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ROB VAN DAM
Rob Szatkowski was born on
12/18/70 in Battle Creek, MI. He was trained by
The Sheik and made his pro debut in 1990. He is
currently married to Sonja. She was seen on TV
at One Night Stand celebrating her husbands WWE
Title victory. In addition to wrestling RVD
holds a power lifting record for the Van Dam
lift and owns his own comic book store. He has
also appeared in several movies and television
shows.
Start of his Wrestling
Career:
RVD was first seen by a national audience as a
teenager kissing the feet of The Million Dollar
Man. When he got into the business he was given
the name Rob Van Dam by a local promoter due to
his resemblance and style that was similar to
Jean Claude Van Dam. He briefly wrestled as
Robbie V in WCW from late 92 to early 93.
ECW:
RVD returned to the national stage in 1996
when he joined ECW. He quickly found himself in
a feud with Sabu, the nephew of his trainer The
Sheik. The men had several classic matches over
respect. Once they gained each others respect,
they formed an unstoppable tag team combination.
In 1997, RVD started to show up on Monday Night
RAW as part of the Jerry Lawler vs ECW angle. He
then started to call himself Mr. Monday Night
and later was known as Mr. PPV due to his
undefeated PPV record.
The Whole F’n Show:
In 1998, RVD won the ECW TV title and held
the belt for 23 months before being stripped of
the title due to an injury. When he came back
from the leg injury, he got into a classic feud
with Jerry Lynn. In 2000, he debuted The Van
Terminator in a match against Scotty Anton.
The Alliance:
When ECW closed in 2001, RVD showed up in
the WWE as part of the invasion angle. While the
angle is generally considered one of the biggest
flops in WWE history, the one good thing that
came out of it was the fans reactions to RVD.
His matches against Jeff Hardy stole the show.
I-C and Tag Team
Champion :
RVD became a top contender for the I-C title
and has won it on several occasions from men
like Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris
Jericho. As champ, he unified the belt with both
the European title and the Hardcore title. He
has won tag team gold with Booker T, Kane, and
Rey Mysterio.
Mr. Money in the Bank:
At WrestleMania 22, RVD won the money in the
bank ladder match. He decided to use his title
shot at the ECW One Night Stand PPV, the night
that ECW was reborn. With the ECW crowd firmly
behind their hero, RVD beat John Cena to win his
first world championship.
ECW & WWE
Championships:
ECW
ECW/WWE World Title
6/11/06 ECW One Night Stand – beat John Cena for
the WWE Championship and rechristened it the ECW
World Championship
ECW TV Title
4/4/98 – beat Bam Bam Bigelow
ECW Tag Team Title
6/27/1998 – w/Sabu beat Chris Candido and Lance
Storm
12/12/1998 – w/Sabu beat The Dudley Boyz
WWE
WWE Championship
6/11/06 ECW One Night Stand – beat John Cena
Sources: PWI Almanac,
WWE.com, RobVanDam.com, Obsessed with Wrestling,
& Rise and Fall of ECW by Thom Loverro
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