When he came into the WWF as part of the Invasion angle, Rob Van Dam was one of the most popular
acts from the old ECW [IMAGE 1].
He was quickly put into a main event position [IMAGE 2], and pushed on TV each and every
week [IMAGE 3].
Following the Invasion, Van Dam would capture the Intercontinental [IMAGE 4] and Tag Team
Championships [IMAGE 5], and fans were calling out for an RVD main event run [IMAGE 6].
It was just about to happen [IMAGE 7], but a run-in with the law sent his push up into
smoke [IMAGE 8] - and Van Dam was never the same again [IMAGE 9].
I am Luke Owen and this is the real reason Rob Van Dam lost the WWE Championship.
Headline: The Extreme Phoenix Rises
In 2005, following a very successful DVD that charted the rise and fall of ECW [IMAGE 10
- SCREEN], WWE put on a reunion show for Extreme Championship Wrestling at the Hammerstein
Ballroom called One Night Stand.
The show featured ECW legends like The Sandman [image 11], Sabu [image 12], Mike Awesome
[image 13], Masato Tanaka [image 14] and Tommy Dreamer [image 15], and was incredibly well
received by fans and critics.
“Well, that was a hell of a lot of fun...
No one who watched One Night Stand will ever forget it.”
- Bryan Alvarez, Figure Four Weekly #521 June 30th 2005
The show was so successful that WWE started to think about relaunching ECW, signing all
the old talent and premiering a new weekly TV show with live events, merchandise and
PPVs.
The idea was to use former ECW talent to help get new guys over before they moved up to
the “big leagues”, essentially developmental for WWE’s Raw and Smackdown like NXT is
now.
The figurehead of this show would be Rob Van Dam [image on screen], and he would be ECW’s
top face alongside Sabu and Kurt Angle [image 16], who was drafted to the brand shortly
before it launched.
Headline: Mr. Money in the Bank
At WrestleMania 22, prior to the ECW relaunch announcement, Rob Van Dam won the Money in
the Bank contract [17] and revealed that he would cash it in against John Cena at the
second ECW One Night Stand [18 - screen].
This was to be a launching pad for the fledgling brand and it featured one of the most heated
main events in WWE history.
The crowd in the Hammerstein Ballroom were desperate to not only see their guy Rob Van
Dam beat John Cena for the WWE Championship [19], but to see the hated Super Cena lose
the coveted title [20].
The finish of the match saw Edge – who had wrestled earlier in the night in a great match
with Mick Foley, Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman – come out and spear John Cena [21].
RVD then hit the Five Star Frog Splash and became the new WWE Champion [22].
“The place went absolutely insane as the ring announcer introduced RVD as the new WWE
Champion.”
- Bryan Alvarez, Figure Four Weekly #574, June 19th 2006
“That is the top moment of my career...
It’s not because taking the WWE championship was a goal of mine...
We were bringing ECW back as a third brand after that, and it was a huge success for
me personally in my career.”
- Rob Van Dam, Sports Illustrated, November 9th 2016
Headline: Dual Champion
Prior to RVD winning the championship, Paul Heyman had said RVD would kill the WWE Championship
and rechristen it the ECW Championship.
Instead RVD revealed he would be a dual champion [23], the first and only man to be both the
ECW and WWE Champion.
He successfully defended the WWE Championship against Edge at Vengeance [24], and the ECW
Championship against Kurt Angle on ECW’s TV show on SyFy [25].
And then it all came crashing down.
Headline: BUSTED.
On Sunday July 2nd 2006, following a house show, Rob Van Dam and Sabu were pulled over
by law enforcement for doing 73 in a 50mph zone, and were accused of having drugs on
them.
The officer questioned why Van Dam was driving without a shirt on, and why their car smelled
of marijuana.
RVD was found with 18g of marijuana and Vicodin without a prescription on his person, and
Sabu was found with a smoking pipe and several unrecognisable pills, also without a prescription.
The following day the local newspaper - The Ironton Tribune - ran a full-page article
on the arrest, and for the very first time in the company’s long history, their world
champion was busted for possession of drugs.
“Vince was pissed, he was obviously pissed for having his world champion busted for drugs
- but at the same time he was chuckling about it.
'It's only marijuana!'
He wasn't happy, but he also wasn't as livid as he can get sometimes about some things
because he likes Rob.
It was unfortunate, but s*** happens.
It caused chaos and we had to change plans.”
- Bruce Prichard, Something to Wrestle, May 12th 2017
That following weekend, WWE were presenting Saturday Night Main Event on NBC with Rob
Van Dam and Edge in a rematch for the WWE Championship.
But the decision was made to take the belt of Van Dam on the Monday Night Raw before
hand.
The advertised match was a triple threat tag team match with RVD, Cena and Edge picking
respective partners, but it was changed to a straight triple threat for the championship,
where Edge ended winning the title [26].
The Rated-R Superstar was actually scheduled to win the belt at Saturday Night Main Event
anyway, but RVD also dropped his ECW Championship to The Big Show the day after when Paul Heyman
turned heel on Mr. PPV [27 or 27.1].
RVD was then suspended for 30-days.
“I had dropped the ball and that was very disheartening.
It was definitely a low point for me...
After the three-count, all the fans were chucking their litter into the ring.
The disappointing vibration of that went straight to my heart.
I rolled out of the ring down to the floor to avoid the debris and I felt so low.”
- Rob Van Dam, WWE.com, July 3rd 2013
“Many wrestlers assumed both guys would be fired immediately and were thus surprised
with WWE’s handling of the situation.
Obviously, if Danny Doring and Roadkill had been arrested, they’d likely have been fired
immediately.
The reality is that life isn’t fair in the wrestling business, and RVD and Sabu are seen
as two of the biggest stars of this new ECW brand.”
- Bryan Alvarez, Figure Four Weekly #576, July 10th 2006
Van Dam would return to ECW a month later, but he never recaptured the ECW Championship
and was never in the hunt for the WWE Championship again.
He would leave the company one year later in 2007.
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I’ve been Luke Owen and that was reasons.