Rob Szatkowski

Robert Alexander Szatkowski is an American professional wrestler and actor better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam (frequently abbreviated to RVD). He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)/Impact Wrestling. 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. 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.

Born:

Dec 18, 1970 In Battle Creek, Michigan, USA

Movie/TV Credits:

227

First Appeared:

In the movie A Pro-Rasslin' Movie: The Legend of Dirty Ron

Latest Project:

Movie The Realtor 2024-07-26