WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle recently spoke on his podcast, “The Kurt Angle Show,” about a variety of professional wrestling topics including Team Angle. The faction consisted of Angle, Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. Angle was used as a top star as the WWE Champion, while Benjamin and Haas were the SmackDown Tag Team Champions.
“This was awesome. This is my favorite part of my career. I just felt that Team Angle didn’t last long enough. It had a lot to do with my injuries unfortunately, but I would have loved for Team Angle to go on for years.”
If he told anyone he was hurting and maybe shouldn’t be wrestling:
“Well, I injured my knee, not at this night when Brock Lesnar did it, it was for storyline purposes to show that I hurt my knee. So, I did it beforehand and I had to have knee injury so I was in a position where I was champion and I was going to go out with injury and they didn’t know what to do, but I told them listen it’s just a meniscus, it’s just a cartilage. I’m just gonna get it taken out and I’ll be ready in three. It usually, you know, takes about six to eight weeks, but I figured I could do it in three weeks. So, that’s what I promised Vince and I did it.”
Wrestling Chris Benoit:
“You got to be ready when you wrestle Chris Benoit. I mean, he’s the most well-conditioned, most intense wrestler I’ve ever been in the ring with. You have to be on your A game, but Chris is great because he can work around anything so I knew with my knee injury we could actually still have a great match. Chris was never stiff or dangerous. The only stiff thing he did was the chops to your chest other than he was really good. He had a great perception and never stiffed you.”
If Brock Lesnar was pumped for their WrestleMania match:
“You know what it’s the first time we.. Well, we got in the ring a little bit here and there you know tag matches and stuff. But, this was our first singles match and both of us were looking forward to it. I saw how talented Brock was and how quickly he picked it up and he knew I was really talented so we were really looking forward, especially with our amateur wrestling backgrounds we really wanted to showcase that at WrestleMania.”
Paul Heyman’s ability to make stars:
“He does he has a way with words that really, really make a difference. Paul is the best promo guy I’ve ever heard.”
You can listen to the complete podcast below:
(h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription)
