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WWE News: Rob Van Dam Returns To Action Against MVP

By Jason Hall
Published on: 14:36 PST, Mar 26, 2017

Earlier this month, former World Champion Rob Van Dam hinted at a possible return to WWE. On Saturday, Van Dam made his first in-ring appearance at Pacific Coast Wrestling’s “High Tide” event during a 60-minute time limit match against former WWE superstar MVP for the PCW Heavyweight Championship.

Van Dam has taken on a light independent schedule since leaving WWE in 2014. Since then, he’s appeared at several House of Hardcore shows, as well as an appearance in PCW having won the title from Pentagon Jr. last November.

Van Dam retained the title by landing his finishing move, the “Five Star Frog Splash” for the pinfall.

Earlier this week, Van Dam confirmed that he planned to attend the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony on March 31 at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida via Twitter.

Van Dam is expected to make at least one more appearance at PCW Wrestling on June 2 when he defends the PCW Heavyweight Championship against former WWE star John Morrison, also known as Johnny Mundo in Lucha Underground.

On March 17, Van Dam alluded to a potential WWE comeback via Twitter. When asked by a fan if he’d be appearing on the House of Hardcore shows in Australia in June, Van Dam responded by saying it “looks like” he’ll be scheduled to wrestle in Australia in August instead.

Of course, WWE is scheduled for its own Australian tour in August. One fan took notice and asked Van Dam if his tweet meant that he was returning to the company, which the superstar continued to hint at.

During his career, Van Dam won 21 total championships and is the only wrestler to have held the WWE Championship, ECW Championship, and TNA World Heavyweight Championship, including having held both the WWE and ECW Championships simultaneously in 2006. Van Dam gained notoriety during his run in ECW during the mid-90s. He appeared sporadically on WWE television during the companies’ working relationship but didn’t make his full-time debut until 2001, which saw him emerge as one of the company’s most popular superstars.

[Image by J.Sciulli/WireImage]

A Van Dam comeback couldn’t come at a better time with WWE’s recent emphasis on the high-flying cruiserweights. During an appearance on Bill Apter’s Is Wrestling Fixed last week, Van Dam revealed that current Cruiserweight Champion Neville would be the WWE superstar he’d want to face most if he decided to return.

“Assuming that the business end of it was good and we were both happy on both ends with that part. The dollar amount (laughs). Neville. I knew him as a wrestler named Pac and I have wrestled him as Pac years ago in France or Ireland. He’s always been very good. I don’t know where he is as far as on the ladder or whatever. If I was getting paid and that part was worked out then it wouldn’t matter. That’s the reason you want to work up top because you make more money. Assuming that part is worked out then, sure, we’d have fun.”

In September, Van Dam appeared on Sean Waltman’s X-Pac 1,2,360 podcast and revealed that he still had a working relationship with WWE that allows him the freedom to come and go as he pleases.

“I have a deal now with them, just like [Chris] Jericho, where I can do short term deals. I did a three-month deal and still did sixty-six matches in ninety days, and then the traveling. So then the next time I went back I spread it out a little more, was doing mostly just TVs and that was over five months. It was like eighty matches, or eighty-eight. Me and Jericho have the same deal but I don’t have the ambition that he does. He likes being there a lot. I mean, I really like not being on the road. A lot of celebrities are afraid of being out of sight, out of mind. I’m the complete opposite. I’ve always been trying to do as little as possible and I’m getting better at it all the time.”

Van Dam’s recent in-ring appearance should keep fans optimistic for an eventual return to WWE. The 46-year-old is still capable of putting on great matches and should entertain fans as a nostalgia act while lending to the success of WWE’s “New Era.”

[Featured Image by WWE]

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