign of terror” saw him continuing his dominance with the belt when defeating RVD in their one PPV singles match. Van Dam was never built up as strong until the ECW relaunch. The momentum of RVD could have given WWE another main eventer if he won the title from Triple H.
NEXT: Every Version Of Rob Van Dam, Ranked From Worst To Best
