diff --git a/cli/tests/testdata/websocketstream_test.ts b/cli/tests/testdata/websocketstream_test.ts
index aa809ba16d..ba5c281ebe 100644
--- a/cli/tests/testdata/websocketstream_test.ts
+++ b/cli/tests/testdata/websocketstream_test.ts
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 
 import {
   assertEquals,
+  assertRejects,
   assertThrows,
-  assertThrowsAsync,
 } from "../../../test_util/std/testing/asserts.ts";
 
 Deno.test("fragment", () => {
@@ -57,12 +57,12 @@ Deno.test("echo string tls", async () => {
 Deno.test("websocket error", async () => {
   const ws = new WebSocketStream("wss://localhost:4242");
   await Promise.all([
-    assertThrowsAsync(
+    assertRejects(
       () => ws.connection,
       Deno.errors.UnexpectedEof,
       "tls handshake eof",
     ),
-    assertThrowsAsync(
+    assertRejects(
       () => ws.closed,
       Deno.errors.UnexpectedEof,
       "tls handshake eof",
@@ -80,3 +80,17 @@ Deno.test("echo uint8array", async () => {
   ws.close();
   await ws.closed;
 });
+
+Deno.test("aborting immediately throws an AbortError", async () => {
+  const controller = new AbortController();
+  const wss = new WebSocketStream("ws://localhost:4242", {
+    signal: controller.signal,
+  });
+  controller.abort();
+  await assertRejects(
+    () => wss.connection,
+    DOMException,
+    "connection was aborted",
+  );
+  await assertRejects(() => wss.closed, DOMException, "connection was aborted");
+});
diff --git a/ext/websocket/lib.rs b/ext/websocket/lib.rs
index ba626a45a4..f3d44cac71 100644
--- a/ext/websocket/lib.rs
+++ b/ext/websocket/lib.rs
@@ -239,6 +239,16 @@ where
       );
   }
 
+  let cancel_resource = if let Some(cancel_rid) = args.cancel_handle {
+    let r = state
+      .borrow_mut()
+      .resource_table
+      .get::<WsCancelResource>(cancel_rid)?;
+    Some(r)
+  } else {
+    None
+  };
+
   let unsafely_ignore_certificate_errors = state
     .borrow()
     .try_borrow::<UnsafelyIgnoreCertificateErrors>()
@@ -283,13 +293,9 @@ where
 
   let client = client_async(request, socket);
   let (stream, response): (WsStream, Response) =
-    if let Some(cancel_rid) = args.cancel_handle {
-      let r = state
-        .borrow_mut()
-        .resource_table
-        .get::<WsCancelResource>(cancel_rid)?;
+    if let Some(cancel_resource) = cancel_resource {
       client
-        .or_cancel(r.0.to_owned())
+        .or_cancel(cancel_resource.0.to_owned())
         .await
         .map_err(|_| DomExceptionAbortError::new("connection was aborted"))?
     } else {