Rob Van Dam has recalled an early conversation with Vince McMahon that left him questioning the former WWE chairman’s understanding of ECW’s legacy.
Speaking on Inside The Ropes, RVD said the two were discussing ideas for the revived ECW pay-per-view when McMahon dismissed concerns about preserving what made the original product special.
“I was talking to him like early on about, you know, doing the ECW Pay-Per-View. And, I said… I was saying something about one of his ideas that I didn’t like or something. And he was like, ‘Oh Rob, nobody remembers the old ECW.'”
Van Dam said he immediately challenged McMahon’s view by pointing to the passionate support ECW still received from wrestling fans.
“I said, ‘Why do you think that people are chanting E-C-Dub! E-C-Dub in every building, every night?'”
According to RVD, McMahon credited WWE’s ECW DVD releases for keeping the chants alive rather than the brand’s enduring popularity.
“He said, he actually said this, he said, ‘We trained them to do that with the DVD.’ He actually said that.”
Looking back, Rob Van Dam admitted he was never fully convinced that McMahon truly saw ECW as a viable third brand and wondered if the revival was destined to fail from the outset.
“Maybe he thought that he could have a successful third brand, but I’ve always kind of felt like… like, I mean, did he bring it back to destroy it?”
RVD said one particular moment reinforced his doubts about McMahon’s intentions.
“One of the moments when I knew it was gone, also, was when he was the ECW Champion. I was suspicious. (Laughs) I was very suspicious of his intentions at that point.”
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