10 Best Rivalries In ECW History

2. Rob Van Dam vs. Sabu

We’ve seen the “partners who struggle to co-exist” trope on this list already with Candido and Storm, but the ultimate examples of frenemies in ECW were Sabu and RVD! The two had crossed paths as early as 1989, but met for the first time under Paul Heyman’s employ in 1996, where they had a series of epic matches across the Summer. They would spend the next three years as on-again, off-again tag team partners, under the managerial watch of Bill Alfonso. 

They won the tag team titles twice and Van Dam helped Sabu win the ECW World Heavyweight belt, but that didn’t stop them from wrestling each other on multiple occasions, including for RVD’s Television Championship. Because of their real-life close ties - both were trained by Sabu’s uncle - the original Shiek - it was always so believable whenever these two worked together, either as bitter enemies or cherished chums. 

The matches were usually pretty good, provided Sabu didn’t almost kill himself by botching something, but it was the underlying story that always made these two risk-takers so entertaining to watch.