The Complete RVD Bio
Real Name: Rob Szatkowski
Date of Birth: 12/18/1970
Birthplace: Battle Creek, Michigan
Height: 6' 0"
Weight: 237 pounds
Marital Status: Married to Sonya
Home: San Pedro, California
Pets: Xena (Chihuahua)
Favorite Band: Kottonmouth Kings
Pro Debut: Defeated Dango Nguyen in Toledo, OH: 1990
ECW Debut: Defeated Axl Rotten in Philadelphia, PA: 1996
WWF Debut: ECW's RVD & Tommy Dreamer invade RAW in Atlanta, July 2001
ECW Manager: Bill Alfonso
Nicknames: Mr. Monday Night, The Whole Fn Show, Mr. Pay-Per-View, The Whole Dam Show
Singles Title Reigns: ECW TV Champion, WWF Hardcore Champion (3), WWF Intercontinental Champion (2)
Tag Team Title Reigns: ECW World Tag Team Champion(2) (w/Sabu) & WWE World Tag Team Champion (w/Kane)
Trademark Moves: Split-Legged Moonsault, Van Daminator, 5 Star Frog Splash & Van Terminator
The legend of Rob Van Dam goes back 12 years to the Original Sheiks backyard. An 18-year old youngster named Rob Szatkowski was eager to break into the sport of professional wrestling, and thanks to the connection of a friend he met up with the legendary Sheik in Lansing, Michigan. During his time with the Sheik, Rob was welcomed as part of the family. He ate meals with the Sheik and his wife and went swimming in the Sheiks backyard pool during breaks from his training. Szatkowski learned the basics of wrestling and was given the advice which would later boost Rob Van Dams career into one of the biggest success stories in professional wrestling history.
Prior to his wrestling debut, Rob Szatkowski was an extremely talented kick boxer. He combined his great athletic ability with the strength which he gained from strenuous workouts to fend off opponents of all sizes. Though he loved the martial arts, the profession did not pay much so he transferred his ability to tough man contests. Robs most honorable accolade came in 1990 when he placed second in the Kalamazoo Heavyweight Toughman contest. It wasnt long after that Rob arrived in Toledo, Ohio and was scheduled for his first official professional wrestling match. He defeated Dango Nguyen, a fellow Sheik-trainee and former best friend of Robs. His career was already off to a fast start.
Rob Szatkowski gained much of his experience in the early 1990s on the independent scene, traveling most of the country for various small wrestling promotions. He landed his first break in the business when he replaced Chris Candido as a regular on the tour of the USWA. It was there in which Rob had his first pro match against Sabu, a homicidal wrestler whose death-defying moves have shocked crowds world-wide for the past 15 years. He and Sabu didnt know it then but 6 years later they would form one of the most extreme tag teams in history. From USWA, Rob migrated into South Atlantic Pro Wrestling where he feuded with Rikki Nelson over the Lightheavyweight Title. He finally settled to several territories in the South East and moved to Florida where he met his destiny. Rob Szatkowski would become Rob Van Dam.
The name Rob Van Dam was given to Rob by a local promoter by the name of Ron Slinker. Rob Van Dam was an immediate success and captured the International Wrestling Federation Television Championship, fending off such as opponents as Damien Stone (Little Guido). In Late-1992, Rob Van Dam transferred his career goals to World Championship Wrestling where he was seen by a national TV audience. Robbie V, as he was labeled in WCW, was fairly successful. He had pinfall wins over Scotty Flamingo (Raven) and Shanghai Pierce (Mideon). Frustrated by booking changes and an absurd rule which banned the top rope, Rob Van Dam left WCW in 1993 and soon after made his first tour of Japan. In 1995, while back in the States, RVD traveled to Las Vegas, Navada to work in the National Wrestling Council, where he formed an exciting tag team with Bobby Bradley, the Aerial Assault. The two men produced a spectacular finishing move in the Suicide Bomber and stormed through their competition all the way to the NWC Tag Team Titles. Eventually, Van Dam and Bradley went their separate ways and it was time for RVD to embark on a new beginning to his career at the start of 1996.
In 1995, Rob Van Dam was approached by Martial Arts movie director Keith Strandberg to take part in an upcoming project. When RVD auditioned for the part he shocked Strandberg by performing a suicidal moonsault into a table. He got the part and continued to impress the heads of the movies production. Fight director, Tony Leung dedicated an entire day of shooting to Rob Van Dams scenes in the film. In the end Rob was excellent in his role as The Mercenary in Superfights, an army-like shoot fighter who was fierce competition for the main character.
Following up Superfights, Rob snatched on to the part of Dutch in "Bloodmoon," a former Toughman Contest champion who owned his own bar. Dutch was having a sensuous moment with his girlfriend when a masked man entered the bar. He quickly disposed of Dutchs girlfriend and proceeded to challenge Crutch to a fight. After several minutes of spectacular aerial action, Dutch fell victim to the masked murderer. Following his destruction of Dutch with weapons and a vicious neckbreaker, the mystery man destroyed RVD by tossing him through the barroom window. Both Superfights and Bloodmoon aired nationally on HBO and Cinemax throughout the late 1990's.
Rob made his long awaited return to a martial arts movie set in mid-October 2000 in Bangkok, Thailand for the major motion picture sequel, "Black Mask 2". It was there that he mutated into Claw, a fighting warrior who battles other intimidating beasts for pride. RVD was excited and thrilled to have such an essential role in the film directed by Tsui Hark, as this will be his debut on the silver screen. Presently, Rob awaits the release of "Black Mask 2" sometime after the arrival of 2002.
In the Spring of 1999, after moving out to Los Angeles from Orlando, Rob Van Dam gained a guest-starring spot on NBCs Saturday morning teen sitcom, City Guys. RVD played himself in the show and teamed with El-Train, a regular on the series, to benefit a local organization. The show aired on October 23, 1999 and, as usual, garnered a new nickname for Rob Van Dam. He was labeled Mr. NBC. On May 7, 2000, Rob Van Dam played the opponent of Bert Zupanic on the mega-popular prime time FOX series, The X-Files. Besides wrestling onscreen, Van Dam was the fight scene choreographer, a job which he greatly honored. Only the most dedicated of RVD's fans know that Mr. Monday Night is bilingual. Because Rob speaks Spanish fluently, he was a shoe-in for the part of a high-risk wrestler in a commercial for a local L.A. law firm on Spanish networks.
RVDs biggest television role came on August 2nd of 2000 when he played Rob Larramie on TNNs 18 Wheels of Justice. Larramie, a gang member from Texas who robbed banks and cars for good causes, ends up being killed by the paranoid group leader. Van Dam was on screen throughout the hour and was extremely impressive with his Texan drawl. Two months later Rob appeared on the highest rated syndicated program in the nation, V.I.P.. Playing the lead heel in the episode entitled "Danger Island," Major Ving Talbot (RVD) sought revenge on Pamela Anderson and company as they roamed a mysterious jungle on the set of a reality based TV show. Shortly after his return to the World Wrestling Federation, Rob also resurrected his Mr. NBC moniker, appearing in the prime-time smash SpyTV. In the July 26 installment of the edgy, hidden-camera series, Rob Van Dam dealt out pranks on wannabes that show up for a ridiculous professional wrestling audition.
In early 1993 Rob Van Dam began working for the late Shohei Giant Baba, promoter of All Japan Pro Wrestling. RVD was introduced to Baba by Ron Slinker, the same promoter who gave him the name of Rob Van Dam. Though AJPW had a much stiffer style than the promotions Van Dam had worked for in the past, Rob was able to adapt to the Japanese style of grappling very fast. Van Dam had a great opportunity to team with some of the veterans of the ring wars, like Stan Hansen, Johnny Smith and his late friends Gary Albright and Bobby Duncum Jr.. One of the greatest matches in Robs career occurred in All Japan. Van Dam took Lightheavyweight champion Dan Kroffat (Phil Lafon) to his limit during a 20-minute classic battle, keeping up with Kroffat move for move. For the next four years Rob Van Dam took part in several more tours with AJPW but was never given a huge push in the Orient. Despite being a popular wrestler with the Japanese crowd, the heads of All Japan believed that Van Dam was better off being classified as a lightweight, while the company revolved around their heavyweight wrestlers. A month after ECW went out of business, RVD ventured back into All Japan Pro Wrestling for the 2001 Excite Series tour, where he ended a string of eight great matches in a row by rekindling his feud with Sabu. It was in that match that, for the first time in his 12-year career, Rob Van Dam earned a victory via submission!
Rob Van Dam and Sabu took part in their first ever tour of Europe in February of 1998. At the IWW supercard, Clash of Nations, RVD and Sabu defeated Ulf Hermann and Michael Kovac in a spectacular tag team encounter, bringing every German fan in the arena to their feet. The Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling promotion welcomed the ECW locker room in the Winter of 1998 and Van Dam & Sabu were along for the ride. Led by Bill Alfonso, Mr. Monday Night and Sabu won two consecutive tag team matches, one over the tandem of Hayabusa & Tommy Dreamer and the other over the ECW World Tag Team Champions, The Dudley Boyz. In a crowning moment for his career, Rob Van Dam teamed with Sabu to win the Tag Team Titles of an American promotion, in Japan.
The Van Dam Lift originated back in Battle Creek, Michigan where a young Rob Van Dam started stretching his muscles to become more flexible. Rob was having a tough time performing a split, despite the stretching routine which he performed daily. He formed a concept to place two chairs from his kitchen a foot apart and, with no support on his butt, stretched his legs along the chairs. Eventually, Rob accomplished his goal of performing a split and proved that you don't have to be born flexible in order to do a split.
After showing off his new skill to his peers in the gym, Van Dam thought of a way to add on to his already amazing feat. RVD started to lift weights while in the split position along two benches. As his body continued to develop, Rob Van Dam started to lift more weight. Soon, the Van Dam Lift started appearing in both wrestling and karate magazines, and was showcased on ECW television. By 1998 the International All-Around Weightlifting Association recognized the Van Dam Lift as one of their organization's public weight lifting challenges. Thus far nobody in the world has been able to take Rob Van Dam to task and overcome his record for the Van Dam Lift of 166.5 POUNDS! Van Dam responds, "Any of you dumbbells want to give it a try?"
Rob Van Dam debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling on January 5, 1996 at the ECW Arena. He defeated Axl Rotten after using his Split Legged Moonsault which shocked the crowd in Philadelphia. Almost immediately after stepping through the ECW curtain for the first time, Rob Van Dam established a name for himself with the ECW fanfare and was off to a fast start. On April 20th, at ECW's Hostile City Showdown, Van Dam found himself on the opposite corner of a familiar face from his days of training with the Sheik. RVD was about to take on Sabu for the first time ever in ECW. Sabu upended the young Van Dam in their first battle, but not before RVD was able to mount an aerial attack that ECW fans had never previously witnessed. After the match, Sabu looked to shake Rob's hand but Van Dam refused and left Sabu hanging.
This incident set up a rematch between the two high flyers three weeks later in a Respect Match. Towards the end of the match RVD connected with two vicious suplexes from the top rope, a Brain Buster and a Fisherman Buster. Sabu's neck could not withstand the impact of these moves and gave way. As Sabu was laying on the mat, RVD took advantage of the opportunity handed to him and connected with a Split Legged Moonsault to gain the pinfall. As the pre-match stipulation stated, Sabu was now obligated to offer RVD his hand in respect. Instead of grabbing Sabu's hand in friendship, Van Dam grabbed a microphone and told Sabu off in the middle of the ring. The rubber match between The Sheik's two greatest proteges was then set for August 3rd and was labeled a Stretcher Match.
Rob Van Dam ended up taking one too many risks in his Stretcher Match against Sabu when Sabu, who was about to be carted off on the stretcher, dodged a Somersault Plancha attempt by RVD. Van Dam landed on the stretcher and was taken back to the dressing room as Sabu was declared the winner of the match. Sabu had finally earned the respect of Rob Van Dam and the two formed a tag team. After defeating Doug Furnas and RVD's old nemesis Dan Kroffat in a series of classic matches, RVD and Sabu became embroiled in a heated feud with The Eliminators. The two tag teams competed against each other on a regular basis for a span of four months, with RVD & Sabu only winning one match against Saturn & Kronus. Van Dam was normally the wrestler being defeated through these bouts as the front office had to make sure that Sabu was pleased. Rob Van Dam was becoming frustrated with his position in ECW and began to contemplate jumping ship to WCW for his second stint in that company. When all of the wrestling world expected RVD to give in to Eric Bischoff's offers, Rob Van Dam showed up on the World Wrestling Federation's RAW is WAR program.
Rob Van Dam had a very impressive debut in the WWF on May 12, 1997, defeating Jeff Hardy after, what else, the Split Legged Moonsault. He went on to defeat Flash Funk three weeks later but things went downhill from there. After teaming with Jerry Lawler for two consecutive tag team matches against The Headbangers, RVD questioned what his role was in the WWF. He wasn't pleased with the direction of his character and hated having a time limit on how long he could perform on television. After being suspended from competition in ECW for a month, Van Dam returned to an irate locker room who wanted to deliver payback in the worse way to Mr. Monday Night for ditching the company. At the head of the pack was Tommy Dreamer.
Rob Van Dam returned to Extreme Championship Wrestling in June of 1997 and was back with full force. He was still the tag team partner of Sabu, the most dangerous man in the company, and the two men became associated with the most successful manager in the history of ECW, Bill Alfonso. Tommy Dreamer was irate that Rob Van Dam tried to embarrass the company which he was so loyal to on RAW. At ECW's Born to Be Wired extravaganza Van Dam defeated Dreamer in an insane brawl which ended when RVD connected with a Corkscrew Legdrop on a trash can, smashing the foreign object into Dreamer's face. Their bloody feud carried over to the 1997 November to Remember Pay Per View where the two men had yet another classic battle. After overcoming the Innovator of Violence's DDT and a vicious piledriver Mr. Monday Night once again laid a trash can on Dreamer's body, jumped to the top rope, and hit a picture perfect Frog Splash. The impact of the move sandwiched the trash can into Tommy Dreamer's ribs and allowed RVD to score the decisive pinfall. Rob Van Dam had won his brutal war with Tommy Dreamer and ECW.
On April 4, 1998 at the Bert Flickenger Center in Buffalo, New York, Rob Van Dam made pro wrestling history when he defeated Bam Bam Bigelow to capture the ECW World Television Championship. Bigelow, who weighed nearly twice as much as Van Dam did at the time, failed to slow Mr. Monday Night down. RVD was on fire, connecting with two suicidal planchas off the top rope onto Bigelow into the fifth row of the crowd. Once Bigelow fell prey to the Van Daminator there was no stopping Van Dam from dethroning the Beast from the East. After the match aired on television ECW crowds all over the United States labeled RVD as The Whole F'n Show. His days of being a heel in the company were over but his days of winning championship gold sure weren't. Van Dam and Sabu beat Lance Storm and Chris Candido and were crowned ECW Tag Team Champions on June 27th. RVD, now holding two titles, continued to destroy his competition for the TV gold while also teaming with Sabu to fend off the tag team division. On August 8th Rob Van Dam face Jerry Lynn in a 20-minute TV title contest, busted up his nose pretty bad, and later on in the show was forced to defend the tag team titles single-handedly. Unbelievably, Rob Van Dam walked out of the ECW Arena that night with two belts remaining around his waist.
Rob Van Dam and Sabu's luck ran out on October 24th when The Dudley Boyz stole the tag team titles from them, thanks to interference by The Triple Threat. They went on to regain the belts on December 13th in Tokyo, Japan but, after Sabu was suspended from ECW in the Spring of 1999, were dethroned once again by those Damned Dudleys. All the while Rob Van Dam was well on his way to celebrating his one year anniversary as ECW World Television Champion. Dozens of challengers tried but all failed at pinning Van Dam's shoulders to the mat. Among those men were Lance Storm, Jerry Lynn, Chris Candido, Balls Mahoney, Mikey Whipwreck, Tommy Dreamer, Doug Furnas, John Kronus, Rod Price, Mike Lozansky, Ulf Hermann, and Skull Von Krush! Amazing huh? He garnered the nickname "Mr. PPV RVD" because he was undefeated on ECW Pay Per Views. On April 3, 1999 Van Dam utilized his 5 Star Frog Splash to beat 2 Cold Scorpio to celebrate 365 days as the champ. He continued his hot streak when, in the ECW Match of the Year, he spoiled Jerry Lynn's hopes of dethroning The Whole F'n Show. Jerry broke his nose after being victimized by a Van Dam Spin Kick, and RVD busted his eye open midway through. It took two 5 Star Frog Splashes but, sure enough, the referee raised Mr. PPV's hand in the end.
With RVD's biggest obstacle now behind him, Van Dam roared through the rest of his competition in 1999. New challengers arose but, as in 1998, Rob Van Dam was Van Daminating the competition. Buh-Buh Ray, D-Von & Spike Dudley all tried to take the strap to Dudleyville. The FBI attempted to bring gold back to Italy. And Uganda figured that the belt would help raise his popularity in Africa. But in the end the plane always stopped in Battle Creek. At the November to Remember 99 Pay Per View The Whole F'n Show gained his first ever victory over Taz. Two months later at Guilty as Charged RVD sent Sabu packing in his last match ever aired on ECW programming. When everything seemed to be going Rob Van Dam's way, a freak accident victimized him when he least expected it. During a TV title defense against Rhino on January 29, 2000, RVD broke his left leg when a baseball slide attempt went eerie. Despite breaking his leg at the outset of the match, Rob was victorious in that match. The injury, however, sidelined Mr. PPV for over three months and forced him to relinquish his coveted ECW World Television title on March 4th, a month before he would have celebrated his 2-year anniversary as champion. When Van Dam returned to competition at the Hardcore Heaven 2000 PPV he was opposing a familiar foe from his recent past.
For the third time ever in front of a nationwide audience, Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn went one-on-one. As Van Dam looked to put Lynn away with his 5 Star Frog Splash, Scotty Anton, Rob Van Dam's "best friend," pushed Mr. PPV off of the top rope and sent him crashing leg first on the ramp. He proceeded to carry Rob's limp body back into the ring where Lynn hit two Cradle Piledrivers on Van Dam and scored the win. RVD was able to gain revenge on Anton at ECW's next PPV, HeatWave 2000. During Rob's match with the U.S. Male, he debuted an extremely hardcore finishing move which topped anything ever performed previously in an ECW ring. The move was called The Van Terminator. The Manager of Champions placed a steel chair in front of Anton's face, which was laid out on the bottom turnbuckle. The sold-out Grand Olympic Auditorium, jam-packed with RVD fans, echoed with chants of "Terminator, Terminator, Terminator". The Whole F'n Show recognized the fans wishes and stormed over to the opposite ring apron. He then proceeded to springboard off the top rope, fly nearly twenty feet through the air, and dropkick the chair right into Anton's face, nearly smashing it on impact. The world had just been exposed to the Van Terminator! Rob then placed his body over Anton's and made the easy pinfall over his former best friend.
Following RVD's debut of the Van Terminator against Scotty Anton on July 16th, he delivered the move twice to Rhino, the man who took credit for breaking Rob's leg. Rhino was the last man to hold the ECW World Television title, the same belt which Van Dam claimed for 23 months and was never defeated for. Rhino defended the title against Mr. PPV on two separate occasions but the result of both was the same. After Rob Van Dam delivered a 5 Star Frog Splash on the Man Beast some of Rhino's cronies interfered and caused a disqualification. It looked as if Mr. PPV finally had a fair shot at capturing Rhino's TV championship on the Anarchy Rulz 2000 PPV. But thanks to a fast count from a heel referee, RVD was once again denied the belt that he so richly deserved.
Van Dam proceeded to take some time off from the ring which sparked rumors that he was unhappy with his status in Extreme Championship Wrestling. Rob confirmed what most of his fans already knew when he talked about the thousands of dollars that ECW owed to him. It was apparent that ECW was reaching its final Pay Per View in Guilty as Charged 2001, and owner Paul Heyman advertised a huge surprise to take place during the event. Rob has not wrestled a match in the company in the months leading up to the show so when the surprise was revealed as Rob Van Dam, the New York crowd went ballistic. RVD went on to wrestle the last ECW match ever on television, a classic victory over none other than Jerry Lynn. In his final bout as an ECW wrestler, Rob Van Dam was finally able to prove to the world who the real "F'n Show" was in the professional wrestling industry.
RVD spent a good part of 2001 relaxing at home with his beautiful wife Sonya. He wrestled several independent dates, most notably matches against Christopher Daniels and Nova. In addition, RVD traveled back to Asia only four months after shooting "Black Mask 2" in Thailand to participate in an All Japan Pro Wrestling tour. As the summer approached rumors surfaced on the internet concerning RVD's future in pro wrestling. The April 27 Ross Report at WWF.com revealed that The Whole F'n Show met with the World Wrestling Federation's Senior Vice President to discuss a possible position for him to enter the company in. Two months later on July 9th, Rob Van Dam returned to the WWF in shocking fashion, as he and Tommy Dreamer resurrected ECW with eight other former "Team Extreme" competitors. In his first Pay Per View with the WWF RVD defeated Jeff Hardy for the WWF Hardcore Championship, becoming the first Federation superstar since 1998 to win a title in his PPV debut. As phenomenal as the RVD/Lynn classics, Van Dam and Hardy took each other to their individual limits at the WWF/WCW-ECW Invasion supercard. Throughout the bout the sold-out Gund Arena echoed with the fans appreciation for the newcomer, as almost 20,000 spectators chanted "RVD, RVD, RVD". In the end Mr. PPV prevailed following a Five Star Frog Splash to a thunderous applause. Twenty-four hours later on RAW is WAR, Van Dam successfully defended the Hardcore title for the first time, dismantling Jeff's older brother Matt Hardy. In less than a month, Rob Van Dam has risen to unthinkable heights of popularity, quicker than any other Federation wrestler in history. And he will be the first to tell you that he did it his way. Just like he's done it his entire life.
Rob Van Dam is at the climax of his illustrious 12-year career. The Whole F'n Show was the most popular wrestler in the history of Extreme Championship Wrestling. He fooled wrestling journalists all over the world in 1997 when he showed up in the WWF, while under a working agreement with ECW, and being rumored to jump ship to WCW. His 23-month reign as ECW World Television Champion is the longest any ECW wrestler held a title during the promotion's eight year existence. RVD's record of his own, innovative, Van Dam Lift will probably never be broken. You can find Rob Van Dam on T-shirts, hats, stickers, photos, and the covers of dozens of wrestling magazines. He can be seen in movies, TV shows, wrestling matches, video games and various wrestling compilations. As the WWF Hardcore Champion, Rob Van Dam displays his unlimited athletic ability to over 35 million viewers worldwide each week. As a person, Rob Van Dam is always meeting, greeting and signing autographs for his fans, whether it's before or after a show, or at an RVD Appreciation Day or one of his personal appearances. He always leaves his fans with a smile on their face when he meets them and understands that without the fans support, Rob Van Dam is just one man. But over the course of his glorious career as a professional wrestler Rob Van Dam has proven to be so much more than just one man. Rob Van Dam is The Whole F'n Show.
Nicknames: The Whole Dam Show(I hate that name and its a bad gimick for him. It's F'n), The Whole Fucking Show(F'n), Mr. 4:20, RVD 4:20, Mr. Monday Night, Mr. PPV, and one I made myself.... Mr. All Fucking Night Long!
Previous Aliases: Rob Staztkowski(Indies), and Robbie V.(WCW)
Current Alias: RVD(WWF, WWE, ECW)
