“We Had Real Riots”- Tommy Dreamer Reveals Safety Concerns for John Cena After Rob Van Dam Match in ECW

WWE Superstars are accustomed to crowds that may or may not like them and these fans often tend to be vocal about it during promos or even matches. Booing a heel is one thing, but booing a babyface means everything has gone wrong somewhere.

Roman Reigns found himself in those situations plenty of times during his run to the top a few years ago, but no one faced a more hostile crowd than John Cena back in 2006 at ECW’s One Night Stand event.

ECW was a promotion made up of die-hard fans who grew deadly loyal to the brand and its hardcore matches that never failed to entertain.

The bond of fans with its star was strong and the fact that a WWE Champion was heading onto their turf made it an all out war. 

John Cena locked horns with Rob Van Dam for the WWE Championship, and the fan reaction was hostile to say the least.

Speaking on the latest edition of WWE Icons, ECW legend Tommy Dreamer recalled how Cena’s safety was in question during and after the fight. 

“There was a fear for John Cena’s safety that night because in ECW we had real riots,” Dreamer revealed. “Let’s get John Cena out of there safely.”

Despite being a babyface Champion, Cena was booed wildly by the crowd and was cursed by the limited house audience, that sounded like a stadium. 

ECW Fans did not let John Cena off the hook

“You Can’t Wrestle” and “F**k You Cena” were chanted repeatedly. Thankfully, Cena lost the title to RVD, who managed to pin his opponent after a huge interference by Edge.

Fans were immediately grateful towards ‘The Rated-R Superstar’ and began chanting ‘Thank You Edge’. 

Rob Van Dam’s win was greeted with a thunderous set of cheers from the audience. That definitely would have brought the place down if the result turned out any different. This one match marked one of the greatest and most dynamic nights in ECW history. 

John Cena has been on the receiving end of boos plenty of times in his careers, but even he was probably shaken by the crowd that night that was on the verge if becoming a mob. 

Needless to say, it is quite entertaining to head back and re-watch that match once in a while, and just shudder at the thought of what could have happened if John Cena had won.