7 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (28 Feb)

3. Those John Cena Throwbacks

John Cena Kurt Angle 2002
WWE.com
"I'm John Cena".

That one line will be replayed until the end of time, and with good reason. Cena's memorable 2002 debut alongside Kurt Angle kicked off his career nicely and set the tone for what was to come over the next 18+ years. Before John returned on SmackDown, WWE showed a bunch of these moments.

Each one added context and built anticipation for his comeback later in the show. It'd be interesting to learn how the live crowd in Boston responded to each hype vid; this was their hometown boy returning home with some big news, after all, and WWE were going to deliver Cena in person by the end of the night.

That had to get people pumped. Sprinkling old footage throughout the show is an easy way to eat up minutes without annoying fans, and these memories set the table perfectly for Cena's grand return. Again, this was superior formatting.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood.