Rob Van Dam has discussed a proposed romance storyline that would have seen love blossom between him and Stephanie McMahon.
Van Dam debuted in WWE in July 2001 following the closure of ECW. Upon his debut, Van Dam would join the invasion on WWE, representing the WWE brand. The on-screen owner of that brand at this time was Stephanie McMahon. Teaming with her brother Shane who led WCW, the two formed The Alliance as they battled with father Vince for supremacy.
Speaking on the DropKick Podcast, Rob Van Dam talked about the proposed storyline that would have seen Van Dam paired with Stephanie McMahon.
RVD explained:
“Something that comes to mind is when I first got there they wanted me to do a bit of a romance angle with Stephanie and myself. My evil ex was like the most insecure b*tch on the planet and I was like thinking ‘oh my god this gonna cause me so much grief at home’. I was like ‘no’. We had a talk, me and Stephanie, and she said you know just think of this like you’re an actor.”
The proposed angle never happened. Van Dam’s early WWE career would see him become of the most beloved members of The Alliance. RVD would feud with Jeff Hardy for the Hardcore Title over the summer. Van Dam was part of the Alliance team in the ‘Winner Take All’ ten-man tag match at Survivor Series 2001.
The pinnacle of RVD’s career in WWE came at the ECW One Night Stand event in 2006. Van Dam would cash in his ‘Money In The Bank’ contract and challenge John Cena for the WWE Championship. RVD would win the title in front of a rabid ECW crowd with Paul Heyman counting the decisive fall.