There’s something quirky about professional wrestling history when the dates don’t add up, and This Day in Wrestling History is one as Ruthless Aggression was born and John Cena was introduced to the world a Smackdown taping.
On July 24, 2002 in Chicago, Illinois, the Smackdown roster sought to answer Vince McMahon’s call for someone to stand out from the rest and adopt a ruthless aggression, thus ending the Attitude Era many of us know and love.
It was also the night that John Cena burst onto the scene to answer Kurt Angle’s challenge.
Ushering in a new era
As luck would have it, few of us knew what we were seeing aside from Kurt Angle nearly losing and being disappointed her didn’t. At least, that was my thought process.
Years later, Angle commented on that moment, and I want to give @awrestlinghistorian special thanks for the quote.
“I recall when a young John Cena took WWE by storm. Even then, John pushed me to my limit. I absolutely Loved stepping into the ring with him. John has been able to stay healthy (for the most part) and dominate WWE for 17 years, which is unheard of, and nearly impossible. For that reason, He will go down in history as the most consistent, and the greatest WWE Superstar of all time.” – Kurt Angle Instagram April 27, 2019.
Circle is nearly complete
With John Cena’s anniversary upon us, it’s fitting that there’s so much talk of him returning to the WWE for SummerSlam and maybe even this week’s Smackdown to commemorate his anniversary.
He may have said he doesn’t know when he’s coming back, but it’s too perfect for this opportunity to go without him putting in an appearance.
It’s like the Undertaker officially retiring on his 30 year anniversary. The WWE will drop the ball big time if they don’t take advantage of this.
There is an argument that since the recorded show didn’t air until June 27, 2002, it’d make more sense for him to appear on next Monday’s WWE Raw.
The problem here, from our thinking, is that he’s rumored to feud with Roman Reigns and he can’t do that if he’s on Raw, so we think it’ll be Smackdown.
Could we be wrong and over thinking this? Definitely. But that’s the fun that come with speculating when This Day in Wrestling History deals with multiple dates for one occurrence.
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