|
The following biography
is from
Wikipedia.org
“The
Free Encyclopedia.”
Buy this Photo at AllPosters.com 
Robert Szatkowski, better known by
his stage name Rob Van Dam (born December 18, 1970 in Battle Creek, Michigan),
is an American professional wrestler performing for World Wrestling
Entertainment on its RAW brand.
****
Wrestling career
He debuted in 1990 after being
trained by the Original Sheik (Ed Farhat) and wrestled in many independent
promotions across Michigan. He signed with World Championship Wrestling in 1992
and was dubbed "Robbie V" upon his arrival. His WCW run was uneventful and he
left in 1994.
He wrestled in several independent
promotions across America and in All Japan Pro Wrestling before signing with
Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1996.
He gained considerable success in
ECW including a record 23-month reign as ECW World Television Champion, before
having to vacate the title due to a broken leg. He was arguably the most popular
wrestler to ever grace an ECW ring.
He stayed with ECW until its demise
in 2001. A couple of months later, he signed with the WWF and was an immediate
hit with the fans even though he was a heel member of the ECW Alliance. After
the WCW/ECW Alliance broke up, he turned face. Despite being very popular with
WWE fans, Van Dam has yet to cement his legend as a World Heavyweight Champion,
but he has captured the Intercontinental and Hardcore Championships, as well as
both the World Tag Team Title and WWE Tag Team Title.
On March 21, 2004 Rob Van Dam was
traded from RAW to SmackDown!. He made his SmackDown! debut on March 24, 2004,
defeating Charlie Haas.
On January 27, 2005 Rob Van Dam
underwent reconstructive knee surgery under Dr. James Andrews in Alabama to
repair a torn ACL and meniscus he suffered earlier in the month.
Van Dam made an appearance at the
ECW One Night Stand PPV in New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on June 12, 2005, and
was accompanied by his ECW manager, Bill Alfonso. Van Dam, still months away
from a full recovery, wore a knee brace and did not wrestle. He delivered a
scathing shoot interview, criticising the way he had been booked in WWE, until
he was attacked by Rhino. Sabu defended Van Dam, leading to an impromptu match,
which Sabu won following assistance from Van Dam.
On the June 27, 2005 edition of
Raw, Van Dam was traded back to Raw in the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery. His selection
was introduced during the "talk show" segment "Carlito's Cabana". The two
exchanged words, after which Carlito brutally assaulted RVD's knee.
Out of wrestling
Rob Van Dam has also appeared in
several films and television shows in the past few years, and currently owns a
comics shop (RVD's 5 Star Comics) in Orange County, California.
He is also the inventor of the Van
Dam Lift for weightlifting. This involves doing a split between two benches and
lifting a dumbell from the floor to the waist. The lift was approved by the
International All-Around Weightlifting Association in 1998, and RVD holds the
current record, at 166.5 pounds.
Profile
Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight: 237lbs
Birthday: December 18, 1970
Hometown: Battle Creek, Michigan
Trained By: The Original Sheik
Professional Debut: 1990
Previous Identities: Robbie V (WCW
jobber),
Nick Names: Mr. Monday Night, Mr.
Thursday Night, Mr. Pay Per View, The Whole F'n Show, The Whole Dam Show
Previous Manager(s): Bill Alfonso,
Jerry Lawler
Signature Illegal Weapon(s): Steel
Folding Chair
Trivia
RVD's theme song in WWE is "One of
a Kind" by Breaking Point. He appears in the music video for the song, in which
he loses his car to the band's lead singer, Brett Erickson, in a street race. At
the end, he spin kicks the cars keys into his opponent's hands. The song appears
on the WWF Forceable Entry CD.
RVD's theme song in ECW was "Walk"
by Pantera. The song was covered by Kilgore for the ECW Extreme Music CD;
subsequently, RVD used their version as his theme music.
RVD's ECW debut-match was against
Axl Rotten.
RVD defended the ECW Television
championship for 1 year 11 months 18 days 2 hours and 42 seconds before he had
to relinquish it due to injury.
A Comic book fan at heart, he is
one of many WWE Superstars who share a love for Comic Books. Others include
Edge, Al Snow and of course, The Hurricane.
His favourite comic book character
is Ghost Rider- the skull headed demonic anti-hero whom rides a motorcyle and
carries a chain.
Quotes
"I'm R-V-D!"
"Everything's cool when you're Rob
- Van - Dam!"
"You've got to know that things
just have a way of working themselves out."
"What are you getting yourself
worked up about? You're not even yourself."
"RVD 4:20 - I just smoked your
ass."
"I'm the whole Dam show!"
"I'm the whole fuckin' show!"
"Nobody gets higher than Rob Van
Dam!"
"I'm one of a kind!"
"Cool"
"Dude"
"Yes, RVD can say more than,
'Cool!' and, 'Dude!' "
Films
Superfights
Superfights 2 (not found in
Internet movie database)
X-Files
Bloodmoon
Black Mask 2: City Of Masks
Finishing and signature moves
Five-Star Frog Splash
The Van-Terminator (Corner to
corner missile dropkick)
The Van-Daminator (Spinning heel
kick to opponent who is holding a steel chair by their face)
Rolling Thunder (Roll into a
jumping somersault senton)
Split-legged moonsault
Corkscrew leg drop
Air Van Dam (Top-rope somersault
plancha to opponent outside of the ring and in the crowd)
Lifting double underhook facebuster
Steam Roller (Rolling fireman carry
slam)
Chair-surf (Dropkick to an opponent
sitting in the corner of the ring)
Running cartwheel into Moonsault
With Rey Mysterio
4:20 (Double leg drop)
Championships and accomplishments
World Wrestling Entertainment
5-time WWE Intercontinental
Champion
4-time WWE Hardcore Champion
1-time WWE European Champion
(unified with IC title)
2-time World Tag Team Champion with
Kane, and Booker T
1-time WWE Tag Team Champion with
Rey Mysterio
Extreme Championship Wrestling
1-time ECW World Television
Champion
2-time ECW World Tag Team Champion
with Sabu
Other championships
1-time SAPW Tag Team Champion with
Chaz Rocco
1-time NWC Tag Team Champion with
Bob Bradley
1-time ASW North American
Heavyweight Champion
1-time PSW Cordele City Heavyweight
Champion
1-time IWF Television Champion
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI)
ranked him # 152 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in
2003.
RVD won
the PWI Comeback of the Year Award in 2001. He also won the PWI Most Popular
Wrestler Award in 2001 and 2002. RVD was ranked # 1 in the 2002 "PWI 500".
* *
* *
The
above biography has been copied in part or in whole
from an article on
Wikipedia.org
"The Free Encyclopedia." It has been modified under
the NGU Free Document License Section 5 in the
following manner: (1) All links within the article
have been removed, including text links such as
"[#]"; (2) The "[Edit]" text and link have been
removed [if you would like to update the article,
you may do so from the original page]; (3) the table
of Contents links and text have been removed; and
(4) all of the sections of the original article have
not been copied. All of the above text is available
under the terms of the
GNU Free Document License.
URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Van_Dam
Date Article Copied:
September 7, 2005
We
will try to replace this article with an original
biography in the near future, but we hope this will
be of help to our visitors in the mean time. |
