Van Dam VS Cena at One Night Stand....AWESOME

[Dave at the Movies]

I just love how this match was set up and pulled off. I especially love Cena's entrance. He knew what role to play and him coming out with the belt over his head looking down while walking to the ring while getting spit on, flipped off, and booed was such an iconic image. I loved how it had a symbolic meaning where even though he stood for everything WWE stands for he was going to use that and not let the fans get to him.

Of course Batista wrestled in the same building a few weeks later against Big Show and got booed and there were tons of reports about how he acted like a baby backstage because of it. douche




When Cena comes out I love how the fans throw back his hat and shirt and he just plays with them for a bit. You can just tell that Heyman was the one that came up with this storyline because there is no way teh current WWE writers could pull off something this good today unless it involves someone like CM Punk who I am convinced writes his own promos and has a heavy influence on the writers when it comes to his character.

[Marty McFry]

I absolutely love the legit big fight feel of this match, gave me goosebumps at the time and still does now.

Even if the original plan was for Cena to retain im convinced they would have changed the finish on the fly because of that crowd.

WOW.

[Deleted]

Great match; kinda felt Van Dam phoned it in a little bit but Cena was awesome here.
I'm convinced that John Cena, if booked by Heyman in the old ECW, would've been an awesome character btw. As much as the ECW fans crapped on Cena, I imagine an ECW John Cena, booked to be violent and indestructable, with an edgier hip hop or Marine persona, would've been money in the older days.

[Johawn]

Wow. I've never seen this before, and just wow. I love how Cena deals with it all. I don't care if people don't like him, or if he's not Captain Workrate, the guy GETS IT.

[Dave at the Movies]

Jan 14, 2010 6:58:11 GMT -5 @irontyger said:

Great match; kinda felt Van Dam phoned it in a little bit but Cena was awesome here.
I'm convinced that John Cena, if booked by Heyman in the old ECW, would've been an awesome character btw. As much as the ECW fans crapped on Cena, I imagine an ECW John Cena, booked to be violent and indestructable, with an edgier hip hop or Marine persona, would've been money in the older days.

His Thuganomics gimmick with more of a hardcore edge would have been huge in the old ECW. I mean if Public Enemy could get over with their watered down hip hop gimmick I don't see why Thuganomics wouldn't have. Especially since a lot of the things that made the Thuganomics gimmick good were hip hop rap influences from the 90s such as the chain with the lock on his neck and the jerseys and pump shoes.

Jan 14, 2010 7:02:09 GMT -5 Johawn said:

Wow. I've never seen this before, and just wow. I love how Cena deals with it all. I don't care if people don't like him, or if he's not Captain Workrate, the guy GETS IT.

Yeah this was one of the things that really made me respect Cena as a worker. He knew what role he had to play and did it perfectly. He never broke down and started heeling on the crowd. He stuck to the obvious plan of staying WWE-face and doing all his trademark stuff like the five knuckle shuffle with the fans booing all the way.

[Jackson "The Cool" Carter]

"Same old shit! Same old shit!"

Cena does a new move

"You still suck! You still suck!"

Great

[Solid Stryk-Dizzle]

The match that made Cena my favorite guy on the roster. I love it.

[johnnyk9]

I loved being there live, never felt better engery at a wrestling event, Vince can't pump crowds like this up anymore

[kennerado]

this is whats missing today, wrestler's with a home town advantage.

The problem I had with this show was the crowd seemed mostly full of people that watched the ECW DVD and the first ONS. Not many original fans were there.

During the first ONS I think fans actually chanted "f*** John Cena!" at one point.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

I bet Heyman just went up to Cena prior to the show and told him that the fans will hate him out there.

[WinOwensWin]

The match was one of the best of the year. The crowd and the atmosphere of everything really made that match. Edge coming in at the end and spearing Cena was tremendous.

[VersionOne]

I loved the first two ONS! Not because it was ECW because I never saw it while they were in business outside of half an episode on the end of a tape someone recorded for me and I vaguely remember a clip WWF used to use of Al Snow with an ECW ring been filled with Styrofoam heads. (I might be making that up, I don't know) Anyway, I've got side tracked.

I loved them shows because they had a totally different feel to them and the crowd was a big part of that.

WWE show all seem the same and generic now, there's nothing to differentiate between the brands and more importantly, PPV's. I think TV would really benefit from smaller arenas, people would feel more compelled to shout scream and holler and I think chants are more infectious with a smaller group. Much more excitement on TV will make more people want to go live shows for that same experience they see every week. Keep the PPV's in large arenas so they and they'll instantly have a "Big Time" feel compared to TV.

Even as a short term measure to reignite crowds... because I honestly think a lot of fans have forgotten how to be proper rowdy mob (if that's possible) because we all know More People = More Money and Vince ain't gonna loose money if he doesn't have to.

[Greer]

Huge props to Cena here and one of the reasons he has so much respect outside of the ring. True Professional. He didn't start throwing a tantrum like Batista did. He went out there, knew he wasn't going to be liked and ran with it.

One of my favorite images is of Cena walking down the ailse with his head down, holding the title in the air with the rabid fans wanting to murder him. Great picture.

I always wonder what would have happened if someone who is really hated like a HHH was in attendance. Not trying to get on HHH, but I have a feeling the fans would have rioted had he shown his face.

[neal]

This was the last great ECW moment.

I find it hard to dislike ANY wrestler on the current WWE or TNA roster, and seeing matches like this is the reason. Today's talents are as good (in some cases better) as any other generations, problem is that they're restricted by how the business is run today to make themselves truly memorable like the heroes and villians of the old days.

[stormwrestling]

Crowd was awesome that night

[TheDieselTrain]

Jan 14, 2010 7:05:17 GMT -5 Jackson "The Cool" Carter said:

"Same old s***! Same old s***!"

Cena does a new move

"You still suck! You still suck!"

Great

I LOVED it when that guy wiped his ass with cena's shirt and threw it back at him. That was classic!!!!!!!!!

[charlesmc206]

I absolutly adore this match. I seem to recall a bunch of people on this board this hating on the crowd for being so disrespectful of Cena (With the "If Cena wins we Riot" sign etc.), but that's what made the match so awesome. The WWE can't reproduce an atmosphere like that if they tried.

[nerdinitupagain]

Jan 14, 2010 12:27:50 GMT -5 @charlesmc206 said:

I absolutly adore this match. I seem to recall a bunch of people on this board this hating on the crowd for being so disrespectful of Cena (With the "If Cena wins we Riot" sign etc.), but that's what made the match so awesome. The WWE can't reproduce an atmosphere like that if they tried.

Eh, there's groups of people on here that would hate on anything if people liked it.

That was such an awesome night. Not just the Van Dam match, there was good matches that. Sabu/Mysterio is still one of my favorites.

[Shogun316]

i remember when RVD won, it was sureal

[The Ichi]

This is why I'll always defend "smarky" crowds. I don't care, they add the atmosphere and thus make the matches way better.