Dangerous Incorporated
09-26-2006, 08:29 AM
Van Dam Leads ECW Crew Into Fort Smith Tonight
Rob Van Dam has been around the block a time or two ... and the world for that matter.
The Extreme Championship Wrestling star has performed in such historic venues as New York’s 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden to such out-of-the-way haunts as the 1,500-seat Racine Memorial Auditorium in Racine, Wis.
He’s even wrestled in Japan.
“Over all the years, I’ve had the chance to visit pretty much everywhere,” Van Dam said in a recent telephone interview. “I used to really want to travel when I was a kid, so it’s worked out really well for me.
“Now, there’s some places I like going to better than other places.”
After 17 years in the business, however, the 35-year-old Van Dam admits the appeal of traveling has lost its luster.
“I’m very tired of traveling, and I have been for quite a long time. Traveling is 95 percent of my job, even if I have a match that lasts 30 minutes, which is way longer than normal, you’ve got to figure everything that it took to get there,” Van Dam said.
“I had to leave my house the night before, fly across the country, rent a car, get a couple of hours sleep in a hotel ... all that just to get to the arena for that one match. The next day, I’m somewhere else.”
shows in 13 different cities in nine different states this month. He will wrestle today as part of ECW’s show at the Fort Smith Convention Center. It will be the third show of a four-show, four-day, three-state tour for Van Dam.
Van Dam is scheduled to appear in 28 shows in 18 states beginning this month through November, and it’s likely more dates will be added to his schedule in the meantime.
Sound hectic?
It might be for the average Joe, but it’s the way of life for most of today’s professional wrestling stars like Van Dam.
“Most people have no idea how brutal our schedule is. It’s because we’re in demand all over the country and all over the world. I figure I average five days of travel a week, and we do that 52 weeks a year,” said Van Dam, whose real name is Rob Szatkowski.
“We might get a couple of days off here or there, but we make up for it when we go overseas and do like sometimes 13 days in a row. ... That’s pretty much how we roll.”
The travel demands are even more of a burden for Van Dam. He and his wife, Sonya, live in San Pedro, Calif., but a lot of the live television events are on the East Coast, so Van Dam winds up spending many hours flying back and forth.
“My body clock is completely whacked. I have like no regular sleeping patterns. I live on the West Coast, and to get to the East Coast, where most of the matches are, takes about five hours if I have a direct flight,” Van Dam said.
“When I get there, they’re already three hours ahead anyway. I lose a whole day just getting there. If I fly a redeye or an early 6 o’clock flight, which is only a few hours after the redeye, basically, I’m pretty wiped out for day one.”
Van Dam said the WWE, ECW’s parent company, pays for the wrestlers’ airfare when they have to fly to an event, but other incidentals — meals, rental cars and hotel rooms — are the wrestler’s own responsibility.
“We have an itinerary to tell us what time our flight is, and then it’s up to us to reserve a car and reserve a hotel ... or play it by ear like I do. That way you can just pull over when you want to,” Van Dam said.
“That does bite me in (the butt) sometimes because sometimes there’s no rooms anywhere in town and I have to drive back another 30 miles just to get one.”
When he does find a room, Van Dam usually gets a pretty good rate.
“Often when I walk in the lobby I’ll get a really good rate because the person behind the desk is a fan. That’s hard to do booking a room on the Internet,” Van Dam said. “The RVD rate works anywhere. ... It works in restaurants as well.”
And gyms, too.
With all the physical abuse his body takes, Van Dam tries his best to get a workout in while on the road. He’s found that most of the gyms are very accommodating.
“About 95 percent of the gyms don’t charge me because they recognize me from television and they’re glad to have me in their gym,” said Van Dam, who invented the Van Dam Lift. “If I have to pay once in a while, I don’t mind because it all works out in my favor in the end. I’m happy to support their business anyway.”
Plus, it gives him the chance to mingle with the locals and get a feel for what type of audience he’ll be performing for later that night.
“I personally get feedback when I do make it to the gym, or if I really have extra time, I might hit a comic book store — that’s pretty rare nowadays — I try to get feedback,” said Van Dam, an avid comic book reader who owns a comic book store.
“If they say, ‘Rob Van Dam, what the hell are you doing in town?’ then I start thinking, ‘Oh, maybe they didn’t advertise this as good as they could have.’ If it’s the opposite and they say, ‘RVD, oh my God, I’ve got tickets for tonight. I’m so excited, and everyone at school’s been talking about it,’ well then I have a feeling at least before I get in there (the arena) that at least the crowd’s excited about it.”
Mr. Pay-Per-View
Many diehard wrestling fans might remember one of Van Dam’s earliest appearances in a wrestling ring.
Former WWE star Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase often spouted that “everybody has a price,” and he set out to prove that with a series of in-ring skits in which he challenged “unsuspecting” fans to perform humiliating acts for money.
Van Dam was one of those fans.
During a live show in his hometown of Battle Creek, Mich., Van Dam, a teenager at the time, was challenged by DiBiase to enter the ring and kiss his feet for $100.
A star was born.
Already an accomplished kickboxer, Van Dam made his professional wrestling debut in 1990, defeating Dango Nguyen in Toledo, Ohio. As a rookie, Van Dam, who was trained by The Sheik, worked the independent circuit throughout Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.
He got his first big break in 1991 when he replaced Chris Candido as a regular in the Memphis-based United States Wrestling Association. Van Dam wrestled for USWA for only two months, but during that time, he made his first appearance in Arkansas.
“This was way, way, way back in the summer of 1991. I wrestled in Jonesboro,” Van Dam recalled. “I probably didn’t have 20 matches under my belt at the time.”
Van Dam went on to have stints with South Atlantic Pro Wrestling, the International Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling, the National Wrestling Council and All-Japan Pro Wrestling.
He made his ECW debut in Philadelphia in 1995, defeating Axl Rotten with a Split-Legged Moonsault.
Van Dam left ECW briefly for the WWE in May 1997 before returning to ECW later that year. He enjoyed much success after his return, including a record 23-month run as World Television Champion.
Mounting financial problems led to the demise of ECW in 2001. Its final pay-per-view — “Guilty As Charged” — ended with Van Dam, whose nicknames include “Mr. Pay-Per-View,” defeating old nemesis Jerry Lynn.
Van Dam wasn’t out of wrestling long after the collapse of ECW. On July 9, 2001, he returned to WWE for a second time. He has appeared on both WWE brands — RAW and Smackdown!.
When WWE revived the ECW brand earlier this year, he returned to the venue.
Natural State Debut
During wrestling’s rise in popularity in the mid-1980s, Fort Smith was a regular stop for the Bixby, Okla.-based Mid-South Wrestling, which was renamed Universal Wrestling Federation in 1986. The regional shows were staged at Harper Stadium and featured the likes of Hacksaw Jim Duggan, the Fabulous Freebirds, The Blade Runners, “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert, Ted DiBiase, Steve “Dr. Death” Williams and Skandor Akbar.
Today’s ECW event, however, will be the first time in modern history — if not ever — that a national wrestling promotion will be held in Fort Smith. In fact, ECW’s show in Pine Bluff on Sunday was the organization’s first appearance in Arkansas.
“When we get to go somewhere that’s never seen us before, it’s a whole new excitement for us. That’s very motivating as an entertainer,” Van Dam said. “It’s a treat to have a crowd that’s so excited and they want to show us that they’ve been watching us on television and we’re impacting their lives. The kids are looking up to us, and maybe even wives are looking at some of us, I don’t know.”
Van Dam will team with Sabu to wrestle Big Show and “Hardcore” Holly in the featured tag team match of today’s eight-match card.
“Even if Fort Smith had been a routine stop for wrestling once a year over the last 20 years, this show will still blow them out of the water. ECW is extreme. It’s about being better and going that extra mile,” Van Dam said.
“It’s going to be that much more exciting to see us there.”
Source: http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2006...s/sports02.txt
Rob Van Dam has been around the block a time or two ... and the world for that matter.
The Extreme Championship Wrestling star has performed in such historic venues as New York’s 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden to such out-of-the-way haunts as the 1,500-seat Racine Memorial Auditorium in Racine, Wis.
He’s even wrestled in Japan.
“Over all the years, I’ve had the chance to visit pretty much everywhere,” Van Dam said in a recent telephone interview. “I used to really want to travel when I was a kid, so it’s worked out really well for me.
“Now, there’s some places I like going to better than other places.”
After 17 years in the business, however, the 35-year-old Van Dam admits the appeal of traveling has lost its luster.
“I’m very tired of traveling, and I have been for quite a long time. Traveling is 95 percent of my job, even if I have a match that lasts 30 minutes, which is way longer than normal, you’ve got to figure everything that it took to get there,” Van Dam said.
“I had to leave my house the night before, fly across the country, rent a car, get a couple of hours sleep in a hotel ... all that just to get to the arena for that one match. The next day, I’m somewhere else.”
shows in 13 different cities in nine different states this month. He will wrestle today as part of ECW’s show at the Fort Smith Convention Center. It will be the third show of a four-show, four-day, three-state tour for Van Dam.
Van Dam is scheduled to appear in 28 shows in 18 states beginning this month through November, and it’s likely more dates will be added to his schedule in the meantime.
Sound hectic?
It might be for the average Joe, but it’s the way of life for most of today’s professional wrestling stars like Van Dam.
“Most people have no idea how brutal our schedule is. It’s because we’re in demand all over the country and all over the world. I figure I average five days of travel a week, and we do that 52 weeks a year,” said Van Dam, whose real name is Rob Szatkowski.
“We might get a couple of days off here or there, but we make up for it when we go overseas and do like sometimes 13 days in a row. ... That’s pretty much how we roll.”
The travel demands are even more of a burden for Van Dam. He and his wife, Sonya, live in San Pedro, Calif., but a lot of the live television events are on the East Coast, so Van Dam winds up spending many hours flying back and forth.
“My body clock is completely whacked. I have like no regular sleeping patterns. I live on the West Coast, and to get to the East Coast, where most of the matches are, takes about five hours if I have a direct flight,” Van Dam said.
“When I get there, they’re already three hours ahead anyway. I lose a whole day just getting there. If I fly a redeye or an early 6 o’clock flight, which is only a few hours after the redeye, basically, I’m pretty wiped out for day one.”
Van Dam said the WWE, ECW’s parent company, pays for the wrestlers’ airfare when they have to fly to an event, but other incidentals — meals, rental cars and hotel rooms — are the wrestler’s own responsibility.
“We have an itinerary to tell us what time our flight is, and then it’s up to us to reserve a car and reserve a hotel ... or play it by ear like I do. That way you can just pull over when you want to,” Van Dam said.
“That does bite me in (the butt) sometimes because sometimes there’s no rooms anywhere in town and I have to drive back another 30 miles just to get one.”
When he does find a room, Van Dam usually gets a pretty good rate.
“Often when I walk in the lobby I’ll get a really good rate because the person behind the desk is a fan. That’s hard to do booking a room on the Internet,” Van Dam said. “The RVD rate works anywhere. ... It works in restaurants as well.”
And gyms, too.
With all the physical abuse his body takes, Van Dam tries his best to get a workout in while on the road. He’s found that most of the gyms are very accommodating.
“About 95 percent of the gyms don’t charge me because they recognize me from television and they’re glad to have me in their gym,” said Van Dam, who invented the Van Dam Lift. “If I have to pay once in a while, I don’t mind because it all works out in my favor in the end. I’m happy to support their business anyway.”
Plus, it gives him the chance to mingle with the locals and get a feel for what type of audience he’ll be performing for later that night.
“I personally get feedback when I do make it to the gym, or if I really have extra time, I might hit a comic book store — that’s pretty rare nowadays — I try to get feedback,” said Van Dam, an avid comic book reader who owns a comic book store.
“If they say, ‘Rob Van Dam, what the hell are you doing in town?’ then I start thinking, ‘Oh, maybe they didn’t advertise this as good as they could have.’ If it’s the opposite and they say, ‘RVD, oh my God, I’ve got tickets for tonight. I’m so excited, and everyone at school’s been talking about it,’ well then I have a feeling at least before I get in there (the arena) that at least the crowd’s excited about it.”
Mr. Pay-Per-View
Many diehard wrestling fans might remember one of Van Dam’s earliest appearances in a wrestling ring.
Former WWE star Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase often spouted that “everybody has a price,” and he set out to prove that with a series of in-ring skits in which he challenged “unsuspecting” fans to perform humiliating acts for money.
Van Dam was one of those fans.
During a live show in his hometown of Battle Creek, Mich., Van Dam, a teenager at the time, was challenged by DiBiase to enter the ring and kiss his feet for $100.
A star was born.
Already an accomplished kickboxer, Van Dam made his professional wrestling debut in 1990, defeating Dango Nguyen in Toledo, Ohio. As a rookie, Van Dam, who was trained by The Sheik, worked the independent circuit throughout Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.
He got his first big break in 1991 when he replaced Chris Candido as a regular in the Memphis-based United States Wrestling Association. Van Dam wrestled for USWA for only two months, but during that time, he made his first appearance in Arkansas.
“This was way, way, way back in the summer of 1991. I wrestled in Jonesboro,” Van Dam recalled. “I probably didn’t have 20 matches under my belt at the time.”
Van Dam went on to have stints with South Atlantic Pro Wrestling, the International Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling, the National Wrestling Council and All-Japan Pro Wrestling.
He made his ECW debut in Philadelphia in 1995, defeating Axl Rotten with a Split-Legged Moonsault.
Van Dam left ECW briefly for the WWE in May 1997 before returning to ECW later that year. He enjoyed much success after his return, including a record 23-month run as World Television Champion.
Mounting financial problems led to the demise of ECW in 2001. Its final pay-per-view — “Guilty As Charged” — ended with Van Dam, whose nicknames include “Mr. Pay-Per-View,” defeating old nemesis Jerry Lynn.
Van Dam wasn’t out of wrestling long after the collapse of ECW. On July 9, 2001, he returned to WWE for a second time. He has appeared on both WWE brands — RAW and Smackdown!.
When WWE revived the ECW brand earlier this year, he returned to the venue.
Natural State Debut
During wrestling’s rise in popularity in the mid-1980s, Fort Smith was a regular stop for the Bixby, Okla.-based Mid-South Wrestling, which was renamed Universal Wrestling Federation in 1986. The regional shows were staged at Harper Stadium and featured the likes of Hacksaw Jim Duggan, the Fabulous Freebirds, The Blade Runners, “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert, Ted DiBiase, Steve “Dr. Death” Williams and Skandor Akbar.
Today’s ECW event, however, will be the first time in modern history — if not ever — that a national wrestling promotion will be held in Fort Smith. In fact, ECW’s show in Pine Bluff on Sunday was the organization’s first appearance in Arkansas.
“When we get to go somewhere that’s never seen us before, it’s a whole new excitement for us. That’s very motivating as an entertainer,” Van Dam said. “It’s a treat to have a crowd that’s so excited and they want to show us that they’ve been watching us on television and we’re impacting their lives. The kids are looking up to us, and maybe even wives are looking at some of us, I don’t know.”
Van Dam will team with Sabu to wrestle Big Show and “Hardcore” Holly in the featured tag team match of today’s eight-match card.
“Even if Fort Smith had been a routine stop for wrestling once a year over the last 20 years, this show will still blow them out of the water. ECW is extreme. It’s about being better and going that extra mile,” Van Dam said.
“It’s going to be that much more exciting to see us there.”
Source: http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2006...s/sports02.txt