John Cena Could Have Been Kurt Angle’s Greatest Rival
Had Kurt Angle stayed in WWE, he thinks that he would’ve had a legendary rivalry with John Cena.
Kurt Angle had one of the most historically important segments in modern WWE history on June 27, 2002 when John Cena answered his open challenge and introduced himself to WWE’s fans for the first time.
After that, Angle and Cena had many matches together, including dozens of singles matches throughout 2005 and 2006. By that point Cena was winning their matches more often than not since he was being pushed as the company’s new #1 prospect.
Angle’s interactions ended when he left WWE in 2006, and since then there have been many people that have asked “what if” regarding various theoretical situations in wrestling.
Such a question came up on a recent episode of the Kurt Angle Show podcast in which Angle was asked what things would’ve looked like if he stayed in WWE and kept wrestling.
Had he stayed with WWE, Kurt Angle thinks that he would’ve had many more matches with John Cena and that Cena, Eddy Guerrero, and Brock Lesnar, would’ve been his three greatest rivals.
“I think Cena or Brock Lesnar is one of those two, without a doubt. And if Eddie Guerrero was still alive, I think Eddie would have been my biggest, biggest, I guess, storyline or whatever you want to call it.”
Kurt Angle praises John Cena’s improvements as a wrestler
Additionally, Kurt Angle noted that Cena improved dramatically between their earliest matches together in 2002 & 2003 and their later matches in 2005. He also noted that Cena became even better after Angle left and wishes he could’ve been there to have great matches with the version of Cena that emerged in 2010-onwards.
“He improved 1,000%. Watching him tonight at this point in time here in 2005, he was 100 times better than he was in 2003. And that’s all I ask, is that he continues to improve.
And I will tell you this: John Cena’s best work came when I left in 2006. His best work was in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. That’s when he really came into his own. But he was still pretty damn good.”