John Cena: WWE Debut Match With Kurt Angle & Undertaker Segment 'Wasn't Even Supposed To Happen'

John Cena has revealed his debut match for WWE in 2002 against Kurt Angle, and the following backstage segment with The Undertaker, only happened because the promotion had no other options to go with at that time.

A young Cena made his WWE debut on June 27, 2002, accepting Angle's open challenge on SmackDown and taking the Olympic Gold Medallist to the limit. Despite losing the bout, Cena received a lot of respect from his peers in the locker-room, including then WWE Champion The Undertaker.

Cena has now revealed he was never originally intended for that spot and it only happened because WWE had no one else to put in that role when it came to the show.

Speaking during a Q&A session at Florida Supercon, Cena said: "It was surreal and it all happened so fast. It wasn’t even supposed to happen. I was thrown in there last minute because they had no other options.

"That’s like the story of my life by the way. I was just...all my opportunities came when either James Gunn was sick or nobody showed up to wrestle or they didn’t have anybody else to bet on. I’ve never been...even for Peacemaker, I know James had Batista in mind for it. That’s okay.

"I think yet another lesson here is don’t ever be ashamed with how opportunity finds you. Be ready and knock it out of the park. So it was all surreal. It was all like a blur but I remember I was ready to wrestle Kurt and he brought, technically the best out of me and forced me...he tried to run me ragged but I hung in there with him and yes, they filmed backstage moments of other superstars shaking hands there because it was genuine.

"Everybody was like, ‘Yo, good job’ because when you see a new guy in the locker room, the jury is still out and it worked. So even Kurt himself came up and thanked me and everybody was great and after that I sucked but for that one moment… but it was all such a [whirlwind]. It was crazy."

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