Projecting the Likelihood of Rob Van Dam's Return to the WWE

Rob Van Dam was written out of WWE programming for the time being this past Monday on Raw in about as low profile a way as possible.  During the Alberto Del Rio vs Ricardo Rodriguez segment, Michael Cole mentioned on commentary that Van Dam said he needed to rest up and...uh...that was it.

His exit got the exact opposite amount of fanfare of his return.  Out of nowhere, at Payback in June, a video was played announcing his return at Money in the Bank in Philadelphia the following month, which got a huge ovation in Chicago.

Weeks of preview videos were aired showing his most spectacular moments, and he got a hero's welcome when he returned in ECW's home town.  

After coming up short at Money in the Bank, he got a clean win over the departing Chris Jericho in a showcase match on Raw, and moved on to a feud with World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio, culminating in a Hardcore Match won by Del Rio on Sunday at Battleground.

Now he's gone.  

There have been conflicting reports as to what exactly is going on.  In the pay sections of their sites, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com had said he was just on a 90-day contract and wasn't renewing it, while Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com said it was a longer term contract with 90 day cycles of work in the middle.

As of right now, Johnson is standing by this (h/t WrestlingInc.com), and Meltzer, in a message board post Wednesday morning on his site, said that story "isn't wrong."  However, he added that the expectation in the company was that he'd work more than one cycle without a break period "since there are no other options in wrestling and everyone is scared to get hurt or leave and lose their spot."

I would guess that the midpoint between the two reports, maybe just lost in the wording, is that when Van Dam isn't working, he's still signed to WWE.  Maybe someone thought that with a wrestler mentality he wouldn't bother to take any time off, but clearly that's not the case.

So, what's next for RVD?

If he's still signed with WWE, he's not doing anything else within wrestling for now.  He's doing an autograph signing as part of Ringside Fest in New York City at the end of the month, but it looks like that was booked through WWE, as he's joined by Daniel Bryan, AJ Lee, and Kaitlyn.  That means no TNA, no foreign tours, and so on.  Maybe some more appearances booked through WWE, but that's it.

When does he come back to WWE, though?  

The obvious answer is WrestleMania season, which would fit into one of his 90 day slots perfectly.  Meltzer had similar ideas, noting that "he may come back for Mania season, only he knows what he really wants at this stage, and who knows if they'll invest in him for a good program if he decides to at this point."  

He made sure to note that "the fact they changed the Raw script to bury him on the 23rd which made no sense given his spot on the PPV tells you the real story."

What he's referring to is the recent 11-on-3 handicap elimination match.  While RVD was not the only wrestler in the match to go into it "injured," he was the first one eliminated in spite of being the biggest star in the match that wasn't Daniel Bryan.

For his part, Van Dam's only comment about his departure so far is this Tweet:

At any rate, he's saved his money and has made it clear that at 42 (almost 43) years old, he doesn't enjoy the grind of being on the road full time.  If he comes back, it will be because he really, really wanted to come back.

David Bixenspan has been Bleacher Report's WWE Team Leader and a contracted columnist since 2011. You can follow him on Twitter @davidbix and check out his wrestling podcasts at LLTPod.com.