[2005-02-20-WWE-No Way Out] Kurt Angle vs John Cena

[ohtani's jacket]

This was such a smartly worked bout. The intensity and focus from Cena was remarkable. I damn near bought into his story and it's 20 years later and the match was commentated by Taz and Michael Cole. The defining thing about the bout was that they established the psychology and stuck to it. It was clear that Cena couldn't outwrestle Angle on the mat and that his only way of beating Kurt was to force him into a more traditional pro-wrestling bout. So often in WWE matches the early psychology of the bout disintegrates into finisher spamming, but in this bout they rode it out to the end. The selling during the finishing stretch isn't something you usually associate with Kurt Angle matches, but Cena was working this bout like it was the biggest match of his life. I have no idea who wins when I watch most of these bouts, so I naturally assumed it would be Angle, but they worked me good. I like being worked. Being worked is good. I don't know if this was a star-making performance for Cena, but it sure as hell got my attention. Even the finish was brilliant in its own way. This had all the hallmarks of whoever laid out those brilliant Eddy matches from 2004. Word Life.