10 Amazing Rob Van Dam WWE Matches
He's the whole f*ckin' show.
Rob Van Dam hasn't wrestled in a WWE ring since the August 29, 2014 episode of Smackdown, where he lost to Seth Rollins. This was during RVD's second brief return to the company, where he'd come back for a couple of months before taking off to pursue other interests.
Since it's almost been two years since that match took place, RVD recently turned 45 years-old and WWE are pushing a 'New Era' where they are phasing out old stars and trying to elevate fresh ones, is it fair to say that we may never see The Whole F*ckin' Show perform in a WWE ring again?
That may be a little premature, but it seems as though another one of his full-time, short-term returns is off the cards, at least for the time being. This is a little sad for me, as Van Dam was one of my early favourites. I have fond memories of watching RVD unleash some balletic violence in WWE rings in the early-to-mid-2000s and, truth be told, I enjoyed a great deal of his 2013 and 2014 runs as well.
Van Dam may have a personal preference for the gritty, anything goes work he produced in ECW, but I would argue that some of his best stuff went down in a WWE ring. With an RVD return looking less and less likely, I figured I'd satisfying my cravings by looking at ten of his best matches in Vince McMahon's promotion.
10. Vs. Jeff Hardy (Invasion 2001)
This was Rob Van Dam's first test in the WWF and boy did he pass it with high-flying colours. RVD and Jeff Hardy had clashed in a WWF ring in the past, with the Charismatic Enigma playing the role of job boy during Van Dam's short-lived 'Mr. Monday Night' phase in 1997 but it was a whole different dynamic on display here.
Hardy was the established WWF superstar and Van Dam the outsider, a man with a decent-sized cult following but who was really unproven on the biggest stage. Hardy was a perfect opponent for him because their styles were so similar and they had the same mindset to put their body on the line and steal the show.
And steal the show they did with a rip-roaring twelve minute Hardcore Championship match that went all over the arena and even saw Jeff Van-Daminated into the gap between the stage! It really was a hell of a bump, one of many to be found in this one.
It was also in this match that we got the famous JR soundbites 'How do you learn to fall of a twenty foot ladder?' and 'How's he even able to stand is what I wanna know'. JR wasn't underselling here; the two men really did take some big risks for the entertainment of the fans.
A Five Star Frog Splash helped RVD secure his first piece of WWF gold. Van Dam was already a popular performer before this match but after it he was one of the most over guys on the roster, ECWCW or otherwise.