8 Wrestlers WWE Regret Making World Champion

7. Rob Van Dam

Finn Balor
WWE.com

For years, fans had been clamouring for WWE to finally go all in with Rob Van Dam. The ECW icon had regularly proved to be one of the most popular stars under the WWE banner, and the wrestling world held out hope that WWE would finally give RVD the ball to run with.

It may have been a little later than some would have liked, but WWE did eventually get behind Van Dam - only for it to spectacularly blow up in their face.

Not only did WWE have The Whole F'n Show go over John Cena at 2006's One Night Stand PPV to become WWE Champion, the company also had RVD head up the relaunched ECW brand as the ECW Champion. Unfortunately, Van Dam's time as WWE Champion last just 22 days, with him being arrested for drug possession and subsequently handed a 30-day WWE suspension.

Sure, RVD's WWE Championship One Night Stand win was a brilliant moment in a white-hot environment, but the cold, hard fact of the matter is that Rob Van Dam will forever will remembered as the World Champion who was popped for drug possession - and for WWE, you can bet they regret ever finally giving Van Dam a chance with their top prize.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.