"It was beautiful"- John Cena on losing WWE title to Hall of Famer
John Cena recently reflected on his WWE title loss to Rob Van Dam at the 2006 ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view.
By 2006, Cena had comfortably positioned himself as WWE's top star. He eventually took on Rob Vam Dam in front of the most hostile crowd of his career.
'The Leader of the Cenation' lost the WWE title to RVD due to interference by his arch-rival Edge. During his recent appearance at Florida Supercon, John Cena looked back at the match. He found out about the outcome four hours ahead of the show:
"Four hours before the event [I found out I was losing the title] and it was beautiful. It was beautiful. It honestly was and I wouldn’t have it no other way. That’s a night that I cherish. It was fantastic," said Cena.
Hammerstein Ballroom hated John Cena that night
Hardcore ECW fans fully supported Rob Van Dam, and Cena received one of the loudest negative reactions of his career that night. Cena kept throwing his T-shirt at the crowd ahead of the match, and the fans infamously threw it back every time.
Fans insulted him with chants of "Fu** you, Cena," "Overrated," "Same old sh**," and "You can't wrestle." The hard-fought match ended with Edge coming out to deliver a massive Spear to Cena. Edge also attacked the referee, which led to Paul Heyman coming out and counting the pinfall.
On this day in sports history June 11, Rob Van Dam defeated John Cena in an Extreme Rules Match to become the new WWE Champion in the main event of ECW One Night Stand 2006. https://t.co/lzLBFZNTOc
The ECW locker room and Rob Van Dam celebrated with loud cheers from the crowd. The Hall of Famer successfully defended his belt against Edge at Vengeance 2006. On the July 3, 2006, edition of RAW, a Triple Threat match was scheduled for the WWE title. Cena, Edge, and RVD competed for the latter's belt, with Edge winning the title.
John Cena later became one of the most polarizing figures in WWE history, with fans regularly being divided in their reception to him. On that historic night, though, there was no doubt that every ECW fan wanted Cena to lose the belt.