Oh, what could have been. WWE missed the boat in 2001-02 to cash in on an immensely popular Rob Van Dam, but the company took its shot in 2006, catapulting RVD to the top by having him enter and win the second Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXII. Less than two months after winning the briefcase, Van Dam was drafted by Paul Heyman to the resurrected ECW brand. As part of the restart, ECW held One Night Stand. RVD used his MITB briefcase to call out WWE Champion John Cena and challenge him to a title match at the PPV, which Van Dam won in front of a rabid ECW crowd. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02WUftADD28 As a result, Van Dam became a double world champion, winning the WWE Championship and being awarded the resurrected ECW Championship. Sadly, RVDs dual title reign ended unceremoniously a month later when he and Sabu were busted for drug possession. That unfortunately would mark the end of RVD as a world title contender in WWE, but at least fans got a glimpse of the Whole Fn Show on top.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
