When I was 14 years old, I absolutely loved watching ECW on TNN on Friday nights. As a kid who was bullied and never really hung out with friends in high school, I would sit home and catch up with my wrestling habit. Every week for a year and 1 month, I would sit in front of the TV and enjoy Extreme Championship Wrestling on prime time at 8 PM. For the most part, I dug what I saw. Stories were always advancing, combined with the gritty camera angles and music videos every week. However, it was the wrestling that always center stage within the realm of ECW.
Almost 14 years has passed since the death of ECW, and people keep talking about it. Honestly, it wasn’t so much about the wrestling, but the characters within the wrestling environment in the grand stage. Even though the wrestling might not have been the greatest due to the “accentuating the positives, hide the negatives” mentality, every wrestler had its own personal traits to them per their wrestling matches. The greatest athlete that had his flaws which I doubt the ECW fans EVER picked up on was “Mr. Pay-Per-View” ROB VAN DAM.
RVD was such a different kind of athlete in wrestling at that time period. In the world of ECW, where rules were very lax, Van Dam was able to have more freedom to expand his wrestling horizons in the ring. He was able to have no count outs, so he had the ability to hot dog with the crowds and taunt at will for a long period of time. RVD was also able to go long lengths in his matches without a format, especially in this day-and-age where, especially on television and pay-per-view, matches do not go over 20 minutes. He was going 30-35 minutes A NIGHT. Lastly, he was the most innovative user of the steel chair within his wrestling arsenal. Due to the ECW style, Van Dam could use a chair and easily use it to his advantage.
This leads to this edition of the Professional 3. Rob Van Dam single handedly took a wrestling maneuver in the year 2000 and, for the last time in recent memory, utilized it to get buys on pay-per-view for Heatwave 2000 on July 16, 2000: The VAN TERMINATOR.
Almost 14 years has passed since the death of ECW, and people keep talking about it. Honestly, it wasn’t so much about the wrestling, but the characters within the wrestling environment in the grand stage. Even though the wrestling might not have been the greatest due to the “accentuating the positives, hide the negatives” mentality, every wrestler had its own personal traits to them per their wrestling matches. The greatest athlete that had his flaws which I doubt the ECW fans EVER picked up on was “Mr. Pay-Per-View” ROB VAN DAM.
RVD was such a different kind of athlete in wrestling at that time period. In the world of ECW, where rules were very lax, Van Dam was able to have more freedom to expand his wrestling horizons in the ring. He was able to have no count outs, so he had the ability to hot dog with the crowds and taunt at will for a long period of time. RVD was also able to go long lengths in his matches without a format, especially in this day-and-age where, especially on television and pay-per-view, matches do not go over 20 minutes. He was going 30-35 minutes A NIGHT. Lastly, he was the most innovative user of the steel chair within his wrestling arsenal. Due to the ECW style, Van Dam could use a chair and easily use it to his advantage.
This leads to this edition of the Professional 3. Rob Van Dam single handedly took a wrestling maneuver in the year 2000 and, for the last time in recent memory, utilized it to get buys on pay-per-view for Heatwave 2000 on July 16, 2000: The VAN TERMINATOR.
That clip is incredible! What they do not show is before that move, the crowd was legitimately chanting “TERM-I-NAT-OR! *CLAP x 5* TERM-I-NAT-OR! *CLAP x 5*”! What RVD did showcased that when hyped properly, a move can mean something and that, if promoted the right way, can be incredibly special. Here is how ECW MADE the Van Terminator special.
1) THE BUILD UP TO IT – At ECW Hardcore Heaven 2000, RVD returned and had his first match back from a broken leg that he suffered from in February 2000 in Florida, to face off against Jerry Lynn, his greatest rival. Van Dam’s best friend Scotty Anton, who had come into ECW to watch his back from the rival Network, sold him out and actually cost RVD a rare pay-per-view loss.
RVD, who was incredibly embarrassed since “he doesn’t f****** lose” when it comes to pay-per-view, decided he was going to take matters into his own hands to face his former BFF and do whatever it took to destroy him. A few weeks later on ECW on TNN, RVD announced he had developed the ULTIMATE move to destroy Anton for his actions at Hardcore Heaven and at Heatwave 2000 in RVD’s new living quarters in Los Angeles, California; he was going to unveil the Van Terminator!
1) THE BUILD UP TO IT – At ECW Hardcore Heaven 2000, RVD returned and had his first match back from a broken leg that he suffered from in February 2000 in Florida, to face off against Jerry Lynn, his greatest rival. Van Dam’s best friend Scotty Anton, who had come into ECW to watch his back from the rival Network, sold him out and actually cost RVD a rare pay-per-view loss.
RVD, who was incredibly embarrassed since “he doesn’t f****** lose” when it comes to pay-per-view, decided he was going to take matters into his own hands to face his former BFF and do whatever it took to destroy him. A few weeks later on ECW on TNN, RVD announced he had developed the ULTIMATE move to destroy Anton for his actions at Hardcore Heaven and at Heatwave 2000 in RVD’s new living quarters in Los Angeles, California; he was going to unveil the Van Terminator!
2) THE HYPE – The one belief that I have behind wrestling finishers nowadays is that they are no longer protected by the promotion themselves. In a big match situation, you normally see guys kick out of someone’s ultimate finisher two, maybe three times a match. The end-all, be-all of a wrestling match, save the RKO of Randy Orton at times, is not as important as it once was. That is what made the hype of the Van Terminator so special. The way Paul Heyman marketed it through television, combined with the ability of RVD letting the world know it was coming through his interviews, made the Terminator look like it was worth checking out to see. For Christ sake, the fans were calling for it, and they've never seen the move before! If I was to develop a wrestling maneuver so I can avenge my best friend’s betrayal, you damn bet I’d hype it up like that too!
3) THE DELIVERY – RVD really took it to Anton throughout the entire match at Heatwave. Although Van Dam took a licking from his former best friend and newest member of “The Network”, the U.S. Male ultimately got a Van Daminator and a Five Star Frog Splash for his troubles. However, nothing that resembled what the Van Terminator was being described as took place.
Suddenly, an injured Scotty Anton rolled over into a leaning position in the turnbuckle area. Bill Alfonso grabbed a steel chair and placed it in front of the injured competitor. RVD went outside of the ring and stood at the opposite turnbuckle directly across. In one fell swoop, RVD springboarded to the top rope and proceeded to jump completely coast-to-coast. Once at the point of no return, Van Dam DROPKICKED the steel chair into the face of Anton. Like a 180 degree line, RVD unleashed the most vicious move in wrestling to that point: The Van Terminator. It can best be described as a springboard turnbuckle-to-turnbuckle front dropkick into a steel chair into his opponent. Absolutely breath-taking and awe-inspiring was that move. And yes, it definitely gave Anton his receipt for costing RVD a very important match on ECW PPV.
The Van Terminator was important to the dying days of ECW and wrestling. It showed that even in the toughest of times, Paul Heyman could still market a wrestling hold as important and have the fans actually chant to see it. Rob Van Dam showed that innovation was KEY to keeping his character absolutely different from everyone else in the Land of Extreme. And most of all, it showed that fans genuinely appreciate wrestling holds and how they are protected. These are all little examples of the lost art of pro wrestling inside the realm of the “sports entertainment” era.
Jon Harder
jon@thejonharder.com
Suddenly, an injured Scotty Anton rolled over into a leaning position in the turnbuckle area. Bill Alfonso grabbed a steel chair and placed it in front of the injured competitor. RVD went outside of the ring and stood at the opposite turnbuckle directly across. In one fell swoop, RVD springboarded to the top rope and proceeded to jump completely coast-to-coast. Once at the point of no return, Van Dam DROPKICKED the steel chair into the face of Anton. Like a 180 degree line, RVD unleashed the most vicious move in wrestling to that point: The Van Terminator. It can best be described as a springboard turnbuckle-to-turnbuckle front dropkick into a steel chair into his opponent. Absolutely breath-taking and awe-inspiring was that move. And yes, it definitely gave Anton his receipt for costing RVD a very important match on ECW PPV.
The Van Terminator was important to the dying days of ECW and wrestling. It showed that even in the toughest of times, Paul Heyman could still market a wrestling hold as important and have the fans actually chant to see it. Rob Van Dam showed that innovation was KEY to keeping his character absolutely different from everyone else in the Land of Extreme. And most of all, it showed that fans genuinely appreciate wrestling holds and how they are protected. These are all little examples of the lost art of pro wrestling inside the realm of the “sports entertainment” era.
Jon Harder
jon@thejonharder.com
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