Mid 20th Century
162-521: 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 signed to WWE under a Legends contract. He is also known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Van Dam gained mainstream popularity in ECW during
324-589: A Triple Threat match to become the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. On the November 25 episode of Raw , Van Dam faced Michaels for the World Heavyweight Championship. Michaels was disqualified after Triple H hit Van Dam with a Pedigree . On the December 2 episode of Raw , Van Dam lost to Triple H in a #1 contender's match with World Heavyweight Champion Shawn Michaels acting as
486-660: 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 . His last televised match was on the May 22 episode of Saturday Night , a tag team loss with Erik Watts against Shanghai Pierce and Tex Slazenger . He left WCW in May 1993 shortly after Ole Anderson replaced Bill Watts as booker, feeling he
648-493: A shoot promo about TNN that he was planning, but was not allowed to air. Van Dam continued to defend the ECW World Television Championship for the remainder of the year. Van Dam began a feud with Rhino in the beginning of 2000. Van Dam successfully defended the ECW World Television Championship against Rhino on January 7. Van Dam got a victory during a title defense against Sabu at Guilty as Charged which
810-504: A steel cage match . Kane threw Van Dam through the steel cage by mistake (causing Van Dam to win), but Eric Bischoff came out and restarted the match, saying Van Dam did not escape through the door or climb out of the cage and ordered the referees to put Van Dam back inside the cage where Kane eventually hit a chokeslam from the side of the cage to pick up the victory. In September, Van Dam started feuding with both Christian and Chris Jericho over Christian's Intercontinental Championship. On
972-404: A tag team partner of his own. After losing to long-time rival Sabu once again at Unlucky Lottery , the two united and formed what was to become one of the most successful tag teams in ECW history. They feuded with Furnas and Kroffat defeating them at When Worlds Collide II and High Incident . Van Dam and Sabu next feuded with The Eliminators , John Kronus and Perry Saturn . On November 1,
1134-446: A " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to the platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of
1296-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
1458-427: A broken ankle during a successful title defense against Rhino on January 29. The injury also forced Van Dam to vacate the ECW World Television Championship. Van Dam returned to ECW at Hardcore Heaven and faced long-time rival Jerry Lynn. Van Dam was supported by his real-life friend Scotty Anton who eventually turned on him when Van Dam was going to perform a Five-Star Frog Splash on Lynn. Anton pushed him from
1620-520: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
1782-513: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
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#17328583506301944-574: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
2106-664: A championship unification hardcore match . As a result, the Hardcore Championship was deactivated upon being unified with the Intercontinental Championship. On the September 9 episode of Raw , Van Dam became the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Chris Jericho, Jeff Hardy , and Big Show in a fatal four-way elimination match . Van Dam started feuding with
2268-757: 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 Tag Team Championship and World Tag Team Championships . At WrestleMania 22 , Rob Van Dam won
2430-510: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Pro Wrestling Illustrated#PWI 500 Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Pro Wrestling Illustrated ( PWI )
2592-478: A face, but lost the Hardcore Championship to The Undertaker at Vengeance on December 9. He then entered into a rivalry with William Regal over Regal's WWF Intercontinental Championship . On the February 25, 2002 episode of Raw , Van Dam defeated Lance Storm and Big Show in a triple threat match to become the #1 contender to the Intercontinental Championship. At WrestleMania X8 on March 17, Van Dam faced Regal for
2754-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
2916-565: A feud with The Triple Threat ( Shane Douglas , Bam Bam Bigelow , and Chris Candido ). At House Party , Van Dam defeated Bam Bam Bigelow. At Hostile City Showdown , Van Dam and Sabu defeated Axl Rotten and Balls Mahoney by disqualification. The two went on to win a fatal four-way elimination tag team match later that night. At CyberSlam , Van Dam and Sabu lost to World Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas and Bam Bam Bigelow. Van Dam's popularity increased when he got his first taste of ECW gold, on April 4 when he defeated Bam Bam Bigelow to win
3078-402: A few championships as valid world titles at any one time. PWI has also generally recognized the main tag team title from any promotion with a recognized world heavyweight championship as being a world tag team championship (unless named otherwise by the promotion) and certain other select titles from those promotions as world championships. In 1983, PWI withdrew world title recognition from
3240-414: A genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has a more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for
3402-451: A hardcore match at Born to Be Wired , won by Van Dam after he performed a leg drop on Dreamer with a trashcan. Van Dam and Sabu became partners while Dreamer teamed up with Taz. At Fright Fight, Van Dam lost to Dreamer in a flag match . At Ultimate Jeopardy , Van Dam and Sabu faced Dreamer and Taz, a match won by Taz and Dreamer after Dreamer pinned Van Dam. At November to Remember , Van Dam faced Dreamer in another flag match which went to
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#17328583506303564-645: A knee injury. To explain his absence, the Basham Brothers ( Doug and Danny ) defeated Mysterio and Van Dam for the WWE Tag Team Championship, in a Fatal Four-Way elimination tag team match on the January 13 episode of SmackDown! , "injuring" Van Dam in the process. On January 27, Van Dam underwent reconstructive knee surgery under Dr. James Andrews to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus . While recuperating, Van Dam made an appearance at
3726-556: A ladder match on the September 29 episode of Raw to win the Intercontinental Championship for a fourth time. Van Dam entered into a rivalry with Chris Jericho in October, and the two faced each other in several tag team matches. On the October 27 episode of Raw , Van Dam lost the Intercontinental Championship to Jericho. Van Dam reached the ropes when the challenger had him in the Walls of Jericho , but Raw Co-General Manager Eric Bischoff distracted
3888-526: A ladder match. During this time Van Dam had defeated wrestlers such as Kane, The Undertaker , Kurt Angle , Chris Jericho, The Rock and even Alliance leader Stone Cold Steve Austin in singles and tag team matches. Van Dam became one of the most popular members of the Alliance who faced The Rock for the WCW Championship on multiple occasions, and even challenged Alliance leader Stone Cold Steve Austin for
4050-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
4212-409: A list of the top female professional wrestlers each year since 2008 in a special edition magazine. As with the list of male professional wrestlers, PWI writers choose the wrestler's position following a designated evaluation period starting from mid-June; anything a wrestler accomplished before or after that period is not considered. The list was originally limited to 50 wrestlers and was referred to as
4374-652: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
4536-459: A match for Benjamin's Intercontinental Championship. One week later, both Van Dam and Benjamin picked mystery opponents for one another, with the loser placing their respective prize on the line in a bout at Backlash on April 30. Benjamin lost to the returning Charlie Haas , while Van Dam was defeated by all five members of the Spirit Squad . As a result, both the Intercontinental Championship and
4698-490: A match for the 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 Sabu , which began with a match at Hostile City Showdown , won by Sabu. After the match, Van Dam declined to show proper respect for his opponent, leading to a rematch at A Matter of Respect , which was won by Van Dam. Per
4860-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
5022-432: A new rivalry with Tommy Dreamer , who wanted to gain revenge on Van Dam for his betrayal of ECW. On June 21, Van Dam and Sabu earned a victory over Dreamer and The Sandman . Van Dam and Sabu emerged victorious against Dreamer and Sandman again at Orgy of Violence . At Heat Wave , Van Dam, Sabu, and WWF's Jerry "The King" Lawler fought Dreamer, Sandman, and Rick Rude to a no contest. Van Dam and Dreamer faced each other in
Rob Van Dam - Misplaced Pages Continue
5184-429: A no contest. At Better Than Ever , Van Dam and Sabu faced Dreamer and Taz in a rematch. This time, Van Dam pinned Dreamer to give the victory to his team and to settle their rivalry. Van Dam's final encounter with Dreamer came on January 5, when Dreamer teamed up with Taz, Al Snow , and Sandman to take on Van Dam, Sabu, Doug Furnas, and Phil Lafon. Van Dam's team lost the match. In 1998, Van Dam turned face and started
5346-648: A singles match and as a result of losing the match, Van Dam also lost the ECW World Tag Team Championship to the Dudleyz. After losing the tag team titles, Van Dam focused on defending the Television title. He entered into a rivalry with Jerry Lynn against whom he defended the Television title at Hardcore Heaven in a "no time limit" match. Van Dam retained the title, and the match was deemed so good that Paul Heyman aired it on ECW 's debut on TNN in place of
5508-697: A sixth tour in February and March 1996 as part of the annual Excite series, again facing the Can-Am Express, Holy Demon Army, and Super Generation Army. He returned for a seventh tour in June and July 1996 as part of the Summer Action Series; during this tour, he teamed with Maunakea Mossman to unsuccessfully challenge Jun Akiyama and Takao Omori for the All Asia Tag Team Championship . In September and October 1996, he made an eighth tour as part of
5670-583: A speech directed towards Paul Heyman, and not being originally booked on the show was a point of contention between Van Dam and Heyman for a time. In May 1997, ECW "invaded" the World Wrestling Federation 's (WWF) Monday Night Raw television show, drawing the ire of color commentator Jerry Lawler . Lawler then promised he would show up at an ECW show in order to gain revenge, and when he did show up, he had ECW mainstays Van Dam (who turned heel) and Sabu with him. Van Dam made speeches about how he
5832-560: A tenth tour as part of the Super Power Series, during which he unsuccessfully challenged World Junior Heavyweight Champion Yoshinari Ogawa . In early 1996, Van Dam signed with promoter Paul Heyman 's Philadelphia -based promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), defeating Axl Rotten in his debut match at House Party . Van Dam's mannerisms were those of a stoner , and he became a face due to his laid-back attitude and unorthodox style. On March 30, he faced 2 Cold Scorpio in
5994-497: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
6156-575: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
6318-439: A weekly newsletter entitled PWI Weekly from 1989 to 2000. PWI has given out annual awards and recognitions since its inception. These awards had previously been given out by another Victory Sports Magazine property, Sports Review Wrestling . PWI has also given out monthly rankings for big promotions, some select independent promotions, and overall rankings in singles and tag teams divisions. Additionally, readers are given
6480-463: A world title but granted the championship and the promotion world title status in 1999. Since 2023, Pro Wrestling Illustrated ( PWI ) recognizes the WWE Championship , WWE Universal Championship , World Heavyweight Championship , AEW World Championship , Impact World Championship , ROH World Championship , MLW World Heavyweight Championship , and NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship from
6642-529: A wrestler's promotion(s), and overall wrestling ability. As of 2023 , L. A. Park has been ranked in the most editions of the PWI 500 , with 30 appearances. John Cena and Seth Rollins have the most appearances at number one, with three. John Cena has the most appearances in the top 10, with 13. In 1993, Miss Texas (Jacqueline Moore) became the first woman to be ranked in the list, at number 249. Since 2008, men and women have had separate lists. PWI has published
Rob Van Dam - Misplaced Pages Continue
6804-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
6966-561: Is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston . PWI is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania , and published by Kappa Publishing Group . The magazine is the longest published English language wrestling magazine still in production. PWI publishes bi-monthly issues and annual special issues such as their "Almanac and Book of Facts". The magazine recognizes various world championships as legitimate, similar to The Ring in boxing. PWI
7128-421: Is often referred to as an "Apter Mag", named after its long-time photographer Bill Apter , a term used for wrestling magazines that keep kayfabe . In recent years, the PWI has moved away from reporting on storylines as actual news and mixed in editorial comments on the behind-the-scenes workings of wrestling. Since 1991, PWI has been publishing its annual "Top 500 Wrestlers" listing the top male wrestlers in
7290-446: Is only one of two wrestlers in history (alongside 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 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
7452-565: The Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 22 on April 2. Van Dam went on to win the match, thus earning himself a guaranteed shot at either the WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship at any time within the subsequent year. Following the ladder match, Shelton Benjamin challenged Van Dam to put his Money in the Bank opportunity on the line in a match. Van Dam countered by requesting
7614-445: 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
7776-609: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
7938-762: The United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including a distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by
8100-665: The United States , the AAA Mega Championship and CMLL World Heavyweight Championship from Mexico , as well as the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship , Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship , World of Stardom Championship , and GHC Heavyweight Championship from Japan as world heavyweight championships . PWI later additionally recognized the independent wrestling titles the Independent Wrestling World Championship and
8262-737: 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
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#17328583506308424-543: The WWF Championship including a triple threat match at No Mercy on October 21 also involving Kurt Angle , but did not win. At Survivor Series on November 18, Van Dam and four other Alliance members faced five WWF wrestlers in a Winner Take All match. Team WWF won, and the members of the Alliance were fired; however, as he held the Hardcore Championship , Van Dam was able to retain his job. Van Dam became
8586-599: The WWF World Heavyweight Championship , citing how champion Bob Backlund was not facing contenders from outside the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) territory and was only facing rulebreakers . This coincided with the WWF's withdrawal from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in summer 1983. PWI reinstated the WWF's world title recognition retroactively in 1985 on account of the WWF's massive mainstream media profile. The AWA World Heavyweight Championship
8748-414: 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
8910-571: 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 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 remained under contract with TNA until 2013, leaving
9072-423: 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 starred in the 2010 movie Wrong Side of Town and
9234-535: The special guest referee . Van Dam continued to team up with Kane. Van Dam participated in the Royal Rumble on January 19, 2003, and was one of the final five participants before being tricked and eliminated by Kane. The two faced Lance Storm and William Regal at No Way Out on February 23 for the World Tag Team Championship but failed to win the titles when Kane mistakenly chokeslammed Van Dam. On
9396-577: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
9558-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
9720-460: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
9882-411: The 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance the spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from
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#173285835063010044-480: The 2015 movie 3-Headed Shark Attack . Szatkowski grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan , and graduated from Pennfield Senior High School . 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
10206-641: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
10368-465: The August 8 episode of ECW , attacking both Sabu and Kurt Angle during a match. His return to the ring came a week later, in a losing effort to Sabu in a ladder match for number one contendership to the now renamed ECW World Championship. Van Dam slowly worked his way back into the championship picture. In October, Van Dam defeated Big Show in a non-title match to regain the number one contendership. Having
10530-494: The ECW World Championship, but this time by a fan poll. Van Dam got three matches against ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley , coming up short each time. Professional wrestler 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling ) is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with
10692-406: The ECW reunion pay-per-view ECW One Night Stand on June 12. Accompanied by his former manager Bill Alfonso and sporting a knee brace, Van Dam delivered a worked shoot promo , standing up for ECW and criticizing the way he had been booked in WWE, until he was attacked by Rhyno . He was saved by Sabu, who defeated Rhyno in an impromptu match. Despite his injury, Van Dam got physically involved in
10854-566: The February 16 episode of Raw , Booker T and Van Dam defeated Evolution members Ric Flair and Batista to win the World Tag Team Championship. At WrestleMania XX on March 14, Booker T and Van Dam defended the World Tag Team Championship in a fatal four-way elimination tag team match against the Dudley Boyz, La Résistance, and the team of Mark Jindrak and Garrison Cade . On the March 22 episode of Raw , Booker T and Van Dam lost
11016-519: The Intercontinental Championship and won the match after he hit Regal with a Five-Star Frog Splash. When the WWF was divided into two " brands ", Raw and SmackDown! in 2002, Van Dam was drafted to the Raw brand as the fourth pick, thus bringing the Intercontinental Championship to Raw . On the April 1 episode of Raw , after Van Dam defended his title successfully against Booker T , Eddie Guerrero returned to
11178-480: The Intercontinental Championship to Chris Benoit . At SummerSlam on August 25, Van Dam won his third Intercontinental Championship by defeating Benoit in a rematch for the title. As Benoit brought the title to SmackDown! when he switched brands shortly after winning it, Van Dam brought the title back to Raw . On the August 26 episode of Raw , Van Dam won the Hardcore Championship for the fourth and final time after he defeated then-Hardcore Champion Tommy Dreamer in
11340-486: The January 12, 2004, episode of Raw , Van Dam faced Orton in a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship but lost the match. Van Dam formed a tag team with Booker T . The two teamed for the first time on the January 19 episode of Raw when they defeated Christian and Matt Hardy to qualify for a battle royal where the winner of the Battle Royal would get the #30 spot in the 2004 Royal Rumble match on January 25. On
11502-550: The July 3 episode of Raw , Van Dam lost the WWE Championship to Edge in a triple threat match that also featured John Cena. The next night on the July 4 episode of ECW , he lost the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to Big Show after Heyman turned on him. Later on WWE.com, Heyman suspended Van Dam for 30 days without giving a reason ( in reality , WWE suspended Van Dam for 30 days as a result of his recent drug possession arrest ). He returned to television on
11664-555: The June 24 episode of Raw and at Vengeance on July 21. On the July 22 episode of Raw , Van Dam won the WWE European Championship for the first and only time after he defeated then-European Champion Jeff Hardy in a championship unification ladder match . As a result, the European Championship was deactivated upon being unified with the Intercontinental Championship. On the July 29 episode of Raw , Van Dam lost
11826-479: The March 31 episode of Raw , Van Dam and Kane defeated World Tag Team Champions Lance Storm and Chief Morley and The Dudley Boyz in a 3-way elimination tag team match to win the World Tag Team Championship. At Backlash on April 27, Van Dam and Kane retained the titles against The Dudley Boyz with Morley as the special guest referee. At Insurrextion on June 7, Van Dam and Kane defended the World Tag Team Championship successfully against La Résistance, before losing
11988-590: The May 12 episode of Monday Night Raw , Van Dam defeated Jeff Hardy . On June 6, Van Dam defeated Flash Funk on Monday Night Raw and teamed with Lawler to defeat the Headbangers on Shotgun Saturday Night . On the June 16 episode of Monday Night Raw , Van Dam and Lawler lost to the Headbangers in a tournament for the vacant WWF World Tag Team Championship . Van Dam continued to team up with Sabu upon his return to ECW on June 13. Taz 's manager Bill Alfonso betrayed Taz and joined Sabu and Van Dam. Van Dam started
12150-449: The Money in the Bank title shot were contested at Backlash. Van Dam went on to win the former, before dropping the Intercontinental Championship back to Benjamin on the May 15 episode of Raw . On May 29, Van Dam was selected by Paul Heyman to be drafted to WWE's new ECW brand. At ECW One Night Stand on June 11, Van Dam cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated John Cena to win
12312-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
12474-408: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
12636-697: The NWA/WCW World Championship back to George Hackenschmidt 's title victory in 1905 , rather than the creation of the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship in 1948. Subsequently, after Ric Flair left WCW and was stripped of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in July 1991, PWI and its sister publications nonetheless continued to recognize the WCW title as held by Lex Luger , Sting , Vader , and Ron Simmons as
12798-720: The October Giant Series; during this tour, he unsuccessfully challenged World Junior Heavyweight Champion Tsuyoshi Kikuchi . Van Dam returned to AJPW for a ninth tour in January 1997 as part of the New Year Giant Series, during which he mainly teamed with Sabu; towards the end of the tour, Van Dam and Sabu unsuccessfully challenged Akiyama and Omori for the All Asia Tag Team Championship in Korakuen Hall . In May and June 1997, Van Dam returned to AJPW for
12960-529: The Pan-Afrikan World Diaspora Wrestling Championship as world championships. According to the annual PWI almanac, PWI still recognizes select world title reigns from May 4, 1905 – January 28, 1946, before the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in July 1948, mostly conforming to the lineage traditionally traced backwards 1948-1905 by the NWA for their World Heavyweight Championship. PWI has published
13122-408: The September 15 episode of Raw , Van Dam faced Jericho in a number one contender's match for the title. The match ended in a double disqualification when Intercontinental Champion Christian interfered and hit both men with the title belt. At Unforgiven on September 21 in a triple threat match between Jericho, Christian, and Van Dam, Christian retained his title. Van Dam, however, defeated Christian in
13284-662: The Super Generation Army. Van Dam made a third tour with AJPW in February and March 1995, again as part of the Excite Series, facing opponents including the Can-Am Express , the Holy Demon Army , and the Super Generation Army. Van Dam returned to AJPW in May and June 1995 as part of the Super Power Series, again facing the Can-Am Express and the Super Generation Army in a series of tag team matches. In his final match of
13446-477: The WCW wrestlers aligned themselves with the ECW wrestlers. Despite being presented as a heel, Van Dam was popular with the WWF fans, who were aware of his reputation in ECW. After defeating Jeff Hardy for the WWF Hardcore Championship at WWF Invasion on July 22, Van Dam lost the Hardcore Championship to Hardy on the August 13 episode of Raw is War , but regained it at SummerSlam on August 19 in
13608-439: The WWE Championship and the ECW World Heavyweight Championship as well as the only one to hold them at the same time, making him a double world champion. He would become the 15th WWE Triple Crown Champion as a result of his WWE Championship win. At Vengeance on June 25, Van Dam defeated Edge to retain the WWE Championship. Two nights later on ECW , Van Dam defeated Kurt Angle to retain the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. On
13770-418: The WWE Championship. After two referees were knocked out, Edge appeared from underneath the ring to attack Cena, spearing him through a table. Van Dam then hit a Five Star Frog Splash and the pinfall was counted by Paul Heyman, who suddenly ran down the aisle. On the following episode of Raw , Vince McMahon confirmed that the title change was official due to the match being held under "extreme rules". For
13932-407: The WWF and attacked Van Dam. He started a feud with Guerrero over the Intercontinental Championship. At Backlash on April 21, Van Dam lost the Intercontinental Championship to Guerrero. At Insurrextion on May 4, Van Dam and Guerrero had a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship. Guerrero was disqualified after hitting the referee with the Intercontinental Championship; as a result, Van Dam won
14094-548: The World Heavyweight Champion Triple H . On the September 16 episode of Raw , Van Dam lost the Intercontinental Championship to Chris Jericho after interference by Triple H. At Unforgiven on September 22, Van Dam faced Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship. Due to Ric Flair 's interference, Van Dam lost the match. At No Mercy on October 20, Van Dam got his revenge on Flair by defeating him. At Survivor Series on November 17, Van Dam participated in
14256-573: The World Tag Team Championship back to Evolution . On March 22, Van Dam was drafted to the SmackDown! brand. He made his SmackDown! debut on March 25 defeating Charlie Haas . Van Dam and Rey Mysterio began a feud with the Dudley Boyz, defeating them at Judgment Day on May 16. In June, Van Dam left the tag team division and began a pursuit for the United States Championship . At The Great American Bash on June 27, John Cena defended
14418-571: The World Television Champion for the rest of 1998, and he started 1999 by making successful title defenses against the likes of Spike Dudley , Lance Storm at Guilty as Charged , Jerry Lynn at Crossing the Line '99 , Balls Mahoney at Anarchy Rulz , and 2 Cold Scorpio at CyberSlam . Van Dam and Sabu were scheduled to make a title defense on April 17, but Sabu was suspended by ECW before the match occurred. Instead, Van Dam faced D-Von Dudley in
14580-598: The World Television Championship. Van Dam retained the belt in his first title defense on April 10 against Doug Furnas. Sabu also expressed interest in Van Dam's championship, leading to a title match between the two at Wrestlepalooza . Van Dam retained the title as the match ended in a time limit draw. At A Matter of Respect , Van Dam and Sabu were forced to face each other in a tag team match as they both teamed up with World Tag Team Champions. Van Dam teamed with
14742-453: The ability to vote for the winners of the year-end awards with ballots being included in special year-end issues. A special PWI Awards Magazine is issued annually, which reveals winners and the number of votes counted. The following is a list of categories in which PWI has issued awards. Although many wrestling organizations promote their lead title as a world heavyweight championship , Pro Wrestling Illustrated ( PWI ) has only recognized
14904-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
15066-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
15228-550: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
15390-412: The broader public. In the United States, wrestling is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as
15552-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
15714-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
15876-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
16038-525: The closure of ECW, Van Dam was signed to a short-term contract by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Along with fellow ECW alumnus Tommy Dreamer, Van Dam returned to WWF television on the July 9, 2001, episode of Raw is War in Atlanta, Georgia as a heel , and attacking WWF wrestlers Kane and Chris Jericho . Later that night, five wrestlers from WWF and five wrestlers from WCW took on ten ECW wrestlers, including Van Dam. The match never took place as instead
16200-461: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
16362-647: The company after a run with the TNA 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 (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
16524-468: The competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on the independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in
16686-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
16848-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
17010-597: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
17172-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
17334-442: The first-ever Elimination Chamber match for Triple H's World Heavyweight Championship, but it was won by Shawn Michaels . During the match, Van Dam performed a Five-Star Frog Splash off of one of the pods/chambers onto Triple H, and accidentally landed his knee onto Triple H's throat. Van Dam appeared on the World Heavyweight Championship scene and also formed a tag team with Kane in October. Van Dam defeated Jericho and Booker T in
17496-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
17658-404: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
17820-513: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
17982-492: The individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in a professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
18144-471: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
18306-487: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
18468-604: 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. 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
18630-445: The list of the top 500 professional wrestlers each year since 1991 in an annual special edition magazine, the PWI 500 . PWI writers choose the position of the wrestler following a designated evaluation period starting from mid-June; anything a wrestler accomplished before or after that period is not considered. They follow a criterion that includes win–loss record, championships won, quality of competition, major feuds, prominence within
18792-462: The magazine has taken an editorial approach between kayfabe and " shoot " writing, differentiating between on-screen feuds and controversies behind the scenes. PWI is not limited to covering only prominent professional wrestling promotions , as it also covers multiple independent promotions in the United States . PWI also published other special issues, which included: PWI Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts since 1996, Women of Wrestling , and
18954-433: The match after missing a Plancha to the outside, hitting the railing and falling onto the stretcher. He was quickly rolled out. At Natural Born Killaz , Van Dam defeated Doug Furnas in a match. Post-match, Van Dam offered Furnas a handshake, but Furnas instead hit Van Dam with a short-arm clothesline , starting a rivalry between the two. After his rivalry with Furnas expanded to also include Dan Kroffat , Van Dam wanted
19116-430: The match and knocked Van Dam out after hitting him with a chair. Kane then took Van Dam to the backstage area and was about to set him on fire. Kane changed his mind at the last minute, however, and said that he was not going to do what "they" wanted. Their rivalry led to a No Holds Barred match at SummerSlam on August 24, which Kane won. On the September 8 episode of Raw , the rivalry ended when Kane defeated Van Dam in
19278-545: The match but not the title because a title cannot change hands by disqualification. At Judgment Day on May 19, Van Dam failed to win the Intercontinental title from Guerrero in another rematch. The following night he defeated The Undertaker for the WWE Undisputed Championship but Raw owner Ric Flair restarted the match (due to The Undertaker's foot being on the bottom rope), which Van Dam then lost negating
19440-457: The match, hitting Rhyno with a chairshot and giving him a Chair Surf . On the June 27 episode of Raw , Van Dam, while still healing, was drafted to the Raw brand in the 2005 draft lottery . He was introduced to Raw by Carlito , who insulted Van Dam before attacking him and assaulting his knee. Van Dam made his return to the ring over seven months later at the Royal Rumble on January 29, 2006. He gained revenge on Carlito by eliminating him, but
19602-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
19764-452: The one half of the champions, Lance Storm, while Sabu teamed with the other half, Chris Candido. Van Dam and Sabu reconciled and instead took out Storm and Candido making it a no contest. Van Dam and Sabu started a feud with Storm and Candido in the next month for the tag team title. On June 29, Van Dam and Sabu beat Storm and Candido to win the World Tag Team Championship, which made Van Dam a double champion. On October 24, Sabu and Van Dam lost
19926-424: The option to pick a date for the title, Van Dam announced the title match would occur at December to Dismember on December 3. However, Heyman had the option of picking the match type and announced that the main event would be a six-man Extreme Elimination Chamber match. At December to Dismember, Van Dam was the third participant eliminated. Later in December, Van Dam once again earned the number one contendership to
20088-407: The past few weeks, Heyman had hinted that the WWE Championship would be "rechristened" the ECW World Heavyweight Championship when Van Dam won. On the debut of ECW , Van Dam was awarded the reinstated ECW World Heavyweight Championship by Heyman and decided to defend the WWE Championship separately and simultaneously, joking that "this one spins", becoming the first wrestler in history to hold both
20250-404: The pre-match stipulation, Sabu then offered Van Dam a handshake, but was again ignored. Instead, Van Dam left the ring and turned heel under the management of Bill Alfonso . At Hardcore Heaven , Van Dam faced his rival Sabu once again, in a match to prove who was the better man, but Sabu won the match. The two faced each other yet again in a stretcher match at The Doctor Is In . Van Dam lost
20412-410: The preceding months. In spring 1991, the family of magazines adopted a new policy of referring to the current promotion and its champions as WCW and the promotion's pre-1991 past as the NWA. The magazine also announced it would refer to the overall history of the promotion's world title as the "NWA/WCW World Championship" (and likewise with other WCW championships). PWI generally traced the lineage of
20574-512: The premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain
20736-714: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
20898-439: The purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise a bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether
21060-453: The referee while Jericho dragged Van Dam back into the middle of the ring. Van Dam submitted and Jericho became the new champion. Raw Co-General Manager Stone Cold Steve Austin came out and immediately ordered Jericho to face Van Dam in a rematch inside the Steel Cage for the title. Van Dam won the rematch and his fifth Intercontinental Championship. At Survivor Series on November 16, Van Dam
21222-557: The rightful continuation of the historic NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. When Masa Chono won an NWA world title tournament in Japan in August 1992, PWI and its sister publications only recognized Chono's title as the "NWA Championship" and rejected it as a world title or as a continuation of the historic NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. PWI initially did not recognize the ECW World Heavyweight Championship as
21384-439: 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. Szatkowski made his wrestling debut in 1990, defeating Dango Nguyen. He wrestled in many independent promotions across Michigan , including
21546-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
21708-475: The summer and feuded with René Duprée and Kenzo Suzuki . At No Mercy on October 3, Van Dam and Mysterio failed to win the WWE Tag Team Championship from Dupree and Suzuki. On the December 9 episode of SmackDown! , Van Dam and Mysterio defeated Duprée and Suzuki to win the WWE Tag Team Championship, and retained the title in a rematch at Armageddon on December 12. In January 2005, Van Dam suffered
21870-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
22032-466: The title against Van Dam, Booker T, and René Duprée in a Fatal Four-Way match and retained his championship. On the July 1 episode of SmackDown! , Van Dam and Duprée lost to Booker T in a number one contender's Triple Threat match. Four weeks later, Van Dam participated in an 8-way elimination match for the vacant United States Championship, and was the last man to be eliminated by eventual winner Booker T. Van Dam began teaming up with Mysterio again in
22194-513: The title to the Dudley Boyz ( Buh Buh Ray and D-Von ) after interference from Triple Threat. Van Dam sought revenge and at November to Remember , Van Dam and Sabu teamed with Taz to defeat Triple Threat. On December 13, Van Dam and Sabu won the World Tag Team Championship for a second time by beating the Dudley Boyz in Japan at a Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling ECW/FMW Supershow . Van Dam remained
22356-478: The title win. On the May 27 episode of Raw , Van Dam defeated Guerrero in a ladder match for his second Intercontinental Championship. After facing each other in the final round of the 2002 King of the Ring tournament (which he lost), Van Dam and Brock Lesnar began feuding with each other. Van Dam defended his Intercontinental Championship against Lesnar twice and retained his title both times by disqualification on
22518-411: The title. At Anarchy Rulz , Van Dam faced Rhino for the ECW World Television Championship but was screwed when a heel referee made a fast count during a pinfall attempt made by Rhino. Van Dam was not advertised and did not show for a large number of ECW events due to the large sum of money owed to him. He appeared at ECW's final pay-per-view event Guilty as Charged , where he defeated Jerry Lynn. This
22680-512: The titles to La Résistance at Bad Blood on June 15. After Kane was forced to take his mask off when he lost a World Heavyweight Championship match to Triple H on the June 23 episode of Raw , he turned heel by chokeslamming Van Dam, and the team dissolved. The two then started feuding with each other. On the August 18 episode of Raw , Van Dam faced Christian for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, but Kane interfered in
22842-456: The top rope, which helped Lynn win the match. Van Dam feuded with Anton and took his revenge at Heat Wave by defeating Anton after debuting his new finisher called the " Van Terminator ". Van Dam then attempted to exact revenge on Rhino for forcing his injury. He received many opportunities to win the ECW World Television Championship back from Rhino, but Rhino's allies usually attacked Van Dam, causing disqualifications and allowing Rhino to retain
23004-649: The tour, he unsuccessfully challenged World Junior Heavyweight Champion Danny Kroffat in the Nippon Budokan . He wrestled his fourth tour with AJPW in October 1995 as part of the October Giant Series. Van Dam wrestled his fifth tour of the year with AJPW in November and December 1995 as part of the World's Strongest Tag Determination League , where he teamed with Johnny Smith . Van Dam and Smith finished last out of 10 teams, defeating Jun Akiyama and Takao Omori but losing their other eight matches. Van Dam returned to AJPW for
23166-505: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
23328-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
23490-445: The two teams faced each other for the title in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match , in which The Eliminators again retained their title. At ECW's first pay-per-view event Barely Legal , Van Dam defeated Lance Storm as a last-minute replacement for the injured Chris Candido . Immediately following the match, Van Dam expressed his distaste for being chosen as a back-up for "some guy who couldn't even lace his boots." Van Dam delivered
23652-454: The two teams fought to a draw. Van Dam then feuded with Taz , to whom he lost at Holiday Hell via knockout. Sabu and Van Dam continued to feud with The Eliminators for the World Tag Team Championship into 1997. At Crossing the Line Again and Cyberslam , the teams faced off for the ECW World Tag Team Championship in a pair of matches, both of which were won by The Eliminators. At CyberSlam,
23814-405: The venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as a performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in
23976-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
24138-554: The world. In 2008, they added an annual "Top 50 Female Wrestlers" list, which was later expanded and renamed to the "Top 100 Female Wrestlers" list in 2018 and then again in 2021 as the "Top 150 Female Wrestlers." In 2020, they added an annual "Top 50 Tag Teams" listing the top tag teams in the world. The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated ( PWI ) was released in 1979. The magazine soon became known for not breaking kayfabe in its articles as it traditionally treated all " angles ", or storylines, as real. However, in more recent years
24300-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
24462-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
24624-458: Was "lost in the shuffle". From 1993 to 1997, Van Dam made 10 tours of Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). His first tour took place in February and March 1993 as part of the annual Excite Series, where his opponents included Dory Funk Jr. and Toshiaki Kawada 's Super Generation Army stable. Van Dam returned to AJPW in February and March 1994 as part of that year's Excite Series, facing opponents including Jun Akiyama , Mighty Inoue , and
24786-485: Was Sabu's last match in the promotion. Van Dam was scheduled to perform in a "champion vs. champion" pay-per-view main event against the ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mike Awesome . This match potentially could have been ECW's most lucrative pay-per-view main event, and Heyman was depending on it to bring an influx of badly needed finances, but the match never occurred because Van Dam suffered
24948-437: Was Van Dam's last appearance in ECW, as ECW only held two more shows after the pay-per-view. In February and March 2001, Van Dam returned to All Japan Pro Wrestling for an eleventh tour as part of its "Excite Series". During the tour, Van Dam primarily wrestled in tag team matches, teaming with partners including Danny Kroffat and Gran Naniwa . His opponents during the tour included Giant Kimala and Sabu. Several months after
25110-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
25272-456: Was in turn inadvertently eliminated by Rey Mysterio in the final moments. On the February 6 episode of Raw , Van Dam defeated Carlito in the first round of the Road to WrestleMania Tournament to determine the number one contender to the WWE Championship, but lost in the final round to Triple H, in a triple threat match, which also featured Big Show. Later, Van Dam defeated Trevor Murdoch to qualify for
25434-420: Was pinned by Randy Orton during the traditional elimination match between Team Austin and Team Bischoff that Van Dam's team would lose. As a result, Orton and Van Dam started feuding with each other over Van Dam's Intercontinental title. Van Dam lost the Intercontinental Championship to Orton at Armageddon on December 14 after interference from Ric Flair. Van Dam went on to feud with both Orton and Evolution. On
25596-568: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
25758-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
25920-483: Was stripped of its world title status in January 1991 when the American Wrestling Association (AWA) was in its final days. By this time, the championship was vacant and would remain so until the promotion's closure. Until March 1991, PWI and its sister publications steadfastly referred to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as "the NWA" despite WCW having increasingly phased out the latter name in
26082-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
26244-515: Was too good for ECW and deserved to be in one of the "Big Two" (WWF or WCW ) on one of their Monday night programs ( Monday Night Raw or Monday Nitro ). Lawler began to call Van Dam "Mr. Monday Night" on an episode of Monday Night Raw which became a moniker that would stay with Van Dam, changing to suit the day of the week of whichever program was being broadcast. Despite his arrogance and "betrayal" of ECW, over time Van Dam became applauded by fans recognizing his athleticism and unique maneuvers. On
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