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WRESTLING COLUMNS

Rob Screwed Rob!
July 8, 2006 by R.J. Creasman


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Rob Van Dam is Mr. Tuesday Night, Mr. ECW, the Whole F'ing Show, Mr. Pay-Per-View. A three time WWE Hardcore Champion, six time WWE Intercontinental Champion, five time WWE or ECW Tag Team Champion, and Heavyweight Champion of WWE and ECW. In fact Van Dam is the only man to have held the WWE Heavyweight and ECW Heavyweight titles at the same time. However, on the night of Sunday, July 2, 2006 Rob Van Changed all that. On his way to an airport, accompanied by Sabu, their vehicle was pulled over by an Ohio State Highway Patrolman for speeding.

As the officer approached the vehicle he smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle. This prompts the officer to search Rob and Sabu. During the search the officer allegedly finds five grams of marijuana and five pills believed to be Vicoden in Rob's possession. Sabu was allegedly found to be carrying nine pills of an unknown origin. The two were cited and posted bond on scene. Now what was the WWE to do" Their top guy has just been busted. Well they did what anyone with a sense of urgency would do, they had Rob lose both belts. That's right, in just 48 hours Rob Van Dam went from being the WWE and ECW champion to a man on the brink of losing his job. Rob Van Dam screwed Rob Van Dam.

Rob worked his ass off for the WWE. He is what his name says he is, he is the Whole F'ing Show. As a consequence of Rob's hard work and his work ethic Rob was rewarded tremendously. The brass at WWE being confident the Rob could handle the responsibility of being WWE and ECW champion showered him gold. And how does Rob go about thinking them for their acknowledgement of himself" He slaps them all in the face and basically throws the titles in the trash. He gets busted. Furthermore, it doesn't matter what anyone's opinion of marijuana is, the fact of the matter is that it is illegal to grow, use, have, or distribute, and Rob Van Dam broke the law and should be punished.

However, with that said I am in no position to decide the punishment. That is up to the authorities in Ohio and the WWE brass. Rob and Sabu were scheduled to appear in court on July 6. The WWE creative staff met all day Monday and Tuesday trying to solve Rob's screw-up. The staff did their job and did a last minute patch job. The WWE suspended Rob for 30 days and worked the angle into Paul Heyman screwing him over.

Nevertheless, this is not all gloom and doom for Rob Van Dam. He took responsibility for his faults and did what was asked of him. He lost both titles on back-to-back nights. Rob must now work on all that was lost that night. By this I am not referring to the titles but the respect he lost from the WWE brass. Rob has already started on this and I hope will continue after the suspension is lifted. But no one forced Rob to make those mistakes and throw all his hard work down the drain. Rob screwed Rob!!

R.J. Creasman ..


william tallman wrote:
i got less then two paragraphs into your column and youve already got the facts wrong. its 18 grams not 5 thank you
HOTSTUFFRETURNS wrote:
Yeah, and how many of the WWE "SUPERSTARS" are running on steroids and pain pills. Eddie Guerrero killed himself this way at 38 years old chasing a gold strap. I agree that smoking pot is wrong, but at least Rob is not killing himself with the roids and pain pills. He made a mistake, big friggin deal. He avoided all the crap that is killing our heroes left and right. Get over it. He shouldn't have been stripped of the titles. The man is one of the hardest workers any federation has because he loves the business and he loves the fans. In closing, I'd like to ask one question. How many of you out there bashing him for smoking pot were drunk or drinking when you found out" How many of you like to drink a little and have a bit of fun" It's the same damn thing. Alcohol is a drug just like pot is, so maybe you should think about that before you start bashing someone.
Sam L wrote:
I honestly can't see what the big deal is. RVD had some drugs, dude, whatever! I haven't lost any respect for him at all. In fact I think that I've GAINED respect for him. He got caught with drugs and he still goes out and does his job. Also the late great Eddie guerrero was a drug addict and I don't see you busting his chops about it. Dude, so what" Sabu had them too. I don't see the title "Sabu screwed Sabu". Is it because RVD's the champion it makes it SO much more unacceptable" Because if it is it's SOOOOOOOOOOOO petty. Yeah drugs are illegal and I'm ashamed they had them in their possesion, but you can't go around bringing down RVD and Sabu without doing the same to Eddie Guerrero. And in my view those guys are in the top 10 wrestler EVER!!!

Also if you think they're the only wrestlers ever to do drugs then your wrong. One word steroids. Now I'm pointing the finger, but I know that alot of superstars in the 80's took them. You can't just bring down RDV and Sabu without those guys too.
Sam Anderson wrote:
Being a pothead has been part of RVD's character for the decade since he started in ECW, and it's been pretty well known that it's more than just a gimmick. Just the week before this happened, he cut a promo making numerous marijuana related puns. He became champion with all of this out in the open. It seems to me that the REAL issue here isn't RVD's actions, which were questionable (smoking in your car while on the road is a risk that RVD and Sabu should not have taken, considering that it's illegal, whether that's right or wrong), or WWE's response, which was unfortunate but understandable...it's the double standard of a society in which a man can become famous as a pothead, but as soon as he's directly caught by an authority figure, he comes under fire. Perhaps this is a shining example of what's wrong with making illegal an action that has either been done by, or is largely permitted, by a massive part of the public. WWE isn't exactly a tiny company...they have some of the most watched shows on television, and RVD is one of their biggest names. Would they have a child molester babyface" A necrophiliac babyface" Of course not...but a pothead babyface has thrived in the company. Just a bit of food for thought...
Jesse Lee wrote:
It was a sad day when I found out one of my favorite wrestlers since witnessing him in late-ECW get busted for drugs. I'm not complaining about WWE's actions, because it had to be done. Fans chated "F--- you Vince" at last week's ECW event, but don't they realize that RVD was the one who did it, not Vince.

In retrospect, Vince was probably angry at himself for two reasons. 1)having to do this with the top guy (rank-wise) in his company and 2)making him champion in the first place. Like I'm said, I'm not angry at Vince at all on this decision.

However, I don't think RVD will be fired. He has a ton of name-value to WWE for that. They know if they fire RVD, TNA will pick him up and no doubt use him to their fullest. I suspect we'll all see RVD make a tremendous return, but will be stuck in the mid-card to upper-mid card for quite a while.
Jon Rosaler wrote:
Being a fellow comic book fan with the other wrestlers such as Gregory Helms and Raven, It really broke my heart to see a man with talent screw himself of being the champion (even though he's Marvel and I'm DC). He should be careful with speeding. I'll still enjoy going to his store.
Ernesto Diaz wrote:
You are right. Rob Van Dam was one of the most beloved wrestlers in the WWE and now he is suspended for possesion of drugs. You are right. Paul Heyman didn't screw RVD. RVD screwed RVD!!!
R.J. Creasman wrote:
First of all I know I was wrong with the info. I noticed the day after I submitted the story. Thanks for letting me. However, it was too late to change it since I had already sent in the story. Second of all I did not bash RVD. Rob is one of my all time favorites. He is the Whole F'ing Show. Third, I do not condone any use of drugs, be that steriods, street drugs, or alcohol. Pot is illegal to have and he got caught with it. Fourth, I do agree that Vince will most likey not fire RVD but will tighten his control of Rob so that he will punish him even more. Fifth, I did not say Rob lost the respect of the fans. What I said is that Rob lost the respect of the WWE brass, which is basically the McMahon family, and that Rob will have to regain it. With that said Rob did lose a little of my respect. Why would you work your ass off for years in a company to never get reconized too only when the time comes shit all over the oppurtunity" Sixth, this article was mainly about fans screaming Paul and/or Vince screwed over Rob. That is not the case. Rob screwed himself by being caught in possession. Which in turn cost him both the WWE and ECW titles which was fair by the way. Does your workplace or company just ignore positive tests at their business. I do NOT think so. As I said NO ONE forced Rob to do what he did. Seventh, Eddy Guerrero died last year and this article was not about Eddy but about RVD being ignorant. Eddy Guerrero and other wrestling drug users is another topic because of how broad the topic is. If someone would like to take up that task then get to it. So as I said before and will say it again: Rob Screwed Rob!!!!!!
Thomas Bradley wrote:
You are correct, as much as I love Rob Van Dam. He screwed up, and he should be punished. Just like Barry Bonds, Van Dam screwed Van Dam. I am discusted to a man who cared about his craft, to blow his career away on drugs.
Andrew Bocca wrote:
Look rvd made a mistake and now he is going through his 30 day suspension. No big deal, after his suspension is over he will be back and will be doing his job again.
Jose wrote:
Umm...They found 9 pills of a controlled substance, and they also found some pain killers. Looks to me that this is the reason why he's put shitty performances scince the Royal Rumble.
wrote:

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