Kurt Angle reveals which 25-year-old rookie impressed him before becoming a megastar (Exclusive)
Kurt Angle hasn't been an active wrestler for three years now, but 2019 was perhaps the best time to end his two-decade-long run as one of the greatest performers of his generation. He was directly involved in a certain rookie's WWE debut before he became a megastar himself.
As you may have figured out, that rookie is none other than John Cena - who was 25 years old when he debuted on SmackDown to confront Kurt Angle in an open challenge. The upstart would stand toe-to-toe with Angle, who was in the prime of his career at that point. Despite losing, the bout set Cena up for his unprecedented decade-long run as the face of WWE.
Speaking to Bill Apter in a Sportskeeda Wrestling exclusive, Kurt Angle reflected on John Cena's debut match against him.
"Yeah, his first match against me, his first match ever, I defeated him. But he got over from it because he put up a great fight. That match went on for like 15 minutes and we did not stop. We went hard that whole entire match and he kept up with me, which impressed me. Because I've always had the best conditioning in pro wrestling. And John Cena was able to match me, which was incredibly surprising."
Angle said that while Cena wasn't the greatest athlete, he was impressed by his conditioning and said that the latter would go on to become a master of the craft:
"John Cena isn't the greatest athlete, and I'm not saying he's a bad athlete - he's a good athlete. But he wasn't the greatest athlete and he mastered the craft of pro wrestling. And he became a great worker and an incredible in-ring general and leader in the ring where he would call his matches. And he had a great knack for putting matches together, I enjoyed working with the guy and we had some amazing matches together." (0:20-1:15)
You can watch the full video below:
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Kurt Angle loved how old-school John Cena was
#OnThisDayinWWE 20 years ago on #SmackDown:
@JohnCena made his WWE debut, answering to an open challenge from a now serious (and wig-free) @RealKurtAngle
Angle: "What is the one quality that you possess that makes you think you can come out here?"
Cena:"Ruthless aggression" https://t.co/KweggThHJG
Right after Kurt Angle reflected on Cena's debut, Bill Apter pointed out that John Cena was very old school in the sense that he would try to replicate his opponent's hold in a technical wrestling match. The Olympic gold medalist pointed out that The Cenation Leader being old school is one of the things he likes about him the most:
"He was definitely old school, and that's what I liked about John - him being old school." (1:27 - 1:30)
Where does John Cena stand among the greatest of all time? Voice your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
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