Wrestling Forum banner

Why RVD never was a solid main eventer in WWE?

3K views 36 replies 35 participants last post by  Fabregas 
#1 · (Edited)
I don't get it, he was a great in-ring worker, charismatic and was over as hell, but he never (as far as I recall) was too much into the main event scene, and always was a midcarder.
Some claim it was because of the drug shit with Sabu, but before that he should've main evented and won some world titles.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Because those in charge never saw him as one. Personally speaking, I think he should've been the first World Heavyweight Champion in 2002 but other than that, I thought had enough World Title reigns. Maybe a 2-3 month reign each for the World Title in 2002, WWE Title and ECW Title in 2006 before holding the ECW Title one last time in late 2006 for six months then drops it to Punk in 2007 before leaving the company to take care of his wife.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Yeah but RVD was main event worth as well, but he was drafted into midcard hell. Jericho was main event talent too but he was drafted into midcard hell eventually too. RVD never main evented until he was WWE and ECW champion, but those reigns were pure fuckery in my opinion and were overshadowed by that drug thing.

I just find weird how WWE didn't capitalize on him.
 
#8 ·
I was only 9 and 10 in 2001 and 2002 when RVD was at his peak in terms of popularity. So I wasn't so in tune with what was going on. Plus, for some reason, I didn't watch WWE at all between 2002 and 2003.

All I know looking back is at the time we were going through Triple H's reign of terror in the Fall of 2002, so that didn't help. All I can say is RVD definitely could have a Jeff Hardy run on top. Hardy, back in 2008-2009, while not being the best on the mic or having a great character, was over like rover and the company ran with him. He was the face of Smackdown back Smackdown still meant something. I don' think you build the company around a guy like RVD but I definitely would have bought him as ME guy.
 
#14 · (Edited)
He should have won the title at No Mercy 2001 during that Triple Threat with Angle and Austin.

But I imagine injuring HHH's trachea earned him an "unsafe worker" label that made main eventers not want to work with him, let alone put him over.

Not to mention his Weed usage lol. Not passing on the joints fucked over big pushes for RVD and The Brian Kendrick.
 
#15 ·
Well, what happened when he did get the belt probably explains why he never was a top guy.

When I think of the three biggest casualties of Triple H's Reign of Terror (RVD, Booker T and Kane) he was the only one who really had a chance to recover. Whether you consider it too late or not, he was given a huge opportunity in summer of '06 when he was WWE and ECW champion, and had it not been for his and Sabu's idiocy (or archaic laws in WWE/USA depending on you opinion), both he and ECW would have fared better.

Well, that, and the fact that he's essentially played the same character since the mid-90's, has suspect mic skills, and for better or worse he doesn't care for backstage politics.
 
#16 ·
I like RVD and in his hey day the dude was as cool as shit, even if you didn't watch ECW you knew what he was about, but I just think from their perspective, there was only so much you could do with the guy. His mic skills weren't ever really there, I'm figuring marketability was an issue, and when you think about it, his whole gimmick was that he was RVD. Not really trying to hate on the guy, I personally would've thought a real title reign would've been great (not the shit they gave him), just saying why I think they probably passed on him.
 
#17 ·
Because he never got a proper push when he was at the peak of his overness.

In 2001 he wasn't getting pushed despite being one of (if not the) most over guys on the roster (despite being a nominal heel in the Alliance.) Rock probably wouldn't have minded putting him over if asked, but at the time he was feuding with Jericho. Austin? No way. Angle only got the not-totally-clean win over Austin for the title because 9/11 happened and Vince thought the fans needed a patriotic moment. If 9/11 hadn't happened, Austin would have gone over Angle in Pittsburgh and killed his momentum. Angle did have his momentum killed by Austin and lost the title shortly thereafter anyway. If Angle couldn't get a fully fair shake in 2001, neither was RVD, sadly.

Then in 2002 he had another chance to be a main event face on RAW, he was still super over, but unfortunately he got buried by Triple H, and just like that, he'd largely missed his window.

The 2006 push for me was sort of a too little, too late thing. If he'd been properly pushed beforehand, he'd have been an established main eventer by then and no one would have cared a whole lot about the weed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RapShepard
#19 · (Edited)
The title win in 2006 was not him "getting the ball" in any way. It was always going to be a 2 month title reign and his only big moment in WWE. I'd say the true biggest reason he was never a main eventer was because he never questioned his role backstage.

Most of his time was wasted in useless tag teams and from 2002-2006 he really didn't give a shit. He was already burnt out by the time he had the title and was not interested in keeping a top spot.

It also did not help that the only true gimmick he ever had (in ECW) was a kayfabe breaking stoner who was clearly high as fuck during every promo.
 
#21 ·
Probably because he didn't really care to be a main eventer. From listening to interviews with him you can tell that he lost a ton of motivation when ECW died and he came to to the WWF. I'm pretty sure he's even said something to that effect in one of the shoots that he's done.

BTW, I thought his ECW mic work was actually pretty good. Granted, he would drop the occasional F bomb to spice things up a bit, but even without the cursing I thought he pulled off some decent, cocky self-promoting promos.
 
#23 ·
He was smoking that dope
 
#25 ·
Because he got pulled over with weed, which sucks. I wish WWE had've given him a warning and maybe punished him behind the scenes - because he was super over given how likeable he is and how talented in-ring he is. Maybe they were making an example out of him, which I understand, but they definitely made a huge mistake by never letting him anywhere close to the top ever again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: luckyfri
#28 ·
he was openly into crack, lost his passion when ecw died, jobbed to rock Austin and angle so it wouldn't have made fundamental sense anyway and Brock Lesnar was on the horizon
 
#29 ·
1. Drugs
2. Lack of mic skills
3. Not a favorite of the WWE power brokers
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top