The Mistake That Nearly Ruined A WWE Star's Career

Even the most professional of professional wrestlers will admit that they are far from perfect as human beings, and at times, wrestlers have slipped up to the point where their careers have been altered forever. However, the mistake that WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam made in 2006 took his career from the highest of highs (no pun intended), to the lowest of lows.

To put it simply, RVD had been the most popular WWE star of the company's "Ruthless Aggression" era to never win the WWE Championship. He came close on a number of occasions, but was always passed over for stars like Triple H, Batista, and John Cena. That all changed when he returned from a year-long knee injury at the beginning of 2006, and given the reception he received every week, WWE had no other option but to strap the very overdue rocket to Van Dam's back and crowned him "Mr. Money in the Bank" at WrestleMania 22. 

Being only the second man in history to win the briefcase, RVD took a vastly different approach from the one Edge took and decided to announce ahead of time when and where he wanted his WWE championship match. Van Dam chose a time and place that, in his words, worked "extremely well" in his favor (pun very much intended that time), June 11, 2006 at the second-ever ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view.

After a hard hitting match against John Cena in front of one of the most hostile crowds in history, RVD won to become the WWE Champion, and two days later on the debut episode of "ECW on Syfy," he was awarded the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, making him a double champion. After all these years, Rob Van Dam was where everyone believed he should been all along, on top of the world.

On July 3, 2006, a mere 20 days after becoming one of the few men in WWE history to call themselves a double champion, Rob Van Dam and Sabu were pulled over on Route 52 in Hanging Rock, Ohio for speeding. However, the speed at which the two men were going was the least of the police's concerns as they discovered that RVD was in possession of 18 grams of cannabis and five Vicodin pills, while Sabu (real name Terry Brunk) possessed drug paraphernalia and nine Testolactone tablets, resulting in both men being arrested.

They were both released on bail, and despite drug-related arrests being a potentially fireable offense, RVD and Sabu were both able to appear at the upcoming episodes of "WWE Raw" and "ECW on Sci-Fi" on July 4 and 5. It was on these shows where RVD lost his WWE Championship to Edge on "Raw," and the ECW Championship to the Big Show the next night, before being suspended for 30 days without pay, a suspension that was publicly acknowledged on WWE TV.

Van Dam eventually pleaded guilty to possession, and was fined a total of $140, with additional court costs being added on top. The charge relating to the five Vicodin pills was dropped thanks to RVD being able to provide a prescription from his doctor, but in the space of just a few months, RVD went from being the top champion on two of WWE's three main televised brands to feuding with the likes of Hardcore Holly, Kevin Thorn, and even Paul Heyman, with no signs of ever advancing up the card again. RVD, and Sabu, left WWE in 2007.

When asked about RVD's arrest during an episode of "WWE Icons," Vince McMahon admitted that he was extremely disappointed in Van Dam's actions, and he didn't think it was a good look for the man holding the WWE and ECW Championships to have a video of them being arrested floating around the internet, resulting in Van Dam dropping both titles. With that said, RVD actually has fond memories of the immediate aftermath of his arrest.

Back in 2020, Van Dam revealed that while he was serving his 30 day suspension, he enjoyed the time away from the ring so much that he ended up asking Paul Heyman to ask Vince for more time off. Naturally, Heyman said "I'm not going to ask him that," stating that the suspension was meant to be a punishment and not a vacation. However, Van Dam did admit that he "f***ed up" his chance of being the top guy in WWE, and understood why the company never fully put its trust in him ever again, even after he made two returns to the company in 2009 and 2013 respectively.

Fortunately, WWE has since given RVD his flowers and left his 2006 in the past. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021 for his accomplishments in the company; WWE not only allowed RVD to acknowledge his widely known use of marijuana, but embrace it, as he famously offered both Matt Riddle and The Great Khali some of his own personal rolling papers in a backstage segment at WrestleMania 37. 

Some wrestlers would have never stepped in a WWE ring again if the same that happened to RVD happened to them, but Van Dam owned his mistake and didn't stop that from bring "The Whole F'N Show" wherever he went.