Kurt Angle Says “I Knew He Would Be A Huge Star Down The Road” When Talking John Cena

By Brady Alexander Last updated Jun 27, 2022

John Cena made his WWE debut against Kurt Angle.

Tonight on Monday Night Raw, John Cena will return to WWE to celebrate 20 years passing since his debut and Speaking with TV Insider, Kurt Angle reflected on that day in 2002 and what he said the John Cena after their first match.

I liked what they had him do. I thought his response to me and the whole ‘Ruthless Aggression’ response was perfect. He had that written all over him. It was a good idea for them to basically start that whole era with John Cena. I remember him saying those two words and slapping me in the face like he wasn’t scared of anybody. I think that gave him a lot of traction to become a bigger superstar, I could have a match with a broomstick. That was what a lot of the wrestlers would say about me. I guess they knew Cena would have a guaranteed great match with me because it was me. Cena did step up. There was a point in time in that match where I kept on him. I stayed with him. I wanted to test him to see if he had the conditioning to stay with me. And he did. He kept up with me the whole time. We went hard for 12 minutes. We didn’t have any pause. It was high throttle the whole time. He proved to me he was a very well-conditioned athlete. All I said was, ‘You stepped up tonight. It was a great match.’ He said, ‘Thank you, Mr. Angle, for working with me. I really do appreciate it’ He was very respectful. I knew this kid was very special from the first time I got in the ring and after I got done wrestling him, I knew he would be a huge star down the road, [John will be remembered as] the most successful WWE superstar of all time. He has won 16 world titles, and they are all WWE world titles. Nobody else has done that. John was able to accomplish that. I wouldn’t say he is the greatest wrestler of all time. There are a lot of great technicians. John was the most successful.
– Kurt Angle via TV Insider

H/T Fightful

Be sure to check back with Bodyslam.net for all your wrestling news.

If you enjoy Bodyslam’s content, you can help donate to the site here. You can also visit our PWTees store and buy Bodyslam official merchandise here.

You can listen to all of Bodyslam’s podcasts by following us on Spotify and subscribing to our YouTube Channel, or any of your favorite podcast platforms.