John Cena entered hostile territory at ECW One Night Stand 2006 when he faced Rob Van Dam at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
Cena put the WWE Championship on the line against RVD, one of the biggest stars in ECW history. A fan famously has a banner at the event that read, "If Cena Wins, We Riot."
In a new TikTok video, Cena looked back on the match.
"So, here's a moment that's probably most talked in my career in WWE; ECW: One Night Stand. Hammerstein Ballroom against Rob Van Dam where I had a championship match against Rob and an additional match against my t-shirt. Now, I knew the crowd was going to be hostile, but hostile does not even describe the atmosphere in the Hammerstein Ballroom. They love Rob and they hate me. This was probably the peak of polarization that would leak into the WWE for years when you hear the name John Cena. It was either 'he sucks' or 'he's my guy.' There was no one in this building saying 'he's my guy.' Rob and I went back and forth and you can see kind of a non virtuous side where I begin to push the boundaries of good and evil because I was trying everything and it seemed like the world was against me. Indeed, it was. Rob's talent absolutely shows in this match, but the world right here is against me as I'm speared through a table by Darth Vader aka my arch-nemesis Edge. Rob gets a championship moment, which is fantastic and Edge and I go on to do some incredible things in the WWE. What a night at the Hammerstein Ballroom. No one would ever call this to happen," he said.
@johncena #ECW: One Night Stand June 11, 2006 #wwe original sound - John Cena
RVD would hold the WWE Championship for 22 days before losing it to Edge in a triple threat match that also included Cena.
RVD dropped the title as he was suspended for 30 days due to an arrest for drug possession.
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