20 Must See Moments From The 100 New RAW Episodes Added To WWE Network

19. Shawn Michaels Vs. Rob Van Dam - 25/11/02

shawn michaels rob van dam
network.wwe.com

With the end of the Monday Night Wars and the mass of talent that made its way from the defunct-promotions to the World Wrestling Federation, a whole host of dream matches suddenly became possible. Not many arriving superstars were treated with much respect, but one man who got something approaching a push was RVD himself, Rob Van Dam.

RVD may have been the only WCW or ECW superstar to come out of the Invasion angle with any forward-movement. His momentum continued throughout 2002, even getting a win over then-WWE Undisputed Champion The Undertaker, although this was quickly overturned by Ric Flair. 

He would get another shot at top table gold at the end of November, as he took on World Heavyweight Champion Shawn Michaels in what would still be considered a dream match to this day. This was also Michaels' first match on RAW in five years, and what a way to return. RVD would win the match, but did so via disqualification thanks to interference from Triple H, who he was feuding with at the time.

2002 should have given us a whole host of dream matches, but for some reason many failed to materialise. RVD vs. HBK was one that happened, and it certainly delivered.


Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.