Rob Van Dam

Rob Van Dam Biography

The following biography is from Wikipedia.org “The Free Encyclopedia.”

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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.

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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".

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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

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