A Quote by Rob Van Dam

I came into ECW in Philadelphia in 1996 and left in 2001 - a much bigger, worldwide star than I arrived - and I thank ECW for that.

Rob Van Dam

Quote Topics

Arrived Bigger Came Left Much Philadelphia Star Than Thank Worldwide

Quote Author

Rob Van Dam
American - Wrestler
Born: December 18, 1970

For those of you who weren't a part of the era of ECW, understand, you're looking at the guy that made ECW what ECW was. So, simply put, I'm as close to royalty in this sport as it comes.

Shane Douglas

Philadelphia's awesome. It's one of my top home-away-from-homes. When I walk around on the streets there, people recognize me. They think I'm from Philadelphia, because I was there so much and because I'm so associated with Philadelphia through ECW.

Rob Van Dam

I had no desire to leave ECW, but in '95, I was reaching my mid 30s. I'd been the World Champ multiple times... I'd pretty much done everything in ECW - all I could do is repeat.

Shane Douglas

What I think ECW presented was a big opportunity for a lot of WWE superstars. Definitely me. It revitalized my entire career when I moved to ECW.

John Morrison

I was so deep in red ink coming out of ECW that I had to make a good solid living just to get my nose above the water line because of ECW.

Shane Douglas

I think ECW itself was a gimmick. I think getting the audience to chant ECW was really something. I don't care if you draw 70,000 people in a dome for Wrestlemania - nobody chants WWE.

Paul Heyman

I'm so confusing to wrestling promoters, and I'm used to that, but because I stayed in ECW and learned how to express myself the way, ah, that I could connect with my fans, it made my strong Rob Van Dam character uncompromising... and I owe that to ECW.

Rob Van Dam

Shane Douglas's work in the first 11 months as The Franchise of ECW was so groundbreaking. He made people forget about his on-air persona in WCW and successfully reinvented himself as The Franchise in ECW.

Paul Heyman

The whole concept of ECW was that the biggest star of the promotion was the promotion itself. It didn't matter if a persona was designed to elicit cheers or boos. It didn't matter if someone was an antagonist or protagonist. The whole concept was to fight for the honor of the cause. The cause was ECW itself.

Paul Heyman

I've been very close to Konnan for many years now. I thank him for much of my success in this industry. He opened the doors for me in AAA, ECW, and WCW. I'm very thankful.

Rey Mysterio

Really, I didn't even want to go to WWE in 2001. I knew that it wasn't my favorite style, my favorite showcasing of my abilities, but it was definitely the best business move. At the time, there was nowhere else to go anyway - ECW was gone, WCW was gone. So, when I first came in, I was seriously frustrated trying to adapt.

Rob Van Dam

I think initially with the ECW product it was a perfect place. Even though it was WWE's ECW, it was a perfect place for the young talent to kind of get their feet wet and figure out the lay of the land and to figure out how the WWE works and then you can transition better into Raw or SmackDown.

Lance Archer

Philadelphia is kind of like a Mecca for professional wrestling, especially the old ECW Arena down in South Philly. That's the place I always wanted to wrestle growing up, and I got that opportunity when I worked with Ring of Honor.

Seth Rollins

For me, Tommy Dreamer is ECW. There are other guys who did stuff there and other guys who made their careers there and made a name there, but Tommy Dreamer is ECW.

Tommaso Ciampa

ECW fans were original. They were part of the show. They were a big part of the show, and other fans in other towns in other countries would imitate the fans that were on ECW television.

Rob Van Dam

I was actually pissed off. I wanted to go my entire ECW career without winning titles. The only reason I won titles is because guys left.