25 Greatest "Martial Arts" Wrestlers Ever

7. Rob Van Dam

Style: Kickboxing, Bloodsporting, Time Copping It's easy to forget that in his youth, Rob was a virtual facsimile of early 90's box office sensation Jean-Claude Van Damme. Owing perhaps to their differing recreational drug preferences, RVD has mellowed to the point of indolence. 2015 Rob Van Dam has the most formulaic matches this side of Hulk Hogan. He does his five or six signature spots, and he does them sloooooowly, but it wasn't always that way. He'd come to the ring in a gi jacket, wrestling with taped bare feet. Even when he transitioned into his more familiar airbrushed-singlet-and-kickpads form, his offense revolved around innovate strikes. If you want a perfect encapsulation of the evolution of RVD's style, consider this: one of his biggest spots has always been pointing to himself and saying his name, but at least he used to throw a roundhouse kick on the last syllable.
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Long-time fan (scholar?) of professional wrestling, kaiju films and comparative mythology. Aspiring two-fisted adventurer.