Rob Van Dam and Sabu started out as enemies in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), when Rob Van Dam debuted in 1996.
In 1996, 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 Van Dam and Sabu. Four months later, Van Dam helped Sabu beat Terry Funk in a barbed wire match to capture the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. After Sabu lost the belt in a three-way dance with Terry Funk and Shane Douglas at ECW Hardcore Heaven, Sabu and Van Dam joined Jerry Lawler in his crusade to "kill" ECW. When the crusade ultimately failed, Sabu eventually set his sights on Bam Bam Bigelow's ECW World Television Championship. 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 thirty-minute draw, preventing the title from changing hands. A month later, the two captured the ECW World Tag Team Championship when they defeated Chris Candido and Lance Storm. As champions, Sabu and Van Dam took on all challengers including Jinsei Shinzaki and Hayabusa at Heat Wave 1998 in Dayton, Ohio. They lost the titles to The Dudley Boyz in October 1998; however, they went on to win them back from the Dudleyz in December.
After they lost the titles again to The Dudley Boyz, 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 ECW World Television Champion, and 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 to leave the company.
Several years after ECW folded, Rob Van Dam and Sabu reunited at the 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, Van Dam and Sabu inducted The 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, ending the partnership once again.