Rob Van Dam now claims the longest WrestleMania streak, following the shocking events that unfolded at WrestleMania XXX.
When Brock Lesnar beat The Undertaker at WrestleMania 30, it put an end to the greatest streak in wrestling history.
For 23 years, and 21 matches, The Undertaker walked into WrestleMania for a match and walked out with a win. Victims of his streak included Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Ric Flair, Batista, Edge, Jake Roberts, Kevin Nash and many more.
His matches at WrestleMania yearly became bigger than any main event or championship. Wrestler’s competed in matches in order to simply face The Deadman to try and end the streak.
With little fanfare, it ended at WrestleMania 30 at the hands of Brock Lesnar. This ended the greatest WrestleMania streak in the history of the WWE, and is something that will likely never be repeated, or beaten, for the rest of time.
He continued to wrestle for the next few years, but the matches lost their luster a bit. However, with The Undertaker’s streak now gone, we look at the man with the new longest streak in the WWE.
That man is former WWE and ECW Champion, The Whole F’n Show – Rob Van Dam.
Rob Van Dam’s WrestleMania Streak
Rob Van Dam is undefeated at WrestleMania, holding a streak that is 4-0. He has won four times at WrestleMania, and has never lost at the biggest event of the year.
One interesting fact that, unlike The Undertaker, all of RVD’s matches had different stipulations. The Deadman wrestled all singles matches, outside of one handicap match.
However, Rob Van Dam’s four matches were all very different.
Rob Van Dam’s first WrestleMania match was against William Regal. The pair battled in a singles match at WrestleMania X8, competing for the Intercontinental Championship.
This was the first WrestleMania RVD was a part of, and was one of his best performances. He pinned Regal after a Five-Star Frog Splash to win the title in the opening match of the show and begin his WrestleMania undefeated streak.
His second WrestleMania victory was at WrestleMania XX, but this time in a tag team match. RVD teamed with Booker T to defend their World Tag Team titles against three other teams vying for gold.
At WrestleMania, they beat Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak, The Dudley Boyz and La Résistance to retain the World Tag Team titles and keep the streak alive.
Two years later, Rob Van Dam won the second ever Money In The Bank ladder match. He beat out Shelton Benjamin, Ric Flair, Finlay, Matt Hardy and Bobby Lashley to pick up the coveted briefcase.
He would later cash in his contract on John Cena, defeating his at ECW One Night Stand 2006 to win his first and, so far only, WWE Championship title.
Rob Van Dam’s final WrestleMania match, and the one to take his streak to 4 wins and 0 losses, took place at WrestleMania 23. In a star-studded event which featured stars like Steve Austin and Donald Trump, RVD was relegated to an 8 man, all-ECW tag team match.
The former ECW Champion teamed with Sandman, Sabu and Tommy Dreamer to form The ECW Originals. They took on The New Breed, a team of the future stars of ECW that included Matt Striker, Elijah Burke, Kevin Thorn and Marcus Cor Von.
The ECW Originals easily put away the New Breed at WrestleMania 23. RVD would not stay in WWE for long after that,
He was released by WWE in June 2007 after a Stretcher Match loss to Randy Orton at One Night Stand 2007. He would return later that year for a one-off match against Santino Marella at Raw 15th Anniversary, but would not wrestle full time again for WWE until 2013.
Will Rob Van Dam Wrestle At WrestleMania 39?
Rob Van Dam won’t be wrestling at WrestleMania 39. The former WWE Champion last wrestled for the company in 2014, and has been gone for nearly a decade.
He returned to the company in 2013 and did challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship. However, it soon went downhill, and he was not presented as a big star in the company.
After being relegated to mid card status, he decided to call it a day with his WWE run in August 2014, losing to Seth Rollins on Smackdown before being released from his contract.
However, he is not retired from the ring. He currently wrestles regularly for Pro-Wrestling NOAH in Japan and is still putting on some of his best work inside the ring despite his advancing age. Despite this, he has spoken about returning to the WWE and would be happy for one last run in the company.
Speaking to Steve Fall of NBC Sports, Rob Van Dam revealed that he did not know what direction WWE are currently planned to go in, but if they wanted him to return to the company to fight the next generation of stars then “I’m around” to bring his years of experience to the company.
“That would be awesome, yeah. You know what, I kinda feel like if they wanted me there, then I would be there. They would make it so that I would want to be there.
Without having any, just being on the fence and not feeling hungry or either way, just whatever happens happens, like RVD is, I kinda feel like that. I don’t know what they wanna do, what their plan is, what their agenda is for all their talent now.
Seems like they want more normal-looking people that normal-looking people can relate to, maybe, but I really don’t even know. It’s whatever, but I’m around,”
