Rob Van Dam

Van Dam gained mainstream popularity in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) during the latter half of the 1990s, where he became one of the most famous wrestlers in the industry. During his time in ECW, he was managed by Bill Alfonso and had feuds with Jerry Lynn and Sabu, also forming a tag team with the latter. They would win the ECW World Tag Team Championship twice. On April 4, 1998, Van Dam defeated Bam Bam Bigelow to win the ECW Television Championship, a title he held for 700 days until he vacated the championship due to an injury on March 4, 2000.

When ECW closed in 2001, Van Dam signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and was involved in the Invasion storyline, where several former WCW and ECW wrestlers joined forces against WWF wrestlers. After the Invasion ended, Van Dam wrestled the following years as singles and tag team wrestler, winning the Hardcore, Intercontinental, European, Tag Team and World Tag Team Championships. At WrestleMania 22, Rob Van Dam won the Money in the Bank ladder match.

After this victory, he challenged WWE Champion John Cena to a title match at One Night Stand, an ECW-themed PPV. At the event, Van Dam defeated Cena and won his first world championship. Two days later, Paul Heyman awarded Van Dam with the reactivated ECW World Heavyweight Championship making him the only man to hold both titles at the same time.

After leaving WWE in 2007, Van Dam worked on the independent circuit until he signed a contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2010. A few months after his debut, he defeated AJ Styles to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. He would also appear for AAA and even challenged Dr. Wagner Jr. for the inaugural AAA Latin American Championship at Triplemania XIX, albeit in a losing effort.

He remained under contract with TNA until 2013, leaving the company after a run with the X Division Championship. After departing TNA, he returned to WWE, where he worked for one year. Then, he would stay in the independent circuit, also wrestling from 2019 to 2020 with TNA, now known as Impact Wrestling. In 2021, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Van Dam is one of the only two wrestlers in history to have held the WWE, ECW, and TNA world championships, alongside Bobby Lashley. In addition, he headlined many pay-per-view events throughout three decades between the 1990s and 2010s, including the 1998 edition of November to Remember (ECW’s flagship event) and the 2011 edition of TripleMania (AAA’s flagship event). In 2002, Van Dam was ranked the number one pro wrestler in the world by Pro Wrestling Illustrated. He was voted “Most Popular Wrestler” by readers of the magazine in 2001 and again in 2002. WWE named him the greatest star in ECW history in 2014.^[9]

Outside of professional wrestling, Van Dam has performed as an actor in a number of TV shows, including an episode of The X-Files. He also performed in the 2010 movie Wrong Side of Town and the 2015 movie 3-Headed Shark Attack.

Notable Matches

vs. John Cena at ECW One Night Stand 2006

vs. Jerry Lynn at ECW Hardcore Heaven 1999

Team WWF vs. The Alliance

vs. Chris Jericho at Unforgiven 2001

vs. Jeff Hardy at Invasion 2001

vs. Eddie Guerrero on Raw, May 27th 2002

vs. Christian on Raw, September 29th 2003

Wrestlemania 22 Money in the Bank

Notable Feuds

vs. Jerry Lynn

vs. Sabu

vs. Taz

vs. The Triple Threat

vs. Rhino

vs. Eddie Guerrero

vs. Brock Lesnar

vs. Kane

vs. Christian

vs. Chris Jericho

Other Notable Achievements

ECW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Sabu

WWF/E Hardcore Championship (4 times)

WWE European Championship

World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Kane (1) and Booker T (1)

WWE Tag Team Championship – with Rey Mysterio

TNA X Division Championship

ASW North American Heavyweight Championship

AWR World Heavyweight Championship

AWR No Limits Championship

IWF Television Championship

NWC Tag Team Championship – with Bobby Bradley

PSW Cordele City Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

SAPW Tag Team Championship – with Chaz Rocco

WSW World Championship