It is true when wrestlers say that the live audience chooses the superstar they want to see, they always let their thoughts be known and set the tone of the matches. The same happened with John Cena when the ECW crowd despised him as the WWE Champion at ECW: One Night Stand pay-per-view back in 2006.
WWE held the PPV as a reunion show for the former Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, the assets to which WWE gained in 2003. Here, superstars of Raw, SmackDown, and ECW were involved.
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The capacity crowd of 2,460 people was bored of John Cena and his preachings of Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect. The crowd wanted to see one of the ECW originals – Rob Van Dam win the WWE Championship from Cena that night.
Kurt Angle talks about the night when Rob Van Dam won the championship against John Cena
Kurt on his podcast, The Kurt Angle Show, talked about the hostile crowd that attended the ‘One Night Stand’ PPV. When asked about his opinion on RVD winning the championship that night he said that it should’ve happened earlier.
He further added that RVD’s accolades were so good in WWE and ECW, and he had such a loyal audience for over 10 years that his championship win felt like a moment that was long overdue.
“I got along well with Rob; we were great friends. I thought that Rob should have gotten the chance four years prior. I think that he was hot as a wrestler. He always was, whether it was ECW or WWE. And I think they gave him this opportunity that night and he proved it.
“I think he should have done this years prior. He just had so much talent and what he was able to do with the ECW crowd was amazing.” Kurt continued.
The ECW crowd is one of the hottest crowd in pro wrestling. During the main event, one sign caught everyone’s eye. Why? Well, because it read – “If Cena wins we riot”.
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Eventually, RVD won the match via pinfall when he hit Cena with a ‘Five-Star Frog Splash’ and Paul Heyman counted one-two-three!
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