Kurt Angle Recalls How Brock Lesnar Broke His Neck
Kurt Angle has shared an interesting story about how Brock Lesnar and a steel chair led to Angle breaking his neck yet again.
The WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle knows a lot about neck injuries. When Angle won the Olympic gold medal in Atlanta in 1996 he did so with a broken neck. It was an incredible performance that added to Angle’s legacy as a tough guy. During his pro wrestling career, Angle often referenced to it by bragging about winning a gold medal with a “broken freakin’ neck.”
During his WWE career run, Angle broke his neck in 2003 prior to WrestleMania 19. It happened in a match where he took a bump into a turnbuckle. It nearly cost him his spot in the WrestleMania 19 main event when he lost the WWE Title to Brock Lesnar. After WrestleMania, Angle had neck surgery and was back in a few months.
On a recent episode of the Kurt Angle Show podcast, Angle spoke about his third broken neck. It happened in late 2003 when Angle was working with Brock Lesnar, a steel chair was involved and Angle hurt his neck again.
“Well, what happened was Brock Lesnar hit me over the head with a chair, and he brought it. I mean, when I tell you he brought it, he really brought it. The thing is, me and Chris Benoit both got hit with a chair by Brock that night. Chris, before the match started, he told Brock, ‘Hey, swing sideways on my head because I had surgery on my neck, and I don’t want you to come over straight over the top.'”
“I didn’t tell Brock. So he hits Benoit sideways, and Benoit’s neck is okay. He goes over the top and hits me right on top of my head as hard as he could, and I broke — three broken vertebrae. I had bone chips in my neck, and I had two discs that slid into my spinal cord. So I kind of messed myself up again. This is the third time I broke my neck.”
This injury caused Angle to miss about six weeks and he was back in action going into the 2004 Royal Rumble.
WWE fans that have missed Kurt Angle will get to see him tonight on the 30th Anniversary of Raw from Philadelphia.