Legitimizing the World Heavyweight title - In focus - Rob Van Dam

Rob Van Dam

Ever since its inception in the year 2002, the World Heavyweight Championship has been held by many great wrestlers. Starting with Triple H who was the inaugural champion, till the current champion Alberto Del Rio, the title has changed hands ‘n’ number of times, but has always been one of the crown jewels of the WWE alongside the WWE title.

The WHC is viewed as a stepping stone to greatness, with former Word Heavyweight champions all going on to make a big name for themselves in the sports entertainment industry. However as of late, the quality of superstars holding the title has depleted to a great extent. By quality, I mean the likes of Triple H, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Batista , Edge and so on. These superstars weaved a legacy for themselves around the World title. However, if we take a look at the current WHC scenario, the title has certainly lost its legitimacy.

With Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio being the only names involved in title picture for quite some time now, the WWE put RVD’s name into the mix last week on RAW to leave us with a glimmer of hope.

Ever since his highly anticipated return back to the WWE at Money In The Bank, Rob Van Dam has shown the WWE universe what we have been missing . Van Dam has tirelessly competed week after week now in the WWE giving fans something new to cheer about every time he enters the squared circle.

He substantiates being tagged ‘Mr Monday night’ as he works the crowd like no other superstar. With his phenomenal performance against Chris Jericho a few weeks ago on RAW and in a lot of recent RAW and SmackDown fixtures, Van Dam proves to the world time and again ‘why he’s still got it’.

Speaking of Van Dam’s claim to the title, he began his pursuit of the U.S title after an impressive battle royal win to become the #1 contender. He was then rightfully offered a shot at the title against champion Dean Ambrose at the SummerSlam pre-show (why the pre-show?). RVD won the match by D.Q thanks to interference from The Shield. But did not win the title in the process.

Just when it looked like he would get another shot at it, the WWE surprised all by placing RVD in a feud with champion Alberto Del Rio, courtesy Del Rio’s ‘ex’ ring announcer and friend Ricardo Rodriguez. Now that the WWE have finally put Van Dam where he rightfully belongs, he can legitimately pose a threat to the world title and in the process may become the champion as well in the near future.

RVD has never won the World title till date and is a leading superstar in the SmackDown brand. With CM Punk, Randy Orton, John Cena and Daniel Bryan all linked to the WWE title, the number of competitors for the WHC seems bleak with RVD standing out as a firm fan favourite. The details of his contract are unknown, however if he stays for long enough, he certainly has the capacity to become champion and restore pride back to the title.