How A Drug Bust Cost Rob Van Dam Two WWE World Titles

At ECW One Night Stand 2006, Rob Van Dam beat John Cena to become WWE Champion for the first – and only – time. Two days later, on the first episode of the rebooted ECW television show, Van Dam was awarded the ECW World Heavyweight Title, too, holding it for the first – and only – time. It was the peak of his professional wrestling career.

Three weeks later, it was all over. RVD would be in possession of neither title, having been ordered to drop both of the WWE Championship and ECW World Heavyweight Title at consecutive TV tapings ahead of serving a 30-day suspension by WWE. 

Rob Van Dam & Marijuana

When Robert Szatkowski made his professional wrestling debut back in August of 1990, the young high-flier, who had been trained by Ed Farhat, AKA The Sheik, was by no means an advocate for the use of marijuana. By his own admission, the wrestler who would become Rob Van Dam was somewhat scared of the drug and didn’t take it for the first time until after his 21st birthday and, even then, it was only after being peer pressured by Jimmy Del Ray during a tour of Jamaica. 

The locker room were at a cabana after a show and passing a joint around, with the young man from Battle Creek, Michigan initially declining to take a hit. Del Ray told Van Dam that he was a prima-donna if he didn’t join in and that doing so wasn’t going to "kill him." So, Van Dam caved, and ended up, in his words, "staring at the wall" for an age afterwards, feeling paranoid that everyone would think he was stoned. 

Soon after, Van Dam would begin regularly smoking marijuana on a more regular basis beginning when he got a job as a bouncer at a country and western themed bar in Florida. By the time he made it to Extreme Championship Wrestling in early 1996, marijuana was a significant part of Rob Van Dam’s daily life, and it would become an element of his on-screen persona while he was featured in Paul Heyman’s Philadephia-based promotion. This included announcer Joey Styles noting that “nobody gets higher than RVD!” while commenting on Van Dam’s Five-Star Frog Splash, while Van Dam himself adopted the catchphrase ‘RVD 4:20’ in a riff on ‘Austin 3:16.’

This public flaunting of his drug use was passable in ECW, but things would be different when Van Dam signed with WWE in July of 2001, just months after Extreme Championship Wrestling declared bankruptcy. 

Van Dam still smoked weed, of course, usually going out to do so in his rental car, but he tried not to parade it in front of his new employers, even if Stephanie McMahon did once suggest that he should probably try to hide the smell a little more.

While it was hardly a secret that many within the company were using and, in some cases, abusing illicit substances, as a publicly-traded entity, WWE couldn’t exactly promote that one of their stars indulged in an illegal activity. When Van Dam and Rey Mysterio – another WWE star who was a known marijuana user – came up with the name ‘420 Leg Drop’ for one of their double-team moves while tagging together in 2004, Van Dam had to lie to Vince McMahon and say it was the combined number of legs and their shoe sizes (12 + 8) as an explanation when questioned whether it was, in fact, a drug reference. 

While WWE didn’t have a specific drug policy at the time of RVD’s arrival, they were within their rights to test individuals the company felt may have had a drug problem, such as Jeff Hardy, who was fired after refusing to attend rehab after failing drug tests in 2003.

WWE Introduces The Wellness Policy

In the wake of the death of Eddie Guerrero, at the age of just 38, in November of 2005, WWE decided it was time to implement an official testing programme, which they called the Talent Wellness Programme.

Guerrero had a noted history of substance issues and had been fired by WWE in November of 2001 after he got a DUI shortly after being released from a rehabilitation facility. His cause of death of heart failure was attributed to both his previous, hard-partying lifestyle and prescription drug abuse, as well as prolonged heavy steroid use. 

After the untimely death of a major and well-loved star, the Wellness Programme was both a public relations move and a way to, ultimately, safeguard the health and wellbeing of talent after a long period where wrestlers, many of whom had been on WWE’s roster, had died young.

Rob Van Dam wasn’t present when Vince McMahon announced the policy to the roster at a television taping in Sheffield, England on November 21, 2005 as he was still recovering from major reconstructive knee surgery, having gone under the knife that January. He would be informed about the policy, though, and he was eligible to be tested when the first round of testing took place at a WWE TV taping on March 20, 2006. 

Rob Van Dam Becomes WWE & ECW Champion 

Van Dam returned from injury as an entrant in the 2006 Royal Rumble match and was enjoying a push on Raw following his comeback. 

After missing almost all of 2005, fans were hyped to see Mr. Monday Night once again and it felt like he was gathering real momentum on the red brand. RVD had been the recipient of start-stop pushes before, though, and he and his fans were becoming tired of watching him repeatedly fail to break the glass ceiling. 

This time, though, things would be different. At WrestleMania 22, RVD won the second-ever Money in the Bank Ladder Match, earning a guaranteed world title shot against a champion of his choosing anytime within the next 365 days.

At Backlash the following month, Van Dam added the Intercontinental Title to his haul by beating Shelton Benjamin in a match where his Money in the Bank briefcase was also on the line. He only held the title for a couple of weeks, but the signs of a Van Dam rise to the top were still looking good. 

On the May 22, 2006 episode of Raw, Van Dam announced that he would cash-in his Money in the Bank title shot against WWE Champion John Cena at the second ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view on June 11. 

Van Dam had been the driving force behind the first One Night Stand pay-per-view, directly suggesting a one-off reunion show to Vince McMahon after the critical and commercial success of the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD, which had been released in November of 2004. Van Dam was unable to wrestle at the first One Night Stand pay-per-view as he was in the middle of recovering from knee surgery, though he did cut an impassioned, shoot-style promo on the night. 

Not only was One Night Stand coming back, though, but three days after Van Dam’s challenge to Cena, WWE formally announced the company was resurrecting ECW as a standalone brand, ending weeks of speculation. 

In further positive news for Van Dam, it was announced that Sabu had signed with WWE on a one-year deal to be a part of the ECW reboot, meaning Van Dam would be able to travel on the road with his best friend. 

Then, in the main event of ECW One Night Stand 2006, Rob Van Dam defeated John Cena in an epic match to capture the WWE Championship, with Paul Heyman famously counting the winning pinfall following a Five-Star Frog Splash inside the Hammerstein Ballroom.

Two days later, Van Dam was gifted the ECW World Heavyweight Championship by Paul Heyman and RVD was suddenly The Man in WWE. 

RVD Gets Busted

After becoming a double champion, Rob Van Dam would represent ECW in the promotional war with WWE in another version of the Invasion five years later. Vengeance 2006 on June 25 saw Van Dam successfully defend the belt against Edge, while RVD and Cena went to a no-contest on Monday Night Raw the following night. 

Van Dam wasn’t planned for a long title reign, though, with RVD set for a short, transitional reign before he focused on being ECW World Heavyweight Champion. The plan was for Van Dam to lose the WWE Title in a Triple Threat with Cena and Edge on the July 15 episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event. 

Those plans promptly changed, however, when Van Dam and Sabu were involved in a road incident on July 2. Both men had performed at that night’s ECW house show in Huntington, West Virginia and were travelling to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the next night’s Raw taping when they were pulled over in Hanging Rock, Ohio. Van Dam, who was driving the vehicle with his shirt off, was recorded driving 73 miles per hour in a 55 MPH zone in an area that was known as a speed trap at 10:15 pm. 

Dash cam footage released afterwards showed that when Ohio State Trooper J.N. Baker and his partner approached the vehicle, Van Dam attempted to play the “We’re WWE Superstars” card, noting that he was the current world champion. 

Regrettably for RVD and Sabu, Baker wasn’t interested, but he was interested in the strong smell of weed emanating from inside the vehicle. After performing a search of the automobile, Baker discovered that Van Dam was in possession of 18 grams of marijuana, located in the centre console, as well as five Vicodin pills for which he did not have a valid prescription. 

The marijuana charge was minor in Ohio, with possession of less than 100 grams typically resulting in a $100 fine. The possession of Vicodin, a Schedule III controlled substance, was considered a third-degree misdemeanour. 

Sabu, meanwhile, was found in possession of nine testolactone tablets, also a Schedule III controlled substance, for which he could not produce a valid prescription. Testolactone – known as Teslac - was a popular drug within the bodybuilding and wrestling communities. An androgen suppressant, it was used when coming off a steroid cycle to prevent the development of female characteristics due to the body’s naturally lower testosterone levels. 

Sabu, who was wearing a cap with a marijuana leaf motif on it when they were pulled over, was also in possession of a pipe that contained marijuana residue. He had admitted to the officers that he had consumed marijuana via the device prior to getting in the car.

Contrary to what some believe, Van Dam and Sabu were never actually arrested. They did follow the state troopers to a police station, where they paid a fine and signed some documents, but they were never booked in. A trooper took their mug shots in the parking lot after forgetting to in the station itself, and they were simply cited and continued on their journey in the knowledge that they would have to attend a court date in the near future. 

As Van Dam later recalled, when he drove away, he really didn’t think it was that big of a deal. When Sabu suggested they tell the office about what had happened, Van Dam blew off the notion of 'snitching' on themselves. 

WWE Suspends RVD, Books Him To Drop Both World Titles

When the dual WWE and ECW champion got to the building in Philadelphia for Raw the next day, however, he realised just what a big deal the bust was going to be. The news had broken earlier that morning when it was reported in the Ironton Tribune newspaper and then picked up nationally by the Associated Press. 

WWE had gotten wind of it and the decision was made to suspend Van Dam without pay for 30 days for violating the Wellness Policy, starting after he had dropped both title belts. 

Though he let felt disappointed to have let people down by getting busted, Van Dam himself did not see the incident as that big of a deal and didn’t exactly apologise for it, even if he did assure McMahon that nothing like it would happen again after he returned from his suspension.

Sabu, meanwhile, was not suspended, as Teslac wasn’t on the Wellness Policy’s prohibited list. He was, however, fined $1,000 for his admitted marijuana usage. 

Sabu’s case was likely helped because he was apologetic and also, with Kurt Angle serving a suspension for his own Wellness Policy failure and RVD set to join him, the freshly-launched ECW brand would have been sorely lacking in star power without him, especially on house shows. There was a general belief that Sabu had gotten off lightly, given that WWE’s Wellness Policy specifically stated that: 

"Any talent who is arrested, convicted or who admits to a violation of law relating to use, possession, purchase, sale or distribution of prohibited drugs will be in material breach of contract and subject to immediate dismissal."

The planned main event for the July 3 episode of Raw was going to be Van Dam and Sabu teaming up to take on Edge & Mick Foley and John Cena & Ric Flair in a three-way tag team match. WWE instead brought the Saturday Night’s Main Event match forward 12 days and had Edge pin Van Dam to win the WWE Title. 

It was the first time the WWE Title had changed hands on free TV since Brock Lesnar beat Kurt Angle in a one-hour Iron Man match on the September 18, 2003 episode of SmackDown, and the first time the WWE Title had changed hands on Raw since Steve Austin beat Angle on October 8, 2001.

Twenty-four hours after losing the WWE Title, Van Dam dropped the ECW Title to The Big Show when Paul Heyman turned on him. Heyman subsequently suspended RVD in the storyline to explain his impending absence.

The Aftermath

Rob Van Dam would later describe how he wanted the ground to swallow him up after losing to Big Show, as ECW fans pelted the ring with garbage. It was a real low point professionally and he wondered if he would be able to regain both the trust and momentum he had lost when he got back to work.

On August 31, 2006, Van Dam and Sabu appeared before Judge Clark Collins. Prior to being heard, they refused to speak to local reporters and, according to a story in the Ironton Tribune, directed obscene hand gestures towards members of the media. A local NBC affiliate even aired footage of them flipping off the station’s camera men.

Van Dam pleaded guilty to speeding, as well as to possession of 18 grams of marijuana. The charge relating to the possession of the five Vicodin tablets was dropped after he produced a valid prescription for the painkilling drugs. He was ordered to pay a $140 fine, plus court costs. 

Sabu pleaded guilty to third-degree possession of drugs over the Teslac tablets. In exchange for the guilty plea, the charge relating to possession of drug paraphernalia was dropped. He was given a 10-day suspended jail sentence and ordered to pay a $500 fine, plus court costs. 

Van Dam would later claim that he enjoyed his time off so much that he requested more when his suspension was over, which was denied. Dropping the title and losing his main event push, coupled with the general poor treatment of the ECW brand, had caused RVD to rapidly lose his passion for the business.

While he would remain a featured player on ECW, it was clear that the show was not going to be the ECW that he and fans had loved in the past. Van Dam, Sabu and the other ECW originals were being phased out in favour of the likes of Big Show, Test and Bobby Lashley. This was WWE’s version of ECW, not theirs.

As for Sabu, he tried to be a good soldier for a while, but, as many had predicted when he signed with WWE, the relationship inevitably soured. His inability (or unwillingness) to recite a scripted promo for a pre-tape resulted in Sabu being removed from the Extreme Elimination Chamber ECW Title match at the disastrous December to Dismember pay-per-view, where he was replaced by Hardcore Holly. 

After this, reports noted that Sabu was on borrowed time and it was something of a minor miracle that he was able to last until May 15, 2007, when he was released. Reports suggested that Sabu - who had been saved by Heyman and Van Dam while on thin ice in the past - had shown up to that day’s television taping hours late, without his gear and, in the view of some backstage, in no condition to perform.

Van Dam would follow him out of the door, not in protest or because he himself was released, but because he had refused to sign a new deal with his current contract set to expire that June. 

The Whole F’N Show was burnt out and, realising that his WWE career had probably peaked and that the drug bust had made WWE wary of pushing him above a certain level, he opted to leave the company and take an extended break from the business. 

Van Dam’s last WWE outing before his departure was a victory over Randy Orton in a Stretcher Match at One Night Stand 2007. In contrast to the year before, when he closed the show and was hoisted high on the shoulders of his peers, this time he was in the opener and pummelled by the Legend Killer in a post-match attack designed to write him out.

Ever since the now infamous drug bust, Van Dam has maintained that the whole situation was actually a positive and not a negative, as it shed light on a subject that he, as a staunch marijuana advocate, cares so passionately about. 

He contends that, had he not been WWE Champion at the time, nobody would have cared and it wouldn’t have given him a platform to talk about issues related to the laws around marijuana use and possession. 

Things are certainly different now 20 years on, as evidenced by WWE’s reaction when Liv Morgan was arrested for possession of cannabis (less than 20 grams) and possession of a cannabis vape pen on December 14, 2023. Morgan was even booked into the Sumter County, Florida jail, had her mugshot taken – which then went viral – and was detained for two hours before being released on $3,000 bond. 

Liv did claim that the vape pen, which contained a synthetic cannabinoid oil, belonged to a friend but, regardless, reports quickly emerged that suggested there was absolutely zero heat on Morgan over the incident, as far as WWE were concerned.