Kurt Angle Says Only One WWE Star Tested His Amateur Skills

Kurt Angle has revealed the identity of the only WWE Superstar who ever tried to test their amateur wrestling ability against him.

With a resume that includes an Olympic Gold Medal as well as an amateur World Championship, the list of people willing to try and take on Angle was understandably small. However, there was one man who believed he could challenge Angle, and that man was Brock Lesnar.

During a recent interview with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, Kurt Angle recalled how the clash between the two came about. The WWE Hall of Famer said that he laid down the challenge after he heard that Lesnar had said he could beat him.

“Nobody ever tested me,” Angle said. “The only one was Brock. He was the only one and after that nobody wanted to test me. I actually did really well with Brock. I was very happy with my performance that day. So, it was just one of those things, somebody went to Brock and asked, ‘How do you think you’d do against Kurt Angle?’ He said, ‘Well, he’s way too small. I’d crush him.’ That person came to me—it was the Brooklyn Brawler—and he said, ‘Listen, Brock said he would crush you because you’re a lot smaller.’ So, I went to Brock and confronted him and said, ‘Hey, how do you think you would do against me?’ He said, ‘I think I would beat you.’ I said, ‘Well, let’s go. Right now.’ He said, ‘I can’t. I’m wearing sandals.’ I said, ‘Let’s do it in our bare feet. Let’s do it old school.’ He said, ‘No.’”

Angle revealed that despite being turned down initially, he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. The former WWE Champion explained how he then set Lesnar up, putting him in a position where he had to accept the challenge.

“So, the following week, we set him up. We had him get in the ring with Big Show. Big Show actually wrestled him in the ring for real and Brock was throwing Big Show around. I couldn’t believe it. Big Show had weighed about 520 at the time and Brock’s picking him up and slamming him. I’m going, ‘Oh, my gosh. This guy’s a beast. I don’t know if I should get in there with him.’ So, with Big Show, who’s facing me, and Brock’s back to me, I was outside the ring, I go, ‘Big Show, leave the ring.’ He said, ‘Okay,’ turned around and walked away. I walked up to Brock, tapped him on the shoulder and said, ‘Let’s go right now,’ and he didn’t have a choice. He had to do it. Everybody was there watching and there was no way he was going to back down.”

Naturally, Angle claims that he defeated Lesnar, but also gave The Beast credit for how he handled himself after already going toe-to-toe with the Big Show.

Lesnar and Angle also famously enjoyed numerous memorable matches while the cameras were rolling. The most notable of these came when Lesnar defeated Angle at WrestleMania 19, after knocking himself out performing a Shooting Star Press.

While Kurt Angle retired from active competition in 2019, wrestling retirements are not traditionally known for being particularly sturdy. This means that there is always a question around the fabled ‘one more match.’

Speaking on a recent episode of his podcast The Kurt Angle Show, available via Ad Free Shows, Angle said that he could be tempted to return for $10 million dollars and a match with Kenny Omega. Although he joked that even that sum of money may not be enough to overcome the wrath of his wife.

H/t to Fightful for the transcription.