10 John Cena Matches You Should Watch Again
4. Vs Rob Van Dam - One Night Stand 2006
Showing ultimate professionalism and understanding of his position on an historic night, Cena's performance at the ECW relaunch Pay-Per-View was a masterclass in dealing with crowd hostilities.
Playing the hand they were certain to get dealt, Van Dam and Cena worked a well-paced WWE style main event, but did so with enough subtlety and nuance to fool the red hot partisan Hammerstein Ballroom crowd.
Immortalised with the ginormous "If Cena Wins We Riot" banner hanging from the balcony, the match was filled with striking visuals and memorable set pieces that fuelled the toxicity levelled at Cena and love and support heaped upon Van Dam as the conqueror.
The unending game of catch played with the Champion's t-shirt was hilarious (and magnificently handled on-the-fly by Cena), the working in of his very WWEised signature spots generated nuclear venom from the capacity crowd, and the shocking 'Thank You Edge' chants levelled at the fellow glitzy WWE stalwart after his run-in only highlighted the audience's genuine panic over a possible victory for their sworn nemesis.
Embracing the guttural hatred of the fans, Cena worked their reactions into the match with unmatched aplomb. A future disaster between Batista and The Big Show in the same venue months later would highlight this further.