Rob believes the key to One Night Stand being a success is making it as authentic as possible.
That means production values as low as the in-ring quality is high, a red-hot crowd with lofty standards, everything taken to the extreme and, most importantly, Paul Heyman calling the shots.
Although that flies in contrast to recent events on Raw and Smackdown, which has seen the PPV built around an invasion by Eric Bischoff, Kurt Angle and a group of non-ECW wrestlers.
All of which makes RVD angry.
"Those guys are definitely not going to be drawing the ratings for this PPV," he storms.
"They are definitely not selling any seats. Nobody's coming to see them and they have no business being there.
"The original plan was to have only ECW alumni on this show.
"There is no place for somebody pretending they're hardcore when they were never there, whether they've got a sledgehammer in their hand or not!
"The WWE writers are taking part in the show, but us true hardcore ECW guys will vote out anything ridiculous they try to add to it.
"The fans can feel secure in the fact that this is totally going to be ECW for the ECW crowd.
"Regardless of what you read on the Internet, this show is all about Paul Heyman and it has to be.
"Even if the WWE only give Paul one tenth of the say so, then we're all going to carry out his plans anyway - because we agree with him.
"That's what sets us apart from the rest of the locker room!"
For those that don’t know, the Tiger Mask character was based on a Japanese cartoon, so Misawa stepping out of that and becoming the best wrestler in his country would be kind of like Chris Benoit doing a Darkwing Duck gimmick and then becoming the Chris Benoit we all mark over. - AWC
Any questions as to why RVD has never held the world title are erased with this attitude. "That's what sets us apart from the rest of the locker room"? Threatening to subvert the script if Heyman tells him to?
The respect for Heyman is evident and admirable, but he's forgetting who pays his bills and who has paid his bills for a long time. He definitely could have made the same point -- that an ECW PPV should *be* and ECW PPV -- without the attitude. No wonder he's always finding himself in the doghouse and never got a world title run.
The attitude (at least in public interviews, don't know about in the locker room) came out *after* it was clear he'd never get a run on top. I have a hard time imagining RVD saying the things he's said had he either: a) been a world title holder, or b) been in line for such a push. As it is, he'll never be allowed a run on top, so this is his way of venting his frustrations.
He does have a bit of a point. The invasion angle they have going is going overboard, and it’s pulling the spotlight away from the actual ECW guys. When you have Nunzio called out to represent ECW and get squashed, how does that make the ECW product look like it’s worth buying a PPV for?
"When did they pass a law that says the people who make my sandwich have to be wearing gloves? I'm not comfortable with this. I don't want glove residue all over my food; it's not sanitary. Who knows where these gloves have been?" - George Carlin