Rob Van Dam Is a Poor Challenger for Alberto Del Rio's World Title

As revealed on last Monday's Raw, the recently-returned Rob Van Dam is the newest challenger to Alberto Del Rio's World Heavyweight Championship.

He's also being managed by Ricardo Rodriguez (whom Del Rio unceremoniously kicked to the curb—quite literally—a few weeks ago). It's not official, but the odds are the two grapplers will face off at the Night of Champions pay-per-view next month.

OK, so on paper, this looks like a good move.

Del Rio desperately needs a new challenger to shake up his stale title reign. And Van Dam is one of the most popular acts on the roster. A month after his return at Money in the Bank and, impressively, he's still receiving good pops from the crowd.

But, really, look at the situation a little closer, and there are a few problems with it.

First of all, Van Dam and Rodriguez are not a good match at all. Other than a mutual hatred of Del Rio, what are they meant to have common? It feels so random. And it’s difficult to imagine Rodriguez introducing Van Dam to the ring, like he does with Del Rio.

It's difficult to see these two lasting as an act for long.

Van Dam, while over with the fans, is also a questionable title challenger. Similar to Chris Jericho, he's a part-timer with various other commitments on the side (Van Dam is, amongst other things, running his own clothing business in Los Angeles).

Wrestling isn't the former ECW star's main priority any more. That's not a bad thing, of course, but it probably does rule him out for a title run any time soon (WWE title holders tend to work full-schedules and defend their belts every week on house shows).

And sure, Van Dam is back, but for how long? Recent reports (from F4Wonline via EWrestlingNews) indicate he could be gone in the next few months, which raises the question of just how much WWE can get behind him.

He's not really a young guy, either. He turns 43 later this year.

WWE is bursting with young talent, like Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow and Wade Barrett, so why are they giving an aging star like Van Dam such a prominent spot. Why isn't Dolph Ziggler, for example, in this role as Del Rio's challenger? He has far more to offer WWE long term than Van Dam does.

Generally, Van Dam vs. Del Rio doesn't seem like that good a grudge feud. What are the issues between the pair? Why should anyone care? Considering promos have never been Van Dam's strong suit it's difficult to see him managing to sell this as a must-see rivalry.

Van Dam vs. Del Rio isn’t a terrible idea, of course. It will be a decent time-filler and give both guys something to do, if nothing else. But as a feud that will light the world on fire?

Probably not.