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During Rob Van Dam's first run with the WWE, the star had numerous memorable moments in the company. Van Dam won multiple championships and stepped in the ring with WWE's biggest stars.
Before WWE, Van Dam was best known for his time in Extreme Championship Wrestling. Although Van Dam never held the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, WWE still considers him as one of the greatest professional wrestlers in ECW's history.
Although Rob Van Dam was a huge star when he first joined WWE, he had to prove that he was a main event player. Let's take a look at his five best rivalries in WWE.
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#5 Rob Van Dam vs. Brock Lesnar
When Brock Lesnar first arrived in WWE, he was on a hot streak. During Lesnar's first couple of months in 2002, he defeated numerous RAW superstars. Within that time period, Lesnar would defeat one of RAW's most popular stars, Rob Van Dam, to become the 2002 King of the Ring.
When Van Dam lost to Lesnar, he wasn't done with The Next Big Thing. During the summer of 2002, Van Dam would try to get under Lesnar's skin, as he would prove to him and his advocate, Paul Heyman, that he doesn't find Lesnar intimidating.
Van Dam even ruined Lesnar's King of the Ring coronation by attacking him from behind. This did Van Dam no favors. Later that night, the two had a rematch with one another. It wasn't a pleasant outing for Van Dam when Lesnar power-bombed him through the commentary table.
All Van Dam wanted was another match with Lesnar. RVD desired for a rematch so desperately that he was willing to put his Intercontinental Championship on the line at the Vengeance event.
During Vengeance 2002, Van Dam defeated Lesnar via disqualification. Though Van Dam picked up the win, Lesnar still got the upper hand by laying out RVD in the middle of the ring with an F5.
#4 Rob Van Dam vs. Triple H
When Triple H was awarded the WWE's World Heavyweight Championship in late 2002, the inaugural champion issued an open challenge to the RAW locker room. With Triple H's possible contenders running thin, Eric Bischoff booked a number one contender match involving top RAW superstars, including Chris Jericho, Big Show, Jeff Hardy, and Rob Van Dam.
As RVD became the number one contender, he would prove to Triple H not to let his mellow demeanor be underestimated. The night Triple H was awarded the World Heavyweight Championship, Van Dam proved his point of being a potential threat by defeating Triple H in a tag team match.
Although RVD was defeated by Triple H at that month's pay-per-view, WWE Unforgiven, Van Dam still made a formidable performance as he came very close to dethroning The King of Kings and winning the world title.
During the first-ever Elimination Chamber match at Survivor Series 2002, Van Dam legitimately crushed Triple H’s throat with a Five-Star Frog Splash. Even though RVD didn't win the match, he got some payback against Triple H in their rivalry.
#3 Rob Van Dam vs. Eddie Guerrero
When Eddie Guerrero returned to WWE in 2002, he decided to make a statement to Rob Van Dam. Guerrero set his sights on Van Dam because he wanted to become the Intercontinental Champion again.
Van Dam's rivalry with Guerrero revolved around the prestigious championship for almost two months. These two competitors fought against each other for the first time in one-on-one competition at WWE Backlash 2002. With the two having the same finisher and being great athletes at the same time, the fans were in for a treat.
Guerrero would defeat RVD to win the Intercontinental Championship, only to lose to Van Dam in non-title matches.
The rivalry between them also led to a ladder match on an episode of RAW in May 2002. The two men stole the show that night. Towards the end of the match, RVD attacked Guerrero with a Five-Star Frog Splash off the top of the ladder.
This led Van Dam to climb back on the ladder and win back the Intercontinental Championship from Guerrero.
#2 Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy
Rob Van Dam first appeared in WWE in 1997. That year, Van Dam defeated a young Jeff Hardy on RAW.
No one knew that there was more to come between these two stars. In 2001, Van Dam joined the WWE during its Invasion angle. Ironically, Van Dam's first encounter on SmackDown was with Jeff Hardy. Van Dam would defeat Hardy at the InVasion pay-per-view and again at SummerSlam.
Hardy and Van Dam would compete in a few ladder matches together. The first ladder match they had was at SummerSlam 2001, where Van Dam would win the Hardcore Championship. That night, the fans got to see the best of both worlds — an extreme wrestler from ECW competing against an extreme wrestler from WWE.
The second ladder match took place on RAW in 2002, where Van Dam would defeat Hardy again to unify both the Intercontinental and European Championships.
Their rivalry was all about who was better than the other. In the end, both of these incredible high-flyers earned each other's respect.
#1 Rob Van Dam vs. John Cena
In 2006, Rob Van Dam faced his biggest challenge in WWE. When Van Dam won the Money in the Bank at that year's WrestleMania, he made it clear that he would cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase on John Cena when the time was right.
Van Dam told John Cena that he wanted to cash in at a place where Van Dam would feel at home. The cash-in would take place at ECW One Night Stand 2006, which ended up being a memorable event for Mr. Monday Night.
With the match being for the WWE Championship and under Extreme Rules, anything was possible.
During the match, as Cena was looking to finish off Van Dam, Edge came out of nowhere and speared Cena through a table.
This prompted RVD to hit a Five-Star Frog Splash on Cena. Since there was no active referee, Paul Heyman stepped in and made the three count. In the process, Rob Van Dam won the WWE Championship for the very first time in his career.
