Rob Van Dam was one of the most charismatic wrestlers of his time. He was talented in the ring, and he could work the crowd like no other.
Even though his WWE stint didn’t pan out the way fans expected, Rob Van Dam still left his mark there. He was a generational talent, having great matches against the likes of Sabu, Kurt Angle, and more.
Recently, RVD did an interview with TMZ’s Inside The Ring, where he talked about the biggest moment of his career.
Rob Van Dam Says Beating John Cena At One Night Stand 2006 Was The Pinnacle Of His Career
Rob Van Dam and John Cena wrestled at ECW One Night Stand 2006 in an Extreme Rules match for the WWE Championship. It was the main event of the night, and fans weren’t disappointed when RVD dethroned Cena to become the new World Champion.
Speaking to TMZ’s Inside The Ring, Rob Van Dam called this moment the “highlight” of his career. This was the second One Night Stand event WWE did in the 2000s. Here’s what the legend said about this match, and his victory (h/t WrestlePurists):
“That was the highlight, the pinnacle, the moment of my career. Wrestling him and then also of course beating him and walking away the victor.
It wasn’t just because he was the top guy, WWE Champion, and that’s every wrestler’s goal. It wasn’t just because of that. Obviously that had a lot of weight to it, but also just the way that I did it my way. I feel like I changed the entire playing field to make that possible. Otherwise, I don’t think that pathway would have happened. And I don’t know that there would have been another pathway that I would have fit on.
By bringing ECW back and by being the guy in ECW, and then just sticking to my guns, even though for 30-some years people have been trying to change me and make me conform to more traditional cookie-cutter values, I just stuck to my guns being different, even though not as many people understood me. That was my moment of vindication. Literally my crowning moment. I wonder if John gets asked about that match nearly as much as I do.”
RVD won the match after Edge interfered and attacked John Cena. The referee was down towards the end, so Paul Heyman (ex-ECW owner) had to run to the ring and count the pin himself. It was one of the most controversial match finishes in WWE history at that time.
In another interview with TMZ, Van Dam said he was going to be a part of John Cena’s retirement tour, but an injury changed this plan.
Ishaan Sharma has been following wrestling ever since he was 8. That was over a decade ago. He loves to write about this pretend sport and has worked with online publications such as Sportskeeda and TheSportster, where he shared his insights about the wrestling business.