Ranking EVERY WWE Champion From Worst To Best
44. Rob Van Dam
Rob Van Dam's WWE Championship reign came five years too late, and was ultimately at least five months too short. Only one of these things was really his fault.
'Mr Monday Night' had been coined as a nickname during the height of ECW's pretend turf war with WWE in 1997. Used to rile up the Philadelphia natives and put heat on Van Dam's team with Sabu, the bit worked because the market leader could have snapped him up at any point. By the time they did in 2001, the waters were so infested with sharks that his push stalled and he was normalised as a midcard guy unable to break the glass ceiling despite being able to physically smash it with his vertical leap.
Consequently, his 2006 ECW One Night Stand win over John Cena was more about the moment than the crowning. He might have had the interest in a proper run, but we were never given the chance to find out. After being stopped by police and caught possessing illegal substances, he was jobbed out in short order and never ascended again.