Revisiting WWE SmackDown! 2002 - John Cena’s “Ruthless Aggression” Debut, “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan vs Chris Jericho

DEADLOCK: A Pro Wrestling Podcast

DEADLOCK

Sports, Wrestling

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2025

⏱️ 116 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The June 27th, 2002 episode of WWE SmackDown! is a historic one, as it features the WWE debut of John Cena! Kurt Angle is introduced by Mr. McMahon. Kurt still has his fake hair from losing it in a match against Edge! He takes it off and says he is tired of being made fun of. He then challenges any wrestler in the back that he has never faced to a match right now! A new kid named John Cena comes out, tells Kurt that he has “Ruthless Aggression,” and slaps Angle in the face! The match is now kicked off. Cena takes it to Angle and almost gets the win multiple times. However, Angle forces Cena’s shoulders down and gets the win! After the match, John Cena earns the respect of The Undertaker backstage. Speaking of The Undertaker, he comes out to the ring and runs down The Rock on the microphone, saying he is going to make him pay when he returns to the WWE. Kurt Angle then comes out and challenges Taker to a match next week on WWE SmackDown! for the WWE Championship! He ends up putting The Undertaker in the ankle lock for a few seconds just to show that he can. Also, Mark Henry and Lance Storm have a match, Test takes on Rikishi, Reverend D-Von and Batista team against Faarooq and Randy Orton, and The Divas give us a sneak peek at the upcoming “Divas Undressed” special! Plus, in the main event, Chris Jericho faces “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan!

⦁ Deadlock Discord: https://discord.gg/E4BvR4W
⦁ Deadlock Shop: https://shop.deadlockpw.com
⦁ Deadlock Patreon: https://patreon.com/deadlockpw
⦁ Deadlock Twitter: https://twitter.com/deadlockpw
⦁ Deadlock Instagram: https://instagram.com/deadlockwrestling
⦁ Deadlock Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/deadlockpw
⦁ Deadlock Pro Wrestling: http://deadlockpro.com

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Duh, boys are back in town.
0:04.0	Welcome to the Deadlot podcast, episode number 327.
0:08.9	And speaking of 27, we're watching June 16th.
0:16.2	That's not all right.
0:17.8	You were right there.
0:18.6	What happened?
0:19.2	Almost.
0:20.2	So close, but it's so far. You have it. Oh man. That was off the cuff, too, dude. Like, you were super there. That was off the cuff. That was real time. Like, when I think back on this, like, it'll be like, awesome. Dude, let me tell you guys, getting older just sneaks up on you.
0:38.9	One day it shit just happens.
0:41.6	WWE Smackdown, June 27th for the 27th episode, whatever.
0:46.9	Yes.
0:47.8	2002.
0:49.6	Array!
0:50.6	And we're watching this one.
0:52.5	This is the first time that John Sina wrestles on Smackdown.
0:57.1	John Sina's career is coming to an end here.
0:59.7	And we're going to talk about his fucking first time ever.
1:03.1	It's the infamous Cranaghle Smackdown match.
1:06.1	There's also some other stuff here.
1:07.3	Like Batista's first time wrestling on TV as well.
1:10.8	Yeah, yeah. People don't know that part, Tony. But not only was at Sina's, but. Like Batista's first time wrestling on TV as well. Yeah, yeah.
1:11.4	People don't know that part, Tony. But not only was it seen us, but it was Batista as well. And the first time not wearing this suit, which is kind of crazy. I mean, listen, man, he's a big, big son of a bitch. Both these guys go on and do a couple things. And we'll talk about that here on this show today. But before we get into that, we have the Deadlock updates.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 23 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from DEADLOCK, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of DEADLOCK and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.