Rob Van Dam was over in 2001. Very over. One of the only success stories of the year, the laid back but braggadocios RVD had made a connection with the WWF faithful. He spent the early days of his WWF tenure elevating the Hardcore Title in a series of superlative matches before moving on to feuding with the big boys like Steve Austin and Kurt Angle. RVD was so popular and his reactions so strong that he was even placed in the No Mercy main event, a triple threat match for the WWF Championship also featuring Austin and Angle. Even though Van Dam was the man pinned in the match it was still a good sign that he was even in the match at all. Fans were crying out for a fresh face and they had chosen RVD to be their man. He had further good showings in major PPV matches in the Winner Take All match at Survivor Series and against The Undertaker at Vengeance. But then, nothing. His next pay-per-view singles matches were against Goldust and William Regal. RVD's momentum had been stopped (even though he was still incredibly popular with the crowd). A feud with Eddie Guerrero over the Intercontinental Title in Spring 2002 was an improvement but it was still placed closer towards the bottom of the card than the top. Then in September 2002, our man was selected as the first challenger to Triple H's World Heavyweight Title (he was literally handed the belt by Eric Bischoff, if you remember). Surely this was the time to put the belt on Rob Van Dam? He had been consistently over for a while and was still fresh to the fans. Triple H was a case of same old, same old. You know what happened: Triple H easily beat Van Dam again and again. This caused resentment between the two and a Triple H backlash began online. WWE would continue to test RVD's patience until One Night Stand 2006 where he beat John Cena for the WWE Championship. Then, a few weeks into his reign, he was caught speeding and with drugs in his car and was suspended. He really blew it, after giving the fans' yet more false hope.
