This might not have happened if the RethinkDB team had taken Meteor more seriously - it was clearly the killer app and I reckon it would have strengthened both projects had the RethinkDB team embraced it.
Back in early August 2015, the RethinkDB team were made aware of the single issue that needed to be resolved to provide solid Meteor interoperability, but they put it off twice despite people urging strongly for its speedy resolution (including me).