WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle has a long history of working with WWE, having signed his first contract in 1996.
Angle was once part of the Team Angle tag team alongside Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, which was formed to protect him from rivals such as Too Cool and Rikishi.
On a recent episode of The Kurt Angle Show, the Olympic Gold Medalist reflected on his role as part of Team Angle and his relationship with the members outside the ring.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On if Team Angle was losing too much: “Well, the whole idea for Team Angle was to protect me. These guys started with Team Angle the reason why they came in is to be a buffer for me with the guys I was going to wrestle. So, the main eventers that were going to wrestle me these guys got a rub from them and that was going to build them up so and also the main eventer guys that wrestled Team Angle, Charlie and Shelton, they would end up getting a good win and then it would be more legitimate. So, I think it helped both sides for me personally and for them it elevated them and also it helped with the main eventers that wrestled them.”
On his relationship with Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas: “We were only together when we were at the arenas. Every once and a while I’d travel with them, but I traveled with Brock Lesnar actually. I mean, Brock and I were pretty close back then and we were traveling on the road quite a bit, but every once and awhile I’d go with Charlie and Shelton and we would hangout but for the most part I just met them at the arena and worked with them there.”
On putting together a match with limited time on TV: “It’s heart-wrenching. It’s nerve-wrecking because going 25-minutes you can take your time. You can tell a good story. You start with chain wrestling. The babyface overcomes the heel by out wrestling him then the heel does something cheap to stop the babyface get the heat. Then they have the comeback and then the false finishes and the finish. But, at this particular time we only went seven minutes (a match with Rey Mysterio on Smackdown). So, we literally I had to have Rey shine real quick and then go straight to the heat and we have to do the comeback and finish. So, it wasn’t as good of a story that was told with a 25-minute match, but I think for a seven minute match it was pretty damn good.”
On Rey Mysterio being shaken up during their Smackdown match: “I never hurt anybody doing the German [suplex], but I got Rey pretty shaken up at that particular time. I was a little concerned about him for a little bit, but he came to and everything was okay.”
