Why is Rob Van Dam back in the WWE again?

[CM Steel]

Rob Van Dam has been back in the WWE for just over a year now on a part-time schedule contract. Now on his latest run right after Wrestlemania 30 RVD has lose more important matches than he's won. Rob Van Dam is getting up there in age but he still moves like a cat. The match between RVD and Seth Rollins afew weeks ago looked like a clear sign that RVD is at the stage where he's going to be putting over the younger talent. in the WWE. So does this mean that there will be no more WWE world title matches for Van Dam in the future?

Sure RVD has his run with both the WWE & ECW championships at the same time. But during the run he got caught up with weed and drugs on the road and we all know how that ended for RVD...But now where is Rob Van Dam's in-ring career going? And how should RVD go out heading into his retirement in the near future with the WWE? Guys like Booker T and Kevin Nash never got a final farewell sendoff for some reason.

Is Rob Van Dam next on that list?

 

[Reflection]

Yeah, thats his primary purpose now- to put over talent and make them look good, while himself not looking bad. RVD is a totally unique wrestler and a name that can never be replaced. The internet fans may not like to give him credit, but the guys in the business know how good he is; an example of that would be Hulk Hogan mentioning his name in Japan along with John Cena and The Shield's. If the World Heavyweight Championship was a separate title, I would be in favour of him having one final run before he goes out, but that seems unlikely now. I guess his role would be limited to what he is doing now.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

He's also a useful wrestler to have in multi-man title matches - it wouldn't surprise me to see his current run end soon (Summerslam?) and then be brought back for Royal Rumble - Wrestlemania, including a spot in the Elimination Chamber, which would make sense for a number of reasons

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Van Dam was always a favourite of mine in his original WWE run, I loved how innovative he was, and after going back and watching his ECW matches I became an even bigger fan and was really happy when he eventually won the WWE Title at One Night Stand.

However, for a variety of reasons he left the company (his drugs bust, I believe his wife was ill etc), and following an un-memorable run in TNA (his World Title run was terrible), he is back on a much lighter schedule.

It's perfect for Van Dam. He still gets to make the good money, he doesn't have to wear his body out as he gets months off at a time and he can still go well enough in the ring to put on entertaining matches, while usually putting over new up-and-coming talent. Van Dam isn't stupid, he knows he is coming towards the tail end of his career and he doesn't have the ego where he'll be demanding to win all the time.

Yeah, he is pretty predictable in the ring now and doesn't really do anything innovative any more but there still aren't many wrestlers more high-flying than him in WWE- he still stands out. I don't think he'll be getting any 1-on-1 matches for the World Title any more, but he's still useful to have in multi-man matches like the MITB ladder match, and could quite easily have another run with the Intercontinental Title or the US belt.

It's always useful for WWE to have a few of these experienced veterans with name value on the roster, as beating them still means something. They aren't the future of the company but have a very useful role to play. Van Dam understands this.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As others have already mentioned, RVD is back in WWE to ultimately put over younger talent, help build them up and make them look good while still looking good himself. RVD is something of a rarity in that he's really the only singles wrestler that was a big deal in ECW to become a big deal in other, much bigger promotions. While some fans hate to admit this, merely writing him off as a spot monkey, RVD was among the most innovative in-ring guys of the 1990s. His unique athletic ability helped make for some spectacular spots in the sense that he practically became a human highlight reel. He's one of the very, very few guys to come out of ECW who has had and continues to have name value. Couple that with the fact that he's still able to deliver inside the ring, overall, and you have a wrestler who's a valuable asset.

RVD has made some poor choices in his personal life that've affected him professionally. When he cashed in MITB on John Cena, faced him at ECW One Night Stand at the Hammerstein Ballroom in late May 2006 and won the WWE Championship, he became the most talked about guy in wrestling. Later, when he was awarded the ECW World Championship, he became the first & only guy to be both ECW & WWE Champion. His drug bust on July 3rd pretty much derailed his WWE career. This is just slightly less than a year before the Benoit murder/suicide incident so, at this particular time, it wasn't so much that RVD was busted for possession but that he was WWE Champion. Of course, by the time he left WWE, he'd saved his money and was financially stable. It's a huge reason why he was able to step away from the business for a couple of years in early 2008 when he revealed that his wife had cancer.

RVD's well into his 40s, he's not "the future" of WWE and he's ultimately risen as far as he's going to in pro wrestling. I have a feeling that he knows and accepts that. He still loves wrestling, otherwise he'd be out of it, so this deal with WWE affords him the opportunity to continue doing it on a part time basis, make a good deal of money at the same time and WWE is able to use his talent & name value to build the credibility of rising stars in the company. As I alluded to earlier, RVD can still go inside the ring, so the situation sounds like a win-win for both sides.

 

[Rayne]

OP, you answered your question in your own post.

The common misconception on these boards is that if a performer isn't in motion towards being a Top Guy, then he's a waste of roster space. This is wrong. Very wrong. You can't have every actor in your play be Romeo; you need a Tybalt, a Mercutio, a whole cast of Capulets, so on, and so forth. Rob Van Dam can still move, and he's got a bunch of name cred. His time in professional wrestling is limited; he's got about five years at the absolute maximum, and the tail end of that won't be in the WWE.

What better use for him then to have him put over the talent the WWE is trying to build for the next ten years? You don't get recognized by beating Joe Enhancement Talent from West Buttfuck, Missouri, you get recognized by beating a former WWE, ECW, and TNA champion. When the WWE remembers to sell it that way.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Yeah, thats his primary purpose now- to put over talent and make them look good, while himself not looking bad.

Also, to fatten up the ol' nest egg to ease his way into retirement....i.e., make some of the big bucks TNA couldn't afford to pay for his final run in pro wrestling.

Personally, I thought he would have better off not leaving WWE in '07. Although he was a bit past his prime, these were still "money" years for him....who knows what the company might have done with him had he not been fighting them on his 'preferred lifestyle'; probably causing them to be reluctant to commit totally to him. Instead, RVD chose to spend those vital years either on the independent circuit, with TNA.....and sometimes not wrestling at all.

These days, RVD, like most everyone else, would like to pad his wallet while he still can, before calling it a carrer. That's why he's with WWE....and I would think that being "reduced" to an enhancement talent suits him just fine at this point. It's not as if he's being booked to look bad when he wrestles.

As for WWE, they were most likely happy to take RVD away from TNA, knowing that even while he's heavier and slower now, his name alone would make him worth using as a guy who advances the careers of others.
It's win-win for all involved.

Still, for anyone who believes RVD is still everything he ever was, they should check out some of the ECW PPVs from back in the day (see it on the WWE Network!!!) and you can't help but notice how much he's lost in his performance. It's no big deal; it happens to all of us over time.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

He is there to entertain. Put on entertaining matches and keep the crowd and fans at home engaged. He is a hype man. When he does the thumb thing and a couple of his signature moves it keeps the fans excited. He is not really there to get anyone over, if it happens then great but his purpose is no more than to make you think you are about to enjoy something and hopefully actually enjoy it.

As far as a sendoff goes, I'm not really sure what you mean. WWE rarely sends people off. Flair, HBK, Edge are the only few I can think of that got a real send off. Vicki and Bischoff got something. Batista sort of got something. Santino recently said good bye at a house show. I'm not sure what the OP is expecting for Van Dam.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

Rob Van Dam has done it all. He was dominant in ECW with his high-flying moves (remember when he used to a flying front somersault into the crowd onto his opponent?). When he came into the WWE, he beat guys like Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. He was so damn popular back then that he was cheered as a heel. He beat John Cena for the WWE Championship. What more is there for this guy to prove? Nothing. Naturally, returning to the WWE would only mean one thing and that's to enhance other talent. I mean, I can't lie; at first I was pissed off that he was losing matches left and right. However, when I thought about it, I realized that he was getting up there in age but I hadn't seen that in his movement. He can still go. Obviously he's not gonna be anywhere near the level of agility as he was in 2001 and before, but he can still deliver a split-legged moonsault and a 5-star frog splash without making anyone doubt it. At this point in his career, he doesn't need any titles (not even Mid-Card titles). He's pretty much another Jericho. Whatever the case is, I'm just glad to see Rob Van Dam wrestling in the WWE again.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

He is there because he is popular with a section of the fans, is a good hand and is able to put over newer talent effectively...

WWE has always had guys in this role, go back to 1989 and they brought Superfly Jimmy Snuka back to do it, go back to 1993 and it was Bob Backlund... go back to 1996 was Jake and 2005 it was Tatanka... The only way often for young talents to become the new stars is to beat the older ones.

RVD is someone who can come in on the reduced schedule, do good business and then be missed when he isn't there so when he returns the fans are happy. Same for Jericho but on a bigger scale. Batista people don't care so much he's gone but RVD works well for WWE now the laws have changed... they can bring him in for short stints, make sure he is "clean" while working with them and then he goes off to his home, smokes himself into a stupor for 3 months, gets fit, comes back and puts some guys over.

It's win win for both sides.

 

[Headman]

Here's my issue with RVD being back. He's there to put talent over but what credibility does he have left? They've booked him so weak that nobody expects him to win. There's no rub for beating him. Hell, they've only mentioned that he's a former WWE champion what...one time? So far the WWE hasn't gotten anything out of RVD that they couldn't have gotten out of any of the other jobbers on their roster. Or maybe they just wanna humble the man. Who knows?

 

[Straightfromthehart]

OP, you answered your question in your own post.

The common misconception on these boards is that if a performer isn't in motion towards being a Top Guy, then he's a waste of roster space. This is wrong. Very wrong. You can't have every actor in your play be Romeo; you need a Tybalt, a Mercutio, a whole cast of Capulets, so on, and so forth. Rob Van Dam can still move, and he's got a bunch of name cred. His time in professional wrestling is limited; he's got about five years at the absolute maximum, and the tail end of that won't be in the WWE.

What better use for him then to have him put over the talent the WWE is trying to build for the next ten years? You don't get recognized by beating Joe Enhancement Talent from West Buttfuck, Missouri, you get recognized by beating a former WWE, ECW, and TNA champion. When the WWE remembers to sell it that way.

I agree but the problem is wwe can't "sell it that way" because they push it too far on the jobbing front. Wow Seth Rollins beat former wwe champ rvd....well so did Aberto del rio, Rusev, bad news Barrett, cesaro and even Adrian Neville. It takes the shine of off beating the man. RVD was one of the main reasons I tuned back into the wwe, now when he walks out your almost certain he will lose, rvd is better than that in my opinion.

 

[ccotreau1]

With me, I was never particularly crazy about RVD (at least when he was in the WWE, where i haven't seen much of his ECW stuff) and I always looked at him as a solid mid card performer, who happened to get a run as top dog for a little while. The guy can still move, so why not let him help some of the younger talent that the WWE want to push, as some people like SCSA and the Rock did with him when he first arrived on the WWE scene

 

[TempestH]

I don't like having RVD around. Does a win over RVD really mean anything for someone like Rusev or Rollins? Especially since WWE is going to push them anyway. It's nice that RVD is putting over younger talents, but it's not all its cracked up to be. While RVD will put over all the heel wrestlers, face wrestlers have no room for upward mobility because RVD's presence takes a spot that someone else could be elevated into. RVD just puts on random filler matches. I'd rather see a younger talent having those matches. I'd rather see those potential stars having good matches with some of the lower level guys who could show their skills in front of the crowds and look strong in a loss.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

RVD should change his persona. He has been the same character since 1991! He has the same haircut from then too. What RVD needs is to become a ruthless cocky heel in charge of about 3 guys from NXT as part of a faction. Make RVD do the TV appearances on Raw and PPV - but let the rest of the faction be on the house shows representing their faction. RVD is a mega talent in the ring and on the MIC, but he needs a new character story direction. He would make a great Manager- wrestler; as someone who only wrestles 3 or 4 times a year - but can be around as an interference runner for his new faction. He would be able to build 3 stars himself I believe; he is that good.

It is just his character hasn't developed at all - especially since 2001. This, alongside his disastrous world title run 8 years ago, and having not beaten a high profile wrestler in years is what holds back the fans from being enthusiastic about RVD's return.