WWE legend says he punished John Cena after being disrespected in a match

Kurt Angle has opened up on an incident between himself and John Cena early on in Cena's career.

On the first edition of Ask Kurt Anything from The Kurt Angle Show, the Olympic Gold Medalist was asked by a fan about an incident involving himself, Cena, and a foam finger. At a live event early in Cena's WWE run, the future world champion went into the stands in the middle of a match and flipped Kurt Angle off using a foam finger he found in the audience.

Angle said he didn't take kindly to being disrespected by John Cena, especially considering the stunt was eating into their match time. Angle said he worked with Cena a little more "snug" than usual as a punishment.

"You know what? I didn’t agree with what he did. I wanted to send a little message to him. I just worked a little more snug, you know? I wanted him to know that when you go off and do stuff like that, we have a time frame, and I have the match mapped out in my head. Because John had less experience, I was calling the match. It’s not what I wanted to do at that particular time. Because John was hovering between baby and face at the time and I was too, and I didn’t want the crowd to be rocked either way. I wanted it to be a half-baby-half-face for both of us."

"John, you know, wanted to turn babyface and flip me off with the big finger, so I sent him a message that night. You don’t do that. If you’re going to do it, tell me first. Don’t just go and do it. But he didn’t tell me first."

Arn Anderson also recalled the incident on his podcast, saying Angle "beat the crap" out of Cena for the insult.

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Kurt Angle praises John Cena

Despite their initial differences, Kurt Angle said he had no further issues with the young John Cena and that he was "great to work with."

"Other than that, I didn’t have a problem with John. John was great to work with. Exceptional athlete, had a great personality. He had a great work ethic. He was willing to work hard to make it, and he did."

Kurt Angle and John Cena wrestled each other in several singles matches between 2002 and 2006. Their last one-on-one encounter was a First Blood match on an episode of WWE RAW in 2006. Angle emerged as the victorious competitor from that bout.

Was Angle justified in his treatment of Cena when the latter flipped him off at a live event? Let us know what you think in the comments below.