Rob Van Dam

Robert Alexander Szatkowski (born December 18, 1970) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam (frequently abbreviated to RVD).

He is currently appearing for All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

He is known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

Szatkowski made his first appearance on WWF television in 1987 in a skit with "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase.

At the time, Dibiase was selecting plants from the audience and offering to pay them to perform degrading acts and offered the 16-year-old Szatkowski $100 to enter the ring and kiss his foot, which he did.

This early appearance was later included as a bonus feature on WWE's Before They Were Superstars DVD and on WWE's Rob Van Dam: One of a Kind DVD.

He was also in attendance at WrestleMania III as stated on The Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology DVD.

Van Dam gained mainstream popularity in ECW during the latter half of the 1990s.

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 won the ECW World Tag Team Championship twice.

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).

Szatkowski made his wrestling debut in 1990, defeating Dango Nguyen.

He wrestled in many independent promotions across Michigan, including the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) and South Atlantic Pro Wrestling (SAPW).

In SAPW, he won his first wrestling championship, the SAPW Tag Team Championship, in July 1992 with Chaz Rocco.

He also wrestled in several independent promotions across America, and in All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he challenged for the World Junior Heavyweight Championship on several occasions.

In the World Wrestling Federation in 1992 he wrestled as an enhancement talent against The Mountie under the ring name Matt Burn.

Szatkowski signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1992, and was dubbed "Robbie V" by booker Ron Slinker upon his arrival since Bill Watts did not like the name Rob Van Dam.

Robbie V made his WCW debut on the January 23, 1993, episode of WCW Saturday Night as a fan favorite, defeating enhancement talent Pat Rose.

The following month, Robbie V entered a tournament for the vacant WCW World Television Championship, defeating Shanghai Pierce in the first round but losing to Vinnie Vegas in the second round, which aired on the March 20 episode of WCW WorldWide.

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 World Championship Wrestling 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 WWE Hardcore Championship, WWE Intercontinental Championship, WWE European Championship, WWE Raw Tag Team Championship 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.

He was voted "Most Popular Wrestler" by readers of the magazine in 2001 and again in 2002.

In 2002, Van Dam was ranked the number one pro wrestler in the world by Pro Wrestling Illustrated.

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 Lucha Libre AAA World Wide and challenged Dr. Wagner Jr. for the newly created AAA Latin American Championship at Triplemania XIX, albeit in a losing effort.

He also starred in the 2010 movie Wrong Side of Town and the 2015 movie 3-Headed Shark Attack.

Szatkowski grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan, and graduated from Pennfield Senior High School.

He remained under contract with TNA until 2013, leaving the company after a run with the TNA X Division Championship.

After departing TNA, he returned to WWE, where he worked for one year.

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.

Then, he would stay in the independent circuit, also wrestling from 2019 to 2020 with TNA (at the time known as Impact Wrestling).

In 2021, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and the following year he was inducted into the Hardcore Hall of Fame.

Between ECW, WWE and TNA, Van Dam won 21 total championships, including three world championships, and is only one of two wrestlers in history (alongside Bobby Lashley) to have held the WWE, ECW, and TNA world championships.