Real Name: Rob
Szatkowski
Nickname:
Mr. Monday Night
Birthdate:
12/18/70
Height: 6' 0"
Weight: 227 lbs
Signature Moves: 5 Star Frog Splash
Biography
Rob grew up in Battle
Creek, Michigan, in his youth Rob started studying martial arts in the two dojos
in the town. Rob started kick boxing under the guidance of Kit Lykins, later he
was trained by Terry Gay. In 1989, Rob decided to give it a shot as a pro.
wrestler, he met up with the Sheik (Sabu's uncle), who trained him, it was also
during these days that Rob first met up with Sabu.
In 1990 Rob
also competed in the Kalamazoo Tough Man contest, he came in second, but he sure
has come a long way from second place since then. In 1990, Rob also had his
first pro. wrestling match, which took place in Toledo, Ohio, here he kicked the
ass of Dango Nguyen. Rob spent his rookie year wrestling as Rob Zakowski on the
independent circuit in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, and everywhere he went he
fought Sabu.
Then in 1991,
Rob wen to Memphis, where he worked for the United States Wrestling Association
(USWA), here he battled Nightmare Danny Davis and of course Sabu. The stint with
USWA only lasted for two months, but Rob then started working for the South
Atlantic Pro Wrestling organisation.
In the SAPW,
Rob had his first share of success, he came close to winning the Light
Heavyweight Title from Ricky Nelson, but came out of the contest starring at the
ceiling. Rob then teamed up with Chaz Rocco, and they actually won the SAPW Tag
Team Title from the Ringlords (Dapper Dan and Speedy Gonzales) on July 23, 1992.
Unfortunately Rob and Chaz were only able to hold on to the title for one day,
as the Ringlords regained the belts on July 24, 1992.
From here Rob
went down to Florida for the opening of the ICWA, while in Florida Rob had to
get another job as a bouncer, since he didn't made enough money from wrestling.
This was the last he had to have a regular job. Rob also worked for the CWF and
the IWF. But it wasn't until Rob started working for All Star Wrestling in
Georgia that Rob got noticed by WCW.
Rob joined the
WCW in the first quater of 1993 under the guise of Robbie V. It was Rob's first
time to shine in the spotlight, but when the spotlight was shining upon him, Mr.
V. spent most of the time on his back starring at the ceiling. Robbie also
participated in a tournament for the vacant WCW TV Title and won his first round
match-up against Shanghai Pierce, but lost in the second round to Vinnie Vegas
(Kevin Nash).
In February
1993, Rob embarked o his first trip Japan, where he toured with All Japan Pro
Wrestling. But Rob never became a full-time regular like Johnny Ace, since Rob
in his own words hate Japan, even though he loves the quality of the matches.
While in Japan Rob had a great match against Dan Kroffat for the All Japan
Junior Championship Title, but lost. Rob also tagged with Stan Hansen and Bobby
Duncum Jr. on various occasions. It wasn't until 1997 Rob and Sabu started
teaming in All Japan, and they finally clashed in May 1997, I believe Sabu won
the match. When he wasn't in Japan Rob worked on the independent scene in USA.
It was also during these years that Rob starred in two martial arts films,
namely Superfights and Blood Moon.
In 1995, Rob
teamed up with Bobby Bradley to form the tag team Aerial Assault in National
Wrestling Conference. Aerial Assault were a high flying duo, who won the NWC Tag
Team Title in 1995 in a tournament. In the tournament they defeated the
Mercenaries, Powers of Pain, and the Power Twins to get the title.
Rob made his
debut for Extreme Championship Wrestling on January 5, 1996, after declining
several offers from the group. The event was called House Party '96, and Rob Van
Dam defeated Axl Rotten. While working for ECW Rob still toured with All Japan
until 1997.
On January 27,
Rob Van Dam clashed with Sabu in the first of their many classic encounters in
1996, Rob lost but broke one of Sabu's fingers. After the match Paul Heyman
realised Rob's talents and thought about a feud with Sabu, but if it was to be
successful, Rob had to fare well in some matches against the cream of the ECW.
And so it happened on March 30, where Rob battled then ECW TV Too Cold Scorpio
to a draw, which showcased that he was ready for the feud with Sabu.
Ever since his
debut in 1990 Rob had been a face, but at Hostile City Showdown, April 20, 1996,
he showed his true colours. RVD took on Sabu in a memorable furniture wrecking
aerial war, which Sabu won, after the match Sabu in a sign of respect offered
Rob to shake his hand, but Rob declined and was accompanied back to the locker
room by the chant of asshole. Rob was now a heel.
The incident at
Hostile City Showdown lead to a series of matches, most notably at A Matter of
Respect and Hardcore Heaven 1996, it was a so called Respect Match, where the
loser had to shake the winners hand and say "I respect you". A Matter of Respect
got it's name due to this match, my personal opinion of this match is that it is
one of the best matches of 1996, they smashed a lot of tables and did some
spectacular moves, which connected, Rob won the match after his split legged
moonsault. Rob refused to shake Sabu's hand, so the feud continued.
On June 1, Rob
was supposed to take on Mikey Whipwreck, but before the match Brian Pillman came
to ringside and smashed Mikey with a crutch, giving Van Dam the easy pin. When
Pillman was interviewed after the match, Rob stood behind him. Nothing more came
out of this incident, since Brian left ECW after an backstage altercation with
New Jack.
At Hardcore
Heaven Rob and Sabu took on each other again, this time they went all over the
arena and wrecked almost every table in sight, Sabu won the match but both men
left on stretchers. This set-up a Stretcher Match at the Doctor is In. The
stretcher match was very brutal, after Sabu performed a moonsault onto the
stretcher, where Van Dam was, he had to leave the arena on the stretcher.
Fourteen days later Sabu defeated Rob again.
August 24, Rob
defeated Doug Furnas, which didn't sit well with Furnas, who challenged Rob to a
tag match, but Rob in his own mind said he didn't need a tag team partner. But
on September 13, after Sabu had defeated Van Dam yet again, both men were
attacked by Doug Furnas and Dan Kroffat (Phil LaFon). Now both Van Dam and Sabu
had an agenda with Kroffat and Furnas, and they agreed to tag up.
The match took
place at When World's Collide, September 24, where the two teams wrestled to a
30 minute draw, Sabu and Rob showed great team work during the match. The
teaming of the two superstars didn't end with the match, because after Sabu had
defeated Perry Saturn in singles competition, Saturn and his partner John Kronus
challenged the team of Sabu and Van Dam to a match.
The first
meeting of these two teams took place on September 21, the hard hitting match
ended with a draw. After this experience Rob and Sabu really accelerated in the
ranks of tag teams as they defeated teams like Kroffat / Furnas and J. T. Smith
/ Little Guido, this elevated them into title contention and soon rematches
against the Eliminators followed for the number 1 contender spot. But still
their matches ended in draws, which lead to triple threat matches against the
ECW Tag Team Champions, the Gangstas, who came out on top.
The rest of
1996 Rob jobbed to Taz and together with Sabu lost to the Eliminators. 1997
didn't start much better as the loosing streak to the Eliminators continued, but
this time it was mostly in Tables and Ladders matches, where some of the matches
were good, while the others were bad, due to the wrestlers missing their spots.
On March 17,
Rob hung out at the Civic Centre in Savannah to meet some of his old buddies,
who were working for WCW. This incident lead to Rob getting an offer from WCW,
which quickly spread to the Internet and the fans of ECW, so a week before
Barely Legal, Rob heard the first chants "You sold out".
April 13 Rob
wrestled Lance Storm at ECW's first pay-per-view, Barely Legal as the
replacement for Chris Candido. After winning the match, which was somewhat
sloppy, the chants of "You sold out" were so loud that he couldn't ignore them.
Rob then fired back at the audience with such a force that the crowd almost
choked, here is what Rob said: "I sold out to myself by putting my boots on and
getting in the ring tonight, after obviously being chosen as a second-line
wrestler to fill for somebody injured. I swallowed my pride for one reason,
business. Because you see, Lance Storm, by beating you here, Rob Van Dam is now
worth more money here, and Rob Van Dam is now worth more money elsewhere!"
Later on the
show after Sabu had lost to Taz, Rob attacked Taz, and Sabu joined in on the
stomping together with Bill Alfonso (the manager of Taz), who also joined in on
the beating. Rob got on the microphone again and stated: "You other wrestling
promoters who want me, get a-hold of my man Fonzie. He knows my schedule, and I
love to work Mondays." This new attitude quickly got Rob over.
Rob got a lot
of heat from the fans as he continued with his remarks, but after Rob and Sabu
lost to Taz and Chris Candido on May 10, the self-proclaimed "Mr. Monday Night"
stated that he would be wrestling on Monday Night, May 12, for either WCW or WWF.
Van Dam proved
to be a man of his words as he showed up on Raw is War together with Jerry
Lawler, Rob then described ECW as low-budget wannabes who couldn't compete with
the extreme talents of Rob Van Dam. Rob then showed off his talents and
completely squashed Jeff Hardy. The next week Rob defeated Flash Funk (Too Cold
Scorpio). Rob wrestled a couple of more matches for the WWF, until Vince on June
23 I believe told him to loose by count-out to Jesse Jammes, Rob refused and
left the arena, this also marked the end of the agreement between ECW and WWF,
at least nationally.
In ECW,
commissioner Tod Gordon suspended Rob, due to his action from May 12. Actually
no suspension was levied, since it was used a cover story to explain Rob's
absence, while he was on tour with All Japan. But the deal with All Japan fell
through on June 6, when Rob and Sabu quit the company due to creative
differences with the management.
On June 7, Rob
made his return to the ECW arena, Tommy Dreamer had just defeated his long-time
nemesis, Raven, when the lights went out and RVD and Fonzie was in the ring, Rob
threw a chair to Dreamer and performed the Van Daminator, later Sabu and Jerry
Lawler joined in on the fun.
On June 28, Rob
and Sabu defeated Tommy Dreamer and Sandman, which was followed up with
appearances by Jerry Lawler and Jim Cornette, which proved Rob's alignment with
the WWF. This was followed up with more tag team matches between the two team,
with Rob and Sabu coming out on top.
Rob, Sabu, and
Lawler also gave a pasting to Dreamer and Sandman at Heat Wave '97, where they
completely destroyed the two defenders of ECW pride. At the show called Born to
be Wired, August 9, Rob took on Dreamer in singles competition, the match was
great and showed that the two stars copied each other moves, Rob won the match
after a little help from Sabu.
At Hardcore
Heaven, ECW's second pay-per-view, Rob took on another WWF employee, Al Snow,
again the match was a bit sloppy, but still good and Rob won. The feud with
Dreamer continued, resulting in more tag team matches and interference in
singles matches, and while Rob talked about his connections with the WWF,
Dreamer stood as the protector of ECW.
At the arena
show on September 20, Rob and Fonzie took on Dreamer and his valet Beulah
McGullicutty, during this match Dreamer suffered a badly bruised heel and a
shoulder injury, when Rob realised this he told Fonzie to take care of Beulah,
Rob then left, Fonzie lost the match. This incident put a little halt to the
feud, but when Rob attacked Dreamer during a show and covered him with the WWF
Flag, the set-up for their match at November to Remember was set, it was going
to be a match, where the winner would raise the flag of his promotion.
November to
Remember, November 31, Rob and Tommy Dreamer clashed in the match of the night.
Credit must be given to Dreamer, who worked with his injuries, both men
delivered a strong show and delivered a heated and dramatic match. The match
ended with interference form Furnas and Lafon, and finally Stevie Richards, who
nailed Dreamer with a Steviekick, Rob then covered Dreamer, and the three
interference runners then made the three count.
The feud
between the WWF faction and the ECW faction continued during December, but it
was clearly that it had peaked at November to Remember. So with the war between
ECW and WWF going away, Rob had to prove himself in another way, and at House
Party '98, he did it by defeating Bam Bam Bigelow. It was a good big man vs.
small guy contest, which also saw some interference by Shane Douglas, but in the
end Van Dam used a kick from the top rope to the back of Bam Bam's head, and
followed it up with a frog splash for the win.
The team of Rob
and Sabu also continued to achieve success, but they weren't able to grab the
titles from Lance Storm and Chris Candido, whom they wrestled to a draw on
January 30. But at Hostile City Showdown '98 the following day, Rob and Sabu
defeated the teams of Dreamer / Sandman, John Kronus / New Jack, and the Dudley
Boys in a 4 team elimination match.
Rob then began
to flood around in ECW without a direction, he defeated Bam Bam again on
February 7, but also interfered in a match involving Tommy Dreamer and lost some
tag team matches. At Living Dangerously, Rob first helped Sabu defeat the
Sandman in a duelling canes match, when Rob came to the ring disguised as Sabu.
Later that night Rob defeated Too Cold Scorpio in a pretty good match.
On February 14,
both Rob and Sabu took their extreme antics to Europe and the European Wrestling
Association and their 8 man tournament to crown a new British Junior Heavyweight
Champion. During the event Rob was the star of the show, he won his first round
match and was supposed to take on Sabu in the semi-final, but that was vetoed by
Fonzie. But Rob and Sabu instead took on Michael Kovac and Ulf Hermann in an
extreme tag team encounter, which Van Dam and Sabu won.
The rest of
March saw Rob fighting various opponents, which didn't do Rob any good. But the
month of April saw Rob gaining a major championship, namely the ECW TV Title,
which he won from Bam Bam Bigelow on April 4, proving that he really is the
whole F'N show. The match was one of the best ECW had to deliver in 1998, it saw
Rob flying all over the arena and Bam Bam using his superior power. The end of
the match came when Sabu interfered, Rob then delivered the Van Daminator and
used Sabu to trip Bigelow and got the pin. 14 days later Rob defeated Bam Bam in
a rematch.
Prior to the
show Sabu had been announced as the number 1 contender for the ECW TV Title,
which created some tension between the tag team partners. The problems between
the partners almost exploded, when Sabu fought Al Snow for the number 1
contender spot for the ECW World Title, Rob threw in the towel when Sabu was on
his way to victory due to a small cut, Sabu wanted to attack Rob, but Fonzie
stopped him.
When the two
partners collided at Wrestlepalooza, it seemed like they had settled their
differences, but it was only a scam, since they fought each other with anything
they got, it was such a tough match that Sabu puked during the match. The match
went 30 minutes with many high spots before the time limit expired. After the
match it was clearly that there was dissension between the two.
But Rob and
Sabu were not the only team, who had problems the ECW Tag Team Champion, Lance
Storm and Chris Candido, had the same problem. Storm and Candido agreed to a
dream tag team partner match, which took place on May 16. Storm had picked Rob
and Candido had picked Sabu, during the match Van Dam and Sabu turned on their
respective partners and showed their great teamwork. After the math Rob and Sabu
highfived and held up the ECW TV Title together.
This lead to a
match on June 27 at the ECW Arena, Rob and Sabu had the advantage because of the
disagreement between the champions. Van Dam and Sabu won the match and the
title, with that Rob's confidence grew and he began to talk down to Sabu, always
mentioning his own name and his own efforts. Rob and Sabu also made a number on
Candido on July 12, when they nailed him with Rolling Thunder, by this move
Candido suffered a torn ear.
At the Heat
Wave '98 pay-per-view, August 2, Rob - and Sabu of course, took on Hayabusa and
Jinsei Shinzaki in a high spot festival, which RVD and Sabu won after blasting
their opponents through a table with synchronised legdrops from the top rope.
Following their win, Sabu and Rob were challenged by the Dudley Boys one of
their matches took place on August 8, 1998, here the Triple Threat (Shane
Douglas, Chris Candido, and Bam Bam Bigelow) together with the Dudley Boys
attacked Rob and Sabu, this brought out Taz to make the save and this was the
set-up for the match between Rob, Sabu, and Taz against the Triple Threat, which
should take place at November to Remember 1998.
On August 29,
Rob and Sabu wanted revenge on the Triple Threat so they attacked Bam Bam
Bigelow, causing him to loose to Masato Tanaka, during their interference, where
Rob blasted Bigelow through a table, Van Dam suffered a torn eyelid when he was
struck with a splinter. But Rob returned at the main event, with his head
swathed in bandages, and together with Sabu defeated the Dudley Boys. Rob Van
Dam got married in September.
Rob also
continued to defend his ECW TV Title against all comers, including Jerry Lynn,
Bam Bam Bigelow, Lance Storm, and Mikey Whipwreck. On October 24, 1998, Van Dam
and Sabu tangled with the Dudley Boys again, but this time the Dudley Boys came
out on top, due to interference from the Triple Threat.
November 1,
November to Remember it was the battle of the Triple Threats, unfortunately the
main event didn't live up to it's expectations, since it was very messy, but it
was the team of Sabu, Taz, and Rob Van Dam, who won the match. Before the match
took place the Dudley Boys attacked Rob and Sabu.
The rest of
November Rob took on Jerry Lynn in a series of strong encounters with Van Dam on
top. Rob and Sabu also used time on Taz and Shane Douglas, but when Rob and Sabu
were offered a rematch with the Dudley Boys they accepted. The match took place
in Tokyo, Japan, on December 13 and if the Rob and Sabu didn't win the match,
they would never team again. Fortunately Rob and Sabu won the match and regained
the ECW Tag Team Title, which obviously got to Rob's head, because ever since
then he wants to be announced as ¾ of the ECW Tag Team Champions.
At ECW's first
pay-per-view of 1999, Guilty as Charged, January 10, Rob was supposed to take on
Masato Tanaka for the ECW TV Title, but Tanaka no showed and Lance Storm was
wheeled in as the replacement. Even thought they had little time to prepare the
two put on a great show, which Rob won thereby retaining the ECW TV Title.
Several people have reported that Rob Van Dam will get a giant push in 1999, it
will be interesting to see what happens.
After Guilty as
Charged it looks more likely that Rob will turn face, since he has started
making parodies of Fonzie. Rob has also dealt with many contrasting styles in
his defence of the ECW TV Title, which he has defended against the likes of
Balls Mahony and Spike Dudley, but Rob keeps the title. Others have tried to get
the TV Title away from Rob including Ulf Herman, but on the house shows Rob has
wrestled some incredible matches against Jerry Lynn, and it wouldn't surprise me
if these two squared off on the next pay-per-view.
Rob Van Dam is
now in the World Wrestling Entertainment and has been subjected to the
spotlight, he has been given many roles and is on a fast track to becoming a
Main Eventer, especially with so many stars outside the WWE!
