Rob Van Dam (frequently abbreviated to RVD). He is known for his tenures in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_Championship_Wrestling (ECW), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wrestling_Entertainment (WWE), and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_Wrestling. an Dam gained mainstream popularity in ECW during the latter half of the 1990s. During his time in ECW, he was managed by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Alfonso and had feuds with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Lynn and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabu_(wrestler), also forming a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Van_Dam_and_Sabu. They won the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECW_World_Tag_Team_Championship twice. On April 4, 1998, Van Dam defeated https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bam_Bam_Bigelow to win the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invasion_(professional_wrestling), where several former https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Hardcore_Championship, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Intercontinental_Championship, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_European_Championship, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Raw_Tag_Team_Championship and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tag_Team_Championship_(WWE). At https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_22, Rob Van Dam won the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_in_the_Bank_ladder_match. After this victory, he challenged https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Champion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cena to a title match at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECW_One_Night_Stand_(2006), an ECW-themed PPV. At the event, Van Dam defeated Cena and won his first https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_heavyweight_championship_(professional_wrestling). Two days later, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Heyman awarded Van Dam with the reactivated https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_circuit until he signed a contract with Impact Wrestling - then known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) - in 2010. A few months after his debut, he defeated https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AJ_Styles to win the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TNA_World_Heavyweight_Championship. He would also appear for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucha_Libre_AAA_World_Wide and challenged https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Wagner_Jr. for the newly created https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAA_Latin_American_Championship at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triplemania_XIX, albeit in a losing effort. He remained under contract with TNA until 2013, leaving the company after a run with the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Hall_of_Fame_(2021), he was inducted into the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Hall_of_Fame, and the following year he was inducted into the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcore_Hall_of_Fame. Between ECW, WWE and TNA/Impact, Van Dam won 21 total championships, including three world championships, and is only one of two wrestlers in history (alongside https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Lashley) to have held the WWE, ECW, and TNA world championships. In addition, he headlined many pay-per-view events throughout three decades between the 1990s and 2010s, including the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_to_Remember#1998 edition of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_to_Remember (ECW's flagship event) and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripleman%C3%ADa_XIX edition of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripleman%C3%ADa (AAA's flagship event). In 2002, Van Dam was ranked the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Wrestling_Illustrated#PWI_500 in the world by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Wrestling_Illustrated. He was voted "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pro_Wrestling_Illustrated_awards#Most_Popular_Wrestler_of_the_Year" by readers of the magazine in 2001 and again in 2002. WWE named him the greatest star in ECW history in 2014.
In addition, he headlined many pay-per-view events throughout three decades between the 1990s and 2010s, including the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_to_Remember#1998 edition of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_to_Remember (ECW's flagship event) and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripleman%C3%ADa_XIX edition of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripleman%C3%ADa (AAA's flagship event). In 2002, Van Dam was ranked the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Wrestling_Illustrated#PWI_500 in the world by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Wrestling_Illustrated. He was voted "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pro_Wrestling_Illustrated_awards#Most_Popular_Wrestler_of_the_Year" by readers of the magazine in 2001 and again in 2002. WWE named him the greatest star in ECW history in 2014.
In early 1996, Van Dam signed with promoter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Heyman's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia-based promotion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_Championship_Wrestling (ECW), defeating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axl_Rotten in his debut match at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Party_(1996). Van Dam's mannerisms were those of a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_subculture, and he became a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_(professional_wrestling) due to his laid-back attitude and unorthodox style. On March 30, he faced https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Cold_Scorpio in a match for the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECW_World_Television_Championship. The match ended in a draw with 2 Cold Scorpio retaining the title.
Van Dam gained attention following a series of matches with long-time rival https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabu_(wrestler), which began with a match at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostile_City_Showdown#1996, won by Sabu. After the match, Van Dam declined to show proper respect for his opponent, leading to a rematch at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECW_A_Matter_of_Respect#1996, which was won by Van Dam. Per the pre-match stipulation, Sabu then offered Van Dam a handshake, but was again ignored. Instead, Van Dam left the ring and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professional_wrestling_terms#Turn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heel_(professional_wrestling) under the management of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Alfonso. At https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcore_Heaven#1996, Van Dam faced his rival Sabu once again, in a match to prove who was the better man, but Sabu won the match.