WWE Legend Says John Cena Match Was ‘Pinnacle’ Of Career

A WWE legend has recalled a 2006 clash with John Cena, describing it as the “pinnacle” of his storied career inside the ring.

Well remembered almost 20 years later, ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view in 2006 marked not only the beginning of the extreme brand’s full revival under the WWE umbrella, but. also the night that Rob Van Dam finally reached the mountain top and won WWE’s biggest prize.

RVD cashed-in his Money in the Bank contract in advance to get the opportunity, rather than waiting for an opportune moment like Edge did the year before him – with the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City and a raucous ECW crowd providing more than enough of an advantage to ensure “The Whole F’N Show” walked out as champion.

Speaking with TMZ Inside the Ring, RVD described the match as his “crowning moment”:

“Yeah that was the highlight, the pinnacle, the moment of my career. Wrestling him and then of course in the finale beating him, 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 the way that I did it my way, you know?

“I feel like I changed the entire playing field to make that possible, otherwise that pathway wouldn’t have happened and I don’t know that there would have been another pathway that I would have fit on. But by bringing ECW back and being the guy in ECW, 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, and that was my moment of vindication, literally my crowning moment.”

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RVD was one of many legends in attendance for John Cena’s final WWE match at Saturday Night’s Main Event, and shared an embrace with his old rival before the bell.

To find out RVD’s reaction to Cena’s loss in his final match, follow this link here.

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