Roughly 13 years before he began his own “open challenge” series against a variety of performers, Cena charged to the ring to answer a gauntlet being thrown down.
His opponent was Kurt Angle, the preternaturally gifted Olympic gold medalist turned pro wrestler who is widely regarded as one of the best to ever enter a ring. To make your name against him, the man who made Hulk Hogan tap out for the first time the night before, was a vote of confidence from WWE brass like few others.
Cena was obviously being primed for stardom here. Despite his lackluster red-and-black tights and early-aughts-appropriate amount of hair gel, he took Angle to the limit. More important, he was allowed to stand in the ring afterward while Angle threw a tiny tantrum outside of it. The audience wasn’t quite sure what to make of him yet (most of the segment was devoted to Angle’s impeccable sore-winner character work), but it’s a debut that would change WWE forever.
