John Cena On ECW One Night Stand Crowd: I Knew They Were Going To Be Salty, I Just Didn’t Know They Were Going To Be That Salty

John Cena reflects on competing at ECW One Night Stand in 2006 against Rob Van Dam, knowing that they would be salty.

At ECW One Night Stand 2006, Rob Van Dam would cash in his Money In The Bank briefcase for a WWE Championship match with John, where Cena would be undoubtedly the heel for the crowd in attendance. Cena would be booed relentlessly on that night, with the crowd very much in the corner of the ECW name in Rob Van Dam.

While speaking at the Tampa Comic Convention, John Cena was asked if he knew the crowd was going to be hostile.

“Was I expecting a hostile crowd? There are kids here, so I’m going to mind my language. I was absolutely effing expecting a hostile crowd. So the story there, if you guys don’t know, the company conglomerate of John Cena versus the ever underdog of ECW, me being the forever company man against ECW’s Rob Van Dam, ECW’s company man, but like ECW’s always an underdog. I did a monologue right before that match saying, if I lose, I will go down as the biggest goat in professional wrestling. Back then, goat meant a different thing. It meant that you sucked. The prediction turned out okay. I ended up one of the biggest goats in professional wrestling. So I kind of knew what I was talking about. But also just a situation where I kind of knew what I was walking into. That was one of the favorite environments that I’ve ever been in. Because any time that a performance is truly property of the audience, it becomes beautiful, and I guess that’s more how I perform. I’m more like a jazz musician, and any time the music just kind of takes you where you want to go, that’s where it’s beautiful. I’ve had moments where the audience is in control. The most recent one would be the AJ Styles match in Perth, where the audience was literally calling out spots, and we were able to be like, OK, I’ll try to hit a 619, or I’ll hit an RKO. It’s amazing when it becomes a product of all of us. ECW One Night Stand was a product of all of us. I got to have a wrestling match with a t-shirt that night. So I knew they were going to be salty. I just didn’t know they were going to be that salty.”

Elsewhere in the same appearance, Cena spoke about the favorite match of his pro wrestling career. You can read more about that here.

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