The Outsiders' Edge

Alright folks the Elevation countdown plows ahead with the whole F’N show.

In case you missed my entry two spots below this one, The Elevation Countdown is an on-going effort by myself to rank the 20 best American wrestlers from 1990 to 2010. Their ranking is determined only by the things they did in the last 20 years, stuff from the 80s is not taken into account. Hopefully you can take a timeout from your Pro Bowl hysteria to read this entry:

DDP was #20. Here is #19:

RVD: The whole F'N show.

#19 Rob Van Dam

WCW: 1992   ECW: 1996-2001   WWE 1997 (part of ECW invasion angle), 2001-2007.

1 time ECW World Heavyweight Champion

1 time WWE Champion

6 time Intercontinental Champion

Everybody should be damn happy RVD came of age in the early 90s instead of the early 2000s. Due to his amazing athleticism and freaking strength, Rob Van Dam would have surely become an integral member of the UFC had he begun his combat training in 2000 instead of 1990. However, America lucked out and we were given the opportunity to lay eyes on one of the most exciting and entertaining wrestling performers of all time.

(Cue Mauro Ranallo blowhard voice) With his penchant for the Gange, current California residence, and incredible athleticism, is there any doubts that RVD would be rolling on the mats among other things with the Diaz brothers if he was a mixed martial artist in 2010?
In wrestling, RVD was able to succeed where many others failed and become an extremely interesting and viable character in two of the most different environments in recent wrestling history: the extreme, no holds barred, anything goes craziness of Paul Heyman’s ECW and the increasingly PG, cookie cutter infested, no blood at all world of the  late 2000s Vince McMahon run WWE.

It cannot be stressed enough how different these two eras were. In the original ECW, The Sandman used to smoke while he was wrestling, spill beer all over himself and the fans and get literally crucified by the ring. In the new WWE, The Sandman couldn’t even come out to a real version of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”, had to stop drinking beer during his entrance because of a lawsuit from a fan, and made his first appearance on the new WWE run ECW brand by attacking a Zombie with his cane.

RVD was able to take part in amazing rivalries with a huge palette of super stars from Sabu to John Cena to Rhyno to Edge to Lance Storm to Randy Orton.

RVD also revolutionized the concept of pointing to your shoulders while convincing the fans to chant your initials. That is really a lost skill. Besides being a genius at getting himself over through things like working on the mic and creating cool arm gestures, RVD will always be remembered for his amazing move set.

The Five Star Frog Splash, The Van Daminator, The Van Terminator, Air Van Dam, The Chair surfboard. How crazy is that? Now-a-days our wrestlers are treated like visionaries if they are able to create such masterpieces as the 5 knuckle shuffle or the DDT using the ring ropes.

RVD winning the title against John Cena at One Night Stand 2006 was one of the biggest moments in wrestling from the past two decades. Beyond being an amazing match, it directly helped lead to the birth of the new ECW brand on SyFy and was one of the greatest moments of RVD’s career. He was also a tag team specialist and had memorable tag title reigns in ECW and WWE with Chris Candido, Sabu, Kane, and Booker T.

Some fans will choose to only remember RVD only for his unsurprising marijuana arrest in the car with Sabu while champion, but all wrestling fans who know what the hell they are talking about will remember Rob’s free spirit, amazing matches, and unmatched natural ability.

I’m sure he will pop up back in WWE or TNA at some point, but until then Mr. Monday Night will live on forever!

Mr. Monday Night during one of the greatest periods of his career.

(Late Note- I just completed watching the Royal Rumble. I was completely caught off guard by Edge’s win. I had just assumed it was a mere formality that HBK, Cena, or Hunter would win the damn thing and that would be that. Edge’s return was a huge surprise and really enjoyable. I don’t know how the WWE is going to get to Wrestle Mania 26, but it is shaping up to be an awesome show. He looked really good despite coming back so quickly from a gruesome torn achilles. YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW HIM! On a related note, I was cracking up laughing because my entry in a Royal Rumble pool I was a part of just happened to be Beth Phoenix. Beth wasn’t as dominant as Mrs. Cyborg at the Strikeforce show last night, but she did eliminate The Great Khali. However, she also had to take a brutal GTS from CM Punk. Can’t win ‘em all I guess.)

You will never be able to outsmart the master of mental chess.

We will be back soon with #18.