Arn Anderson Recalls Producing a ‘Very Green’ John Cena Earlier in His Career, Kurt Angle Teaching Cena About ‘Respect’

Arn Anderson recently appeared on Busted Open Radio, where the legendary WWE Hall of Famer spoke about teaching and producing a “very, very green” John Cena earlier in his WWE career. Anderson discussed Cena having to learn a very valuable lesson about respecting your opponent when working against Kurt Angle.

According to Anderson, Cena left Angle in the ring to retrieve a foam finger from a fan in the crowd, and got suplexed and stomped by Angle for his troubles. It allowed Anderson to teach Cena an important lesson about “respect.” Below are some highlights:

Arn Anderson on his history with John Cena in WWE

“Vince [McMahon] pulled me in the office and went, ‘We got a new kid that we pulled up. We think he’s got a very bright future, Arn, teach him how to work.’ I did in fact have his matches, and John was very, very green. He was green in his thought process. He had his head in — he was trying to find his way. One night, he was working with Kurt Angle, some guy out in the audience had one of those hands, and John spotted it. He just leaves Kurt, rolls out of the ring, goes about 10 rows deep, takes the hand, and folds it into a finger. He goes back over the rail. Right there’s Kurt. Kurt hit him with the Belly-to-Belly [suplex] on the floor and threw him in the ring and stomped his brains out.”

On talking with Cena after the incident

“When he came back through the curtain, I went, ‘Learn anything tonight?’ And he had this look [wide-eyed] on his face, ‘Oh yeah,’ because he had just got the dog **** kicked out of him by somebody that could do it and not have any repercussions from it. I just said, ‘You gotta respect the guy. You don’t leave a guy, even in the ring. You don’t leave a guy and walk over and start screaming at the fans with your back to that guy.’ If it was me, or if it was a veteran that knew what he was doing, when he came back to get me, he’d be looking at a totally different complexion of the match.”

On the green Cena learning about respect in the ring

“There’s a certain thing about respect. If you’re just letting a guy walk off and then come back and get you, and continue on you, *clicks tongue*, don’t feel good. Don’t smell good. Don’t taste good.”

Angle and Cena would have many battles over the years following Cena’s rise through the WWE ranks. As previously noted, Cena just has a handful of dates left in his WWE career, including November 10 in his hometown of Boston, November 17 at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, WWE Survivor Series: WarGames in San Diego, and his last match.

The final match of John Cena will take place at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13. The event will be held at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, and will stream live on Peacock. WWE has not yet revealed Cena’s final opponent.

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Busted Open Radio, with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.

Arn loves John Cena. Here’s a story about a valuable lesson he taught John early in his career!#bustedopen247 #prowrestlingnation247 pic.twitter.com/MmqAgXkmN0

— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) October 22, 2025