Is John Cena a better worker than Kurt Angle?

[Microstatistics]

It occurred to me recently that Cena is more Angle-esque now than Angle ever was, so I decided to bump this. Honestly, I'm starting to think that a lot of people, myself included, owe Angle an apology. His workrate epics feel like paragons of minimalism and restraint compared to Cena's matches with Owens and Styles. Looking at what WWE main event style has become, criticizing Angle for being a spotfest worker seems rather quaint now, like old-timers in the 70s saying that Flair and Steamboat were all highspots and no psychology.

 

This is probably an exaggeration but it holds some validity. It's weird Cena gets a relative free pass for a lot of the stuff he has been doing recently. If modern Japanese workers or indy workers or even Kurt Angle constructed matches the same way he has been doing, they would receive a ton of criticism. Maybe I'm wrong but I seen, in Cena's case, people notice the bad tendencies but just gloss over them.

 

Overall I'll take Cena comfortably because of good matches against a variety of opponents and ability to deviate from the standard formula. Angle has been pretty boring since 2004 or so.

[Matt D]

Is the question Cena vs Angle or 2016 Cena vs 2001 Angle? You're framing it as Cena's worst against Angle's best.

[goc]

I don't buy that Cena has been getting a free pass, at least not on this board. I know I'm not the only person who has talked about how he made a big shift in style in & after the Owens series and not for the better. I also shit all over the Royal Rumble three-way with Rollins/Brock and a big part of it was because of Cena spamming the AA so much.

 

That said, I'd still take bad John Cena over bad Kurt Angle and definitely good Cena over good Angle (which lasted like what? at most 3 years?)