WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam has described performing in front of Extreme Championship Wrestling audiences as highly intimidating. The comments came during a recent appearance on WWE Retrospective.
Van Dam made his ECW debut in January 1996 and rose to become one of the promotion's biggest stars. He also competed in the main event of ECW's final pay-per-view in January 2001.
He recalled the pressure of wrestling before the passionate but demanding ECW fans. "It was very intimidating to wrestle in front of that crowd," Van Dam said. "They're just waiting for you to slip so they could say 'You f***** up, you f***** up.'"
Van Dam also discussed turning heel during an early 1996 match against Sabu. He noted that he initially resisted the idea to avoid alienating fans but later recognized the value of reading the moment.
