Biography
Who has two thumbs, scored a historic WWE Championship win in New York City and is perhaps the most popular ECW icon of all time? Say it with him now: “Rob! Van! Dam!”
Van Dam is a martial artist from Battle Creek, MI that broke into ECW in 1996. He trained alongside future partner and rival Sabu by Sabu’s uncle, The Original Sheik. He quickly scored victories over Axl Rotten, Mikey Whipwreck and Sabu, but it was his partnership with the latter that launched The Whole Dam Show to a new level.
His partnership with Sabu is considered revolutionary. The pair was led by Bill Alfonso, who blew hard on his whistle while his crown jewels flew through the air. Their stunning bout against The Eliminators at Cyberslam 1997 paved the way for WWE’s TLC Matches, marking just one example of RVD’s trailblazing style.
By mid-1997, joined Jerry “The King” Lawler on Raw to end all things extreme, but eventually returned to ECW capturing the ECW Television Championship and held it for nearly two full years, relinquishing it due to serious injury. Upon his return to WWE in 2001, won the Intercontinental Championship and then unified it with the European and Hardcore Championships. He also captured the WWE Tag Team Championships with Rey Mysterio and the World Tag Team Championships with both Kane and Booker T.
At WrestleMania 22, RVD defeated five other Superstars to win the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Van Dam made announced his championship match ahead of time, declaring it would be at ECW One Night Stand where he would win he pinned to win the WWE Championship against John Cena. RVD led a relaunch of the beloved ECW brand as both the WWE and ECW Champion in 2006, but by 2007 he had disappeared from WWE. He would not return until July 2013 when the ageless Superstar stepped back into WWE ring to score a series of impressive victories — including a win over Cesaro on the SummerSlam 2014 Kickoff — that showed he hasn't lost a step.