10 Wrestlers Who Had Their Trigger Pulled Way Too Late

Of all the ex-ECW wrestlers snapped up by WWE, none have been as successful as Rob Van Dam.

Mr. [insert name of night here] was a brilliant blend of speed, agility, and endless charisma. A standout of the ill-fated Invasion angle, RVD would go on to become a highly-decorated performer after the storyline wrapped up.

In 2002, Raw received the World Heavyweight Championship to compensate for the WWE title being exclusive to SmackDown. RVD was one of the standout babyfaces on the red brand and could have been a popular champion to cement the new belt. Alas, Triple H had other ideas.

The Game's infamous "Reign of Terror" had only just begun and Van Dam was the first casualty of it. He lost to Trips at Unforgiven and never got close to the Big Gold Belt again.

It would be another four years before Van Dam would become world champion in WWE, unseating John Cena at ECW One Night Stand. This went down very well, but only because of the crowd's ECW loyalties.

If WWE wanted to make Van Dam a real main eventer, then they should have done it against Triple H. However, as we shall see later on in this list, The King of Kings had a nasty habit of refusing to put over talent from other companies...