Highlights

• Rob Van Dam, a WWE Hall of Famer, was rejected by WWE before joining AEW, not because of his current affiliation, but for other reasons.
• Van Dam had a mix-up with booking in Philadelphia, initially being unbooked by WWE but later rebooked by another company.
• Despite not being able to participate in WrestleMania in Philadelphia, Van Dam's career in AEW continues, and he plans to keep wrestling for the foreseeable future.

In 2021, Rob Van Dam became a WWE Hall of Famer. It was a much-deserved recognition for the ECW and WWE icon. Van Dam was one of the most popular members of Paul Heyman's promotion in ECW. That fandom easily transferred when he went mainstream and joined WWE in 2001. Throughout the 2000s, Van Dam was a fan favorite and even became a WWE Champion. He did a few stints with WWE over his career and made a cameo this past spring at the WWE draft. That made many think that the 52-year-old star might be returning for one last run. WrestleMania 40 in 2024 is going to be held in Philadelphia after all. What a perfect setting for someone who spent much of his career in Philly.

That doesn't look like it's going to happen now, but it's not for the reason you think. With Rob Van Dam currently in AEW, you can imagine WWE being upset about it, however, that was not what happened. WWE actually rejected him before he even ended up in AEW. On his One of a Kind podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer revealed that he was in the middle of getting an eye exam when his phone rang.

"I got a phone call, I picked up because it was from the big company, had a little talk, and got officially unbooked from Philly. About 30 minutes later, I got another message and got officially rebooked in Philly from another company. So that was pretty good. In the meantime, I'm just reading letters. 'A. E.' It happened like when I got there, and before I left, before I even had a chance to think about the first message, so that's just the universe doing what it does, which is pretty awesome."The reason I don't want to put too much detail on that is because word got out when I said before that I was unbooked and it kind of worked against me because I had someone inside working on trying to do some damage repair. And then I got people on Twitter saying 'Let's pass this around, man. We need RVD rebooked,' and I was trying not to give that much attention to it because I had someone working on it. Either way, different dates, same town. The one is becoming more and more valuable than the other one to me each time anyway." (h/t Wrestling Inc.)

RELATED: RVD Says Wants A WrestleMania Main Event Match Against Rising WWE Star

Rob Van Dam's Career In AEW

Rob Van Dam showed up in AEW back in August, complete with his old ECW Pantera entrance music. He challenged for Jack Perry's FTW Championship on an episode of Dynamite but lost. He's had a few other matches since, and on the October 25 Dynamite will compete again, this time in Philadelphia, in a match that will see him teaming with Hook against the Dark Order's John Silver and Alex Reynolds.

It'll be very disappointing if Rob Van Dam can't be at WrestleMania in Philadelphia, but with him recently saying he doesn't plan to retire anytime soon, we can hopefully get many more great moments from him in AEW.