10 Fascinating WWE Royal Rumble 2006 Facts

7. It Marked Rob Van Dam's First Match In A Year

Rey Mysterio Royal Rumble 2006
WWE

Vignettes hyped up one particular Royal Rumble entrant for several weeks, one "Mr. Monday Night", Rob Van Dam. The cause for the special build-up was because Van Dam was returning from quite a lengthy time away.

Van Dam's last match prior to the 2006 Rumble was on January 11, 2005, in which he and Rey Mysterio dropped SmackDown's Tag Team titles in a four-way match. RVD was suffering from a torn MCL and meniscus, and had actually missed several live events prior to the televised title switch.

The injury necessitated surgery, and caused Van Dam to miss more than a year of action. It also cost him a chance to wrestle at the first One Night Stand pay-per-view, though he did make an appearance while wearing a heavy brace.

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Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.