WWE Hall of Famer and ECW legend Rob Van Dam was a recent guest on Ryan Satin’s Out Of Character program to discuss his WWE championship victory over John Cena from ECW One Night Stand, a moment RVD refers to as his crowning moment in wrestling. Highlights can be found below.
How ECW was adult themed and presented a much different product:
One time I saw ECW, and I was so drawn to the car crash appeal of it. I saw Sabu jump off a chair in the middle of the ring up to the top rope in the middle and dive off into the crowd. I saw a ball of fire go out of the tiny, under the guard rail, into the crowd. Everything I was seeing, it was almost like—how is that ‘pro wrestling’ if what I’ve been doing is pro wrestling? It was intimidating because it was all adults, no kids, and they all wore black shirts and listened to this hard rock music. It was so adult-themed, you know. I was glued to it.
Says winning the WWE championship at ECW One Night Stand was his crowning moment:
That was my crowning moment, obviously, and not just because I reached a number one spot, having the WWE Championship. There’s so much more to it than that because that moment, that night, all of that, was me sticking to my guns. I went to Vince [McMahon] with the idea of bringing ECW back for a pay-per-view because I said you got so many guys wrestling on your roster right now that are former ECW alumni. And we loved ECW, we could go one night, ECW style, just let us pay tribute to ECW. And so knowing that I was fighting for what I believed in and everybody, everyone in that crowd… they were so 100% behind me, my beliefs, everything that I stood for. They shared that passion with me and they were 100% against everything that Cena stood for in their mind. So it was really a [one of a kind night] out of my whole career experience. Winning that night really felt like a victory, not just for me but for all the hardcore fans, it really did. It felt like everyone that had been supportive back in the day of ECW, that had continued to support the ECW alumni, everyone that really preferred and missed that style, they were all rewarded that night.
(H/T and transcribed by WrestleZone)