Sabu and Rob Van Dam Sabu and Rob Van Dam are professional wrestlers who often competed as a tag team in Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment ' s " ECW " brand . While teaming in the original ECW , the duo was managed by Bill Alfonso . Career . ECW ( 1996 - 2000 ) . Sabu and Rob Van Dam first met in December 1989 and became close friends . The pair started out as enemies in ECW when Van Dam debuted in 1996 . Both men were trained by Sabu ' s uncle , The Original Shiek , and fans wanted to see them face each other since they both utilized high - flying , daredevil techniques . In 1997 , they eventually became a tag team as they went for the ECW World Tag Team Championship . At ECW Barely Legal , Bill Alfonso betrayed Taz and joined Sabu and Van Dam . Four months later , Van Dam helped Sabu beat Terry Funk in a barbed wire match to capture the ECW World title . After Sabu lost the belt in a three - way dance with Terry Funk and Shane Douglas at ECW Hardcore Heaven 1997 , Sabu and Van Dam joined Jerry " The King " Lawler in his crusade to " kill " ECW . When the crusade ultimately failed , Sabu eventually set his sights on Bam Bam Bigelow ' s ECW TV title . So Bill Alfonso helped schedule a match between Bigelow and Van Dam , so that the latter could " soften " Bigelow before Sabu would face him at Wrestlepalooza 1998 . When Sabu interfered in the match , however , he " accidentally " helped Van Dam win the title , so the two then faced each other at Wrestlepalooza . The match ended in a 30 - minute draw , preventing title from changing hands . A month later , the two captured the ECW Tag Team titles when they defeated Chris Candido and Lance Storm . As champions , Sabu and Van Dam took on all challengers including Jinsei Shinzaki and Hayabusa at Heatwave 1998 in Dayton , Ohio . They lost the titles to the Dudley Boyz in October 1998 ; however , yet they went on to win them back from the Dudleyz in December . After they lost the titles again to the Dudleyz , The Impact Players formed and started to attack Sabu and Van Dam . When Sabu broke his jaw , the Impact Players had him eventually banned because of his injury and because he was too " dangerous " or " violent . " Sabu returned , and after his loss to Justin Credible at Anarchy Rulz 1999 , Sabu started to attack Van Dam because he was still jealous that Van Dam was the TV Champion ; they would face each other at Guilty as Charged 2000 . Sabu proclaimed before the match that if he could not win the belt , he would leave ECW . That night , Van Dam defeated Sabu with the Five Star Frog Splash , forcing Sabu leave the company . WWE ( 2005 - 2007 ) . Several years after ECW folded , Sabu and Rob Van Dam reunited at World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) produced ECW One Night Stand in 2005 , when Van Dam helped Sabu defeat another former ECW wrestler , Rhyno . When ECW became the third WWE brand ( to RAW and SmackDown ) , Van Dam and Sabu became a major part of the show and teamed on several occasions , including an " Extreme Rules " match against Test and Mike Knox on September 5 , 2006 . The team also became part of the ECW Originals stable in 2006 which feuded with the New Breed . On March 31 , 2007 , Sabu and Van Dam inducted The Original Sheik into the WWE Hall of Fame . The following night , at WrestleMania 23 , the ECW Originals defeated the New Breed but continued battling them into spring . In May 2007 , Sabu was released from WWE . Van Dam ' s WWE contract expired in June 2007 , and he chose not to renew it . TNA ( 2010 ) . On August 8 , 2010 , Sabu returned to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ( TNA ) at Hardcore Justice , where he was defeated by Van Dam in the main event of the evening . Sabu and Van Dam both then went on to join EV 2 . 0 , a stable consisting of former ECW wrestlers . On the October 21 edition of " TNA Impact ! " Sabu and Rob Van Dam were defeated in a tag team match by Beer Money , Inc . ( James Storm and Robert Roode ) , after Sabu accidentally hit his own partner with a chair . After the match Van Dam and Sabu began shoving each other , before being broken up by the rest of EV 2 . 0 . In November 2010 Sabu was released from TNA .