10 Worst WWE Championship Reigns Of The 2000s
3. Rob Van Dam (June-July 2006)
How can a reign that started in such a glorious way be so far up this list?
Drugs, that's why.
When Rob Van Dam defeated John Cena for the WWE Championship at ECW One Night Stand 2006, it marked the culmination of a life's journey. This was a guy who had been constantly held down and discriminated against because of his size or his unconventional in-ring style. When Paul Heyman counted three to end the match, it was an explosion of joy.
Sadly, the feeling wasn't to last.
Vam Dam, who had also been gifted the reactivated ECW Championship, went on to lose both titles within a month of winning them. This was because he'd been arrested for drug possession mere weeks after One Night Stand. To punish him, the company booked Van Dam to lose the WWE title to Edge on July 3rd and then the ECW Title to Big Show one day later.
It was a brutal fall from grace, one that many thought was an overreaction. Fans were left wondering what might have been and Van Dam was never given a whiff of the main event scene ever again.