"I really looked at it defensively" - 52-year-old WWE Hall of Famer says Vince McMahon made a mockery of a popular brand
Vince McMahon has often sided with his products and superstars in sports entertainment over talent from different brands and promotions. Recently, ECW legend RVD discussed McMahon's run as the ECW Champion and thought the boss was mocking the brand with his choices.
In 2007, Vince McMahon ended his feud with Donald Trump at WrestleMania 23. After being humiliated by Trump, McMahon went to the newly rebooted ECW brand alongside Shane McMahon and Umaga to feud with Trump's representative Bobby Lashley.
During his time on the extreme brand, he won the ECW Championship on two occasions. Speaking to Steve Fall on Ten Count, RVD spoke about McMahon's run on the brand and the choices he made for the brand:
"At the time, I really looked at it defensively from ECW, you know, I thought he's making a mockery of ECW. I thought he might have even brought ECW back just to destroy it, you know, because he didn't like the fans chanting EC-Dub. He took credit for it and said he trained them to chant. EC-Dub during the shows." (From 32:17 to 32:40)
RVD revealed that McMahon toned down the budget and the extreme aspect of the show. This subsequently caused the rebooted brand to lose steam and numbers after a while.
RVD expressed what he liked about Vince McMahon's run as ECW Champion in WWE
In 2006, WWE gave ECW another chance to become a thriving brand similar to RAW and SmackDown. The hardcore show returned for weekly programming under WWE.
However, it ended in less than five years and WWE has stopped acknowledging the rebooted version of the show. In the same interview, RVD spoke about what he liked about Vince McMahon as the ECW Champion:
"One, I thought Vince looked really cool in the rag. I did... And I loved working with him. I had a match with him, there were three against one. I don't know if you remember that or not. It's probably where that picture came from." (From 33:49 to 34:18)
RVD once faced Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, and Umaga in a three-on-one handicapped match and lost.
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If you use quotes from this article, please credit Ten Count and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.