Kurt Angle says his legendary former rival "is not fluid" in the ring like other top WWE stars

Kurt Angle feels John Cena was never a naturally-gifted athlete in the ring but still achieved greatness in WWE due to sheer commitment.

The Olympic Hero's latest podcast episode revolved around the career of John Cena, and Angle gave a brief assessment of the superstar's work. While Kurt considered John Cena a charismatic performer, he noted that the Cenation leader wasn't a smooth in-ring worker like other top grapplers in WWE:

"John wasn't as great of an athlete as a lot of the other wrestlers, but he made up for it with charisma and a lot of hard work," said Kurt Angle. [5:00 - 5:12]

The WWE Hall of Famer said that John Cena made up for his shortcomings by enhancing his on-screen presence. The 16-time WWE Champion also excelled in the promo department, making him one of the most improved wrestlers on the roster:

"His only downfall is, you know, you could tell by the way he moves around is not quite as fluid as other wrestlers," added Angle. "He's more choppy and a little bit more uncoordinated, but he makes up for that with hard work. Being able to do what he does, especially, nobody knew at this time how good promos he'd cut. So, this was quite a pleasant surprise eventually when he started doing it." [11:40 - 12:17]

Kurt Angle says John Cena could structure a match better than anybody

John Cena has often been criticized for his supposedly limited in-ring capabilities. Kurt Angle argued against the negative claims and stated that Cena understood wrestling psychology better than most talents.

Cena has also mastered the art of putting matches together, as Kurt revealed:

"I think that fans always thought he wasn't a good in-ring worker. That seems to be some of the talk that people talk about," continued the Hall of Famer. "But he was actually really good. He was great at psychology too. He could structure a match better than anybody. He was really good at that, and I was really impressed by it." [1:00:00 - 1:00:21]

John Cena was WWE's go-to top guy for more than a decade. The Hollywood star is no longer a full-time member of the roster as he only shows up sporadically to wrestle at special events. Can we expect him to face this star at SummerSlam?

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If you use any quotes from this article, please credit The Kurt Angle Show and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.