page_title: Rob Van Dam
section_title: Intercontinental Champion (2001–2002)
hierarchical_section_title: Rob Van Dam / Professional wrestling career / World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment / Intercontinental Champion (2001–2002)
caption_attribution_description: Rob Van Dam como campeón intercontinental
context_page_description: Rob Szatkowski, better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam, is an American professional wrestler and actor currently signed to Impact Wrestling. He has won 21 total championships, and is the only wrestler in history to have held the WWE Championship, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. He headlined many pay-per-view events throughout three decades between the 1990s and 2010s, including the 1998 edition of November to Remember and the 2011 edition of TripleMania. In 2002, Van Dam was ranked the number one pro wrestler in the world by Pro Wrestling Illustrated. He was voted "Most Popular Wrestler" by readers of the magazine in 2001 and again in 2002. WWE named him the greatest star in ECW history in 2014.
  Van Dam gained mainstream popularity in Extreme Championship Wrestling, where he became one of the most famous wrestlers in the industry. During his time in ECW, he was managed by Bill Alfonso and had feuds with Jerry Lynn and Sabu, also forming a tag team with the latter. They would win the ECW Tag Team Championship twice.
context_section_description: Van Dam became a face, but lost the Hardcore Championship to The Undertaker at Vengeance. He then entered into a rivalry with William Regal over Regal's Intercontinental Championship. On the February 25 episode of Raw, Van Dam defeated Lance Storm and Big Show in a triple threat match to become the #1 contender to the Intercontinental Championship. At WrestleMania X8, Van Dam faced Regal for the Intercontinental Championship and won the match after he hit Regal with a Five-Star Frog Splash.
  When the WWF was divided into two "brands", Raw and SmackDown! in 2002, Van Dam was drafted to the Raw brand as the fourth pick. On the April 1 episode of Raw, after Van Dam defended his title successfully against Booker T, Eddie Guerrero returned to the WWF and attacked Van Dam. He started a feud with Eddie Guerrero over the Intercontinental title. At Backlash, Van Dam lost the Intercontinental Championship to Guerrero. At Insurrextion, Van Dam and Guerrero had a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship. Guerrero was disqualified after hitting the referee with the Intercontinental Championship; as a result, Van Dam won the match but not the title because a title cannot change hands by disqualification. At Judgment Day, Van Dam failed to win the Intercontinental title in another rematch. The following night he defeated The Undertaker for the WWE Undisputed Championship but Raw owner Ric Flair restarted the match, which Van Dam then lost negating the title win. On the May 27 episode of Raw, Van Dam defeated Guerrero in a ladder match for his second Intercontinental Championship.
  After facing each other in the final round of the 2002 King of the Ring tournament (which he lost), Van Dam and Brock Lesnar began feuding with each other. Van Dam defended his Intercontinental Championship against Lesnar twice and retained his title both times by disqualification on the June 24 episode of Raw and at Vengeance. On the July 22 episode of Raw, Van Dam unified the WWE European Championship into the WWE Intercontinental Championship after he defeated Jeff Hardy in a title unification ladder match. As a result, the European title was abandoned. On the July 29 episode of Raw, Van Dam lost the Intercontinental Championship to Chris Benoit.
  At SummerSlam, Van Dam won his third WWE Intercontinental Championship by defeating Benoit in a rematch for the title. As Benoit brought the title to SmackDown! when he switched brands shortly after winning it, Van Dam brought the title back to Raw. On the August 26 episode of Raw, Van Dam also unified the WWE Hardcore Championship into the WWE Intercontinental Championship by defeating Hardcore Champion Tommy Dreamer in a hardcore title unification match. As a result, the WWE Hardcore Championship was abandoned. On the September 9 episode of Raw, Van Dam became the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Chris Jericho, Jeff Hardy, and Big Show in a fatal four-way elimination match.
  Van Dam started feuding with the World Heavyweight Champion Triple H. On the September 16 episode of Raw, Van Dam lost the Intercontinental Championship to Chris Jericho after interference by Triple H. At Unforgiven, Van Dam faced Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship. Due to Ric Flair's interference, Van Dam lost the match. At No Mercy, Van Dam got his revenge on Flair by defeating him. At Survivor Series, Van Dam participated in the first-ever Elimination Chamber match for Triple H's World Heavyweight Championship, but it was won by Shawn Michaels. During the match, Van Dam performed a Five-Star Frog Splash off of one of the pods/chambers onto Triple H accidentally landing with his knee onto Triple H's throat.
caption: Van Dam as Intercontinental Champion
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