During a recent edition of the “The Kurt Angle Show”, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle commented on his SummerSlam 2001 match with Steve Austin, what Austin told him before the match, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On winning the WCW title from Booker T on a July 2001 edition of SmackDown: “It was a great night. Winning the WCW title in front of my hometown was awesome. I think the reason they wanted me to beat Booker was to show I was a threat to Stone Cold Steve Austin, that I could actually win the world title as a babyface. I think that’s the reason why I wanted to do it because I didn’t hold that title very long. I think I dropped it the following week. They at least wanted me to get a stepping stone of winning a world title before I went at it with Steve Austin.”
On relationship with Austin in 2001 and Austin’s message to him before their SummerSlam match: “We were really tight. We were very, very good friends and we started trusting each other and bouncing ideas off of each other. Austin told me, ‘Listen, I laid everything down for you. Everything is set for you. All you have to do is show up and produce at SummerSlam. I did everything I can as a heel to make you look as good of a babyface as you can be, and I’m gonna continue to do that.’ And I can’t think Austin enough what he did for me. He didn’t have to do it.”
On his favorite year of his wrestling career: “Surprisingly, since I just started out, my rookie year and second year are my top two favorites. I was very inexperienced and a nervous wreck when I went out there because half the time, I didn’t know what I was gonna do. My opponent would tell me, ‘Lead me through the match,’ and it was really difficult. But I really enjoyed the challenge and learn on the fly, and I also won a lot of titles those two years. I was pretty established as a wrestler.”
On what he thought of the SummerSlam match with Austin and Vince McMahon’s reaction: “This is as good of a main event as it can be, other than the finish. Other than that, you can’t get a better match than this. Stone Cold and I were on that night….[Vince] was hugging us. He was like, ‘That was awesome. Thank you so much guys.’ That’s when you know you did something special is when Vince gets up and he’s really excited. Vince was very excited about this match….he saw money.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
