Rob Van Dam's 5 best WWE rivalries

#2 Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy

Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam

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.

Congratulations to Rob Van Dam on his WWE Hall of Fame Induction.RVD is one of my top 3 wrestlers of all time. Still one of my favorite matches was him vs. Jeff Hardy for the Hardcore Championship at Invasion 2001.If you have time, please go check it out. pic.twitter.com/kHVLrgKoxi

— Alexander Thomas (@ManOf1003Holds) March 29, 2021

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.

#SavageSoldiersRVD vs Jeff Hardy : Summerslam 01 ladder match,hardcore championshipA Insanely Perfect match b/w two legends in making... & benchmarks for agile in-ring performers.Rare Creativity with the moves & heat b/w the two made it more intresting.for me 4⭐Watch it!!! pic.twitter.com/1fpIutXJ70

— The Anshul Sehrawat (@AnshulSehrawat3) June 16, 2020

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.