John Cena will induct Kurt Angle into WWE Hall of Fame

It was announced on Thursday that John Cena will induct Kurt Angle into the WWE Hall of Fame over WrestleMania weekend.

If you’ve been wondering who exactly would be inducting Kurt Angle into the WWE Hall of Fame over WrestleMania weekend, wonder no longer. While many had thought the 1996 Olympic gold medalist might be introduced by Stone Cold Steve Austin or maybe even Brock Lesnar, WWE.com announced on Thursday that Angle will be inducted by none other than 16-time world champion John Cena.

For those who may not remember, Angle was the first man that John Cena ever faced in WWE. Back on the July 27, 2002 episode of SmackDown, Angle threw out an open challenge and a very young John Cena came out and showed no fear getting right up in Angle’s face to answer it. This threw out the “ruthless aggression” phrase in the process and the two went on to have a very fun match. While Angle came out on top, Cena turned a lot of heads that night and the two would meet again a few more times before Angle’s departure, most notably at No Mercy in 2003, which Angle also won, as well as a great number one contender’s match at No Way Out in 2005 in which Cena emerged victorious. Cena would go on to win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21 and would battle Angle again that year at Survivor Series with Cena once again coming out on top.

Both Cena and Angle took to Twitter today to give their thoughts on the announcement.

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Kurt Angle is part of a WWE Hall of Fame class that so far also includes Rick Rude, Diamond Dallas Page, Beth Phoenix, Theodore Long and The Rock N’ Roll Express. The induction ceremony will air on the WWE Network on Friday, March 31 at 8:00 p.m. ET.