10 WWE Championship Reigns That Definitely Should Have Been Longer
Every kid grows up dreaming of being WWE Champion for an hour...
5. Rob Van Dam (2006)
Many fans at the time attested that Rob Van Dam really should have won a world title within his first year or two in the company.
Immensely popular and altogether different than anyone else on the roster, RVD took WWE by storm when he showed up as part of the WCW and ECW invasion of WWE in 2001.
Despite getting over and mixing it up with top stars like Steve Austin and The Rock in main events, WWE were hesitant to book him above a certain level and, over the course of the next several years, he settled into the Tag Team and Intercontinental Title scenes.
Van Dam spent 2005 on the shelf recovering from major knee surgery and returned in early '06 with a renewed focus and corresponding push.
He was booked to win the second-ever Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 21 and opted to cash-in his title shot against John Cena at the second One Night Stand pay-per-view.
His first world title victory was worth the wait, as he beat Big Match John in a thriller in front of a rabid, partisan ECW crowd. Then, on the first episode of ECW on Sci-Fi, Paul Heyman presented the new champ with the ECW World Title, too, making him a double champ.
Van Dam managed one significant defense of the WWE Title (against Edge at Vengeance) before his infamous arrest went down.
On July 3, Rob and travelling partner Sabu were caught speeding and pulled over. Upon further inspection of their vehicle, police officers found drugs and drug paraphernalia in it.
In the end, Van Dam was only issued a small fine and some additional court costs for the incident, but WWE went ahead and suspended him for 30 days without pay, while also booking him to drop both titles on the subsequent Raw and ECW shows.
It's hard to say how long his WWE Title reign would have been without the arrest, but I'm sure it would have been at least a little longer than 22 days. After years of being overlooked, it's a shame his run went up in smoke.
Written by Lewis Howse
Features journalist for Cultaholic.com and script writer for the Cultaholic YouTube Channel.