Rob Van Dam vs Jerry Lynn

Leading up to TNA's Destination X PPV a few X Division wrestlers were arguing over who was the greatest X Division wrestler. When asked to comment, Rob Van Dam stated that he "was X Division before there was an X Division." Rob went on to say that he was so far ahead of his time, that he started a new style of wrestling that caught on in ECW and spread to all the different wrestling organizations and eventually TNA gave it a name which was X Division.

Just as Van Dam was saying all this in his backstage interview, the door behind him opened and in walked Jerry Lynn. Jerry just made eye contact with Rob then walked away. Rob looked like he had seen a ghost, and just uttered the words "Jerry Lynn." It was later announced that the two would have a match at Destination X, that Jerry Lynn would be coming out of retirement for one match only against Rob Van Dam!

Here is my history lesson for those who don't remember...

Rob Van Dam debuted in ECW as the company was on the rise. However, his style was light years ahead of where anyone in wrestling at that time was. That is probably why Rob was released from WCW and went to ECW. I don't think anyone wanted to face Van Dam because they could not keep up with him, and in my opionion this is why he was overlooked and left off of the card for ECW's first ever PPV. However, at the last minute someone dropped out due to injury and Rob was a last minute replacement. He went out in the opening match and destroyed a great Canadian wrestler known as Lance Storm. After the match Rob picked up the mic and ripped ECW apart for not booking him in the first place and said it was because he was too good and no one wanted to face him. He then said that he quit and threw the mic down.

Obviously Rob wasn't going to go back to WCW ever again so he was said to be off to WWF/WWE. He debuted and was nicknamed "Mr. Monday Night" by announce Jerry Lawler. He was an ECW wrestler that was anti ECW lol. Well for whatever reason Rob stayed in ECW and the obviously gave him what he wanted to keep him happy and not lose him to WWF/WWE. They did not want to make him their top guy and their heavyweight champion, but they did offer him their other title known as the Television Championship.

To win this belt Rob had to defeat a legend known as Bam Bam Bigelow. Not only did Rob win, he stole the show in a match that is still talked about. Rob threw Bam Bam into the crowd, several rows back, then climbed back into the ring and to the top rope and dove over the guardrail and a few rows of chairs to crash onto Bam Bam. The crowd chanted for him to do it again, and never to disappoint, Van Dam did it again, only this time doing a full forward somersault.

Rob won that match and won the ECW TV Title, a title which he held undefeated for the next 2 and a half years! Rob would just go to the ring and ECW would send out whoever they had and Rob would wrestler circles around them and win his matches easily. Rob got a manager that would run around the ring blowing his annoying whistle and helping set up Rob's amazing high risk maneuvers, often holding chairs in place for Rob to kick into opponents faces. Often, when Rob had his opponents down and out and could go for the pin, instead he would sit down in a corner and his manager would give him a drink of water while his opponent recovered so Rob could show off some more. It was amazing! Even though Van Dam wasn't the top champion in the company his matches quickly stole the main event spots on all the television shows and PPVs.

Clearly Rob Van Dam was the top wrestler in ECW and no one else could keep up with him. I have to imagine Rob went to Paul Heyman who ran ECW and asked him to find a wrestler somewhere in the world that could keep up with him and match his style of wrestler to help Van Dam really show what he was capable of. However this must have happened, the end result is still the same, Heyman brought in a wrestler to face Van Dam and that wrestler was Jerry Lynn!

Of the 2.5 years Van Dam defended his title undefeated, one whole year, the last year of that reign was entirely against Jerry Lynn. These two fought again and again every night for a whole year, and Rob Van Dam won every single match. Yet somehow the fans never got bored of this rivalry for that whole year. Each night they came out to fight as a fan we thought this might be the night Jerry finally wins. Rob was always known as "The Whole F'in Show" and eventually because of this rivalry Jerry Lynn earned the nickname "The New F'in Show." Clearly the fans thought it was only a matter of time before Jerry defeated Rob and took over as the Television Champion.

This is one of, if not my all time favourite matches between these two. This was the match where I thought Jerry Finally had Rob beat. In fact, right after Jerry hit the biggest DDT I had ever seen, the bell rang indicating that time had run out. The referee came over to present the title to Jerry, only Jerry refused to accept it and insisted that they add 5 more minutes on the clock so that he could actually pin Van Dam to win the title. When the referee asked Van Dam if he wanted 5 more minutes to try to retain his title RVD agreed. As soon as they restarted the match Lynn hit his finisher which was the sickest pile-driver I had ever seen. I thought, and still think, this is when Jerry should have got that long awaited pin-fall over RVD. However, it was not meant to be. Still the greatest match I think they ever had!

Should Have Been

I always assumed this would happen, and that was when Rob would move up and become the Heavyweight Champion. Unfortunately that never happened. In a match against a new rookie in ECW named Rhino, Van Dam was attempting to do a simple baseball slide to drop kick his opponent outside the ring, only somehow his boot caught on the ring mat and his ankle rolled over completely and snapped. This broken ankle caused ECW to strip Van Dam of his title and award it to someone else who was healthy enough to defend it while Van Dam recovered. I think everyone, like me, expected that man to be Jerry Lynn, however, ECW awarded the title to Rhino since he was in that match with Van Dam when he was injured. 

As a result, the title reign and the rivalry came to an end with Jerry Lynn never beating Rob Van Dam and never winning the title. ECW then went out of business along with WCW and Rob Van Dam finally moved on to WWF/WWE (where his talents would be further wasted). Jerry Lynn however did not make it in WWF/WWE. However, when TNA started Jerry Lynn became a big star there and was in fact the very first man to ever win the X Division Title!

 Jerry Lynn breifly in WWF/WWE and his match against Rob Van Dam was only for the Hardcore Title and was only used on Sunday Night Heat, a lame tv show for rookies and nobodies, when this match should have been featured on a big PPV!

Since then Jerry has retired, and has had back injuries which I believe lead to his retirement. Also since then, Rob Van Dam has arrived in TNA and become their World Heavyweight Champion. Now that TNA is bringing back the X Division and holding an entire PPV to determine who is the greatest X Division wrestler, it only seems fitting that Rob Van Dam face Jerry Lynn one more time!

That is exactly what happened! Jerry Lynn announced he was coming out of retirement for one last match, against Rob Van Dam because as Jerry said, he wanted to prove once and for all that he could defeat Rob Van Dam!

In my opinion this was the real highlight of the show. These two stole the show and their match should have been the main event, instead of AJ Styles and Christoper Daniels. It was as if the two had not missed a day, as if the past decade that has elapsed since their infamous rivalry had never taken place, with both picking up exactly where they left off. It was amazing to watch, the high flying moves, the chair shots, the extreme maneuvers. They received standing ovations and chants of "whole f'in show" as well as "new f'in show" and of course "this is awesome!"

 Destination X 2011

Just to recap... Van Dam held a title and was undefeated for 2.5 years, and for 1 year faced Jerry Lynn, and about 10 years later the two held a rematch with Jerry Lynn coming out of retirement and a back injury to steal the show and out wrestler the best wrestlers in the business today. How is that even possible? And how is this not getting more publicity? I think this was possibly the match of the year and deserves more attention that it is being given! Would I be alone in thinking that one more match between these two may be in order at the biggest TNA PPV of the year and a title should possibly be on the line. Would it be too much to ask that Jerry Lynn finally pins Rob Van Dam and wins that title... the heavyweight title!