“If He Beat John Cena, He Got to Be Somebody” – Carlito Looks Back at a Monumental Moment in His WWE Career

WWE Icon Carlito made his return to the WWE ring after almost a decade at the Royal Rumble 2021. He was scheduled to be a part of the RAW Legends Night but could not attend it.

After Royal Rumble, Carlito appeared on Raw and teamed up with another Tag Team legend, Jeff Hardy. The duo defeated Elias and Jaxon Ryker, as Carlito won his first match in WWE in nearly a decade.

On this week’s episode of The Bump, Carlito looked back at his debut on WWE SmackDown. On October 7, 2004, Colón made his debut on the Blue Brand and won the United States Championship from none other than John Cena.

Carlito revealed that since he was out of the WWE ring for a decade, many young fans don’t know him.

“I haven’t been on TV on Raw and SmackDown for 10 years. So a lot of the older fans know who I am, but the young kids don’t know who I am.

“It happens every single time, (they say) ‘Yeah, he beat John Cena’ and their eyes light up. You just see their eyes light up. (They’re like) I don’t know who this guy is, but if he beat John Cena, he got to be somebody.”

WWE actually wanted him to make a big impact on his debut; hence, they booked him against the biggest Superstar of the time in Cena. After he defeated the leader of the Cenation, he went on an undefeated streak of 14 matches.

Carlito won the Intercontinental title on his WWE RAW debut

If beating Cena wasn’t enough, the following year, Carlito got drafted to Raw. In his first match, he won the Intercontinental Championship from Shelton Benjamin. He held the title for most of 2005 before losing it to Ric Flair.

“Turns out Shelton is one of my closest friends nowadays. It’s kinda weird, looking back and seeing me beat up Shelton. ‘Cause usually it was the other way round. He always beats me up. So I was glad to beat him up,” Carlito revealed.

Although John Cena is a part-time performer in WWE, Benjamin is still an active Superstar and is one of the WWE RAW Tag Team Champions along with Cedric Alexander.

Do you think Carlito and Jeff Hardy will challenge the Hurt Business for the RAW Tag Team titles on RAW? Let us know in the comments below.

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