Former WWE Superstar Rob Van Dam, also known as RVD, recently spoke about his most memorable match during an interview with Chris Van Vliet.
RVD, who had many memorable matches during his WWE career, said that the one match fans ask him about the most is his bout with John Cena at ECW One Night Stand 2006. This was the night RVD cashed in his Money In The Bank contract for a title shot against Cena and won the WWE Championship.
The match was held at the legendary Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, which was Rob Van Dam’s home crowd, and the audience’s reaction was unique. It was one of the rare occasions when John Cena was decidedly the villain, and RVD was the crowd favorite. The crowd’s passionate reaction was unexpected yet magical, and they were cheering for RVD to win the match. The former champion said that the match was great, and Cena was great with that crowd. He also added that he believed that Cena was looking forward to the match and had fun with it. He said,
“The one match would probably be when I beat John Cena at ECW One Night Stand and won the championship belts. Which if they asked me, I’d bring it up. If they asked me what my favorite match was, [I’d mention it] because first off, the match itself was in my opinion, great. I loved the match. Obviously Cena is great. He was great with that crowd. The crowd was incredible. One of a kind crowd.
[It was an] irreplaceable moment, besides all of that, it’s like ‘What was my story, my build up, going into that particular match?’ Everything since 96. Maybe even before that, if you were to add the history. So for those reasons. Me and every fan in that building, we were all fighting for what I believed in, in my heart, and what got me all the way up to that point. That’s why they all wanted to see the match go the way it did and see Cena go down, or they would riot.”
Further emphasizing the unpredictability and role of the crowd in the match, RVD said,
“I don’t think anybody could have known exactly how that crowd was gonna be first off, to put that out there. I didn’t. I knew for sure that was my home. I knew that they were with me. That was my building. But I couldn’t have predicted that they were gonna feel so much that way. They’re gonna be like ‘No! F**k your T-shirt’ and throw it back. You see me laughing when you watch that.
I thought that was funny and great. What are the chances that a fan that could have a John Cena shirt, because they’re all real fans at heart, will do that? Then boom, second guy does it again, third guy wipes his ass with it. It’s like, ‘Holy crap. This is great,’ But I had no idea it was gonna be like that. John knew that he was in for a rough night, He was gonna get sh*t on a lot. He knew that. He’s just super cool. I really think he was looking forward to the match. I think that he had fun with it. I know I did.”
The match between RVD and John Cena at ECW One Night Stand 2006 will go down in history as one of the most memorable bouts in WWE history. Fans will always remember the unique crowd reaction and the incredible moment when RVD became the new WWE Champion.