In this “Moves of Doom Mondays” we’re looking at Rob Van Dam, a wrestler who had more moves than you could shake a Sheik at but still had his trusty moves of doom.
Rolling Thunder
Rob Van Dam’s Rolling Thunder, a roll into a senton atomico on the mat, didn’t look like it had the greatest impact and was a flashy move that took a while to do. However, considering that many said that RVD was heavier than he seemed, there’s some crushing power to this move. It seemed more effective when a chair was in play.
DOOM Scale: 2 out of 5
Chair Surf
This is kind of like a quick-deploy version of the Van Daminator where Rob Van Dam does theatrics as if the chair was a skateboard, hops on as if riding a surfboard or skateboard, and dropkick said chair into someone’s face. I dig this move a lot since it doesn’t require extra assistance from the outside.
If anything, it was created just for those kinds of situations as RVD didn’t always have Bill Alfonso with him in different promotions.
DOOM Scale: 3 out of 5
Van Daminator
For ECW, RVD’s Van Daminator would’ve made for a tremendous finisher. It was one of The Whole F’N Show’s quick-deploy signatures where he would just throw the chair at his opponent knowing they were alert enough to catch it. However, Rob Van Dam was quick enough to catch them with a spinning kick into the chair as they were rarely alert enough to dodge.
Jerry Lynn? Yes, he was alert enough to dodge. He and RVD faced each other to the point where they had each other well scouted. I believe that one reason the Van Daminator wasn’t his finisher is that RVD really had a number of moves that could’ve been finishers and were either signatures or just part of his arsenal.
DOOM Scale: 4 out of 5
Van Terminator
This is the original article for Van Dam’s Chair Surf move. The opponent is prone in the corner. A steel chair is placed in front of their face and RVD springs from the top rope—not even the turnbuckle—clears the length of the ring and drops the chair into his opponent’s face.
Now, the only problem with this move is that either the opponent has to hold the chair in place for this move that—again—takes a while to set up and do or a manager or second has to hold the chair in place.
Honestly, having the manager hold the chair makes more sense and doesn’t seem as obvious. Regardless, the impact of Rob Van Dam dropkicking the chair, the athletic theatrics of him clearing the ring and the visual of the opponent’s vision of the oncoming attack being blocked makes this a pretty damn devastating move!
DOOM Scale: 4.25 out of 5
Rob Van Dam and the Five-Star Frog Splash
Finally, we’re Mr. Monday Night’s most iconic finisher: the Five-Star Frog Splash. Honestly, there’s not much to say about it. If you’ve seen a Frog Splash, it’s not the most complex or involved move to explain and wrestlers have a variety of different ways to perform it.
As for Rob Van Dam, his Frog Splash was straight-up impact. Just like with the Rolling Thunder, RVD is a heavy dude of mostly muscle but appears to be pretty damn light—and moved like it as well.
However, the height and distance he would get on this move in his prime were incredible. He would come down on opponents like an ACME anvil on Wile E. Coyote. Add that in with putting people through tables or Frog Splashing onto chairs and ladders and the danger level on this pretty stock high-flying move gets ramped up significantly.
DOOM Scale: 4.5 out of 5
CHECK IT OUT: To get The Overtimer’s Hottest Stories, Breaking News and Special Features in your email, CLICK HERE!
