Kurt Angle Says Ex-WWE Star Was Released For Wanting More Money
One Superstar found out the hard way that demanding more money from WWE was not the smartest career move, as Kurt Angle shares insight into an “unfortunate” end to a promising career.
Kurt Angle is one of WWE’s toughest-ever talents, overcoming a broken next to win Olympic Gold, and as a trained wrestler could go toe-to-toe with any Superstar, including beating Brock Lesnar backstage. But in 2004, one Tough Enough Star nearly made the WWE Hall of Famer tap out.
Daniel Puder took part in the fourth season of Tough Enough, a realty-tv inspired training program offering the winner a WWE contract.
As the season was coming to an end, WWE bosses ran an unscripted segment of Tough Enough in front of a live crowd. During the segment, Kurt Angle challenged the season finalists to a match.
After beating Chris Nawrocki, Angle went on to battle Daniel Puder. Puder gained the upper hand and placed Angle in a kimura lock, which the WWE Legend could not break free of.
Angle attempted a pin, and despite Puder’s shoulders not being on the mat, the referee counted to three and declared Angle the victor.
The incident ensured Puder would go on to compete at Armageddon 2004, and the 2005 Royal Rumble. But according to Kurt Angle, Puder’s promising career was cut short after demanding higher pay.
The Olympic Hero discussed Daniel Puder during an on-stage discussion with Inside The Ropes, sharing his thoughts on the 2004 incident and Puder himself.
“Not long after that, Daniel didn’t work out and they ended up letting him go, and the thing is they did offer him another deal, but this son of a [ __ ] said, ‘I want more money’ Okay, he didn’t even do anything in WWE yet, and here he is demanding more money.
So they said, ‘Okay! we’re going to turn you down.’ And unfortunately, I think Daniel Puder would have had a pretty decent career if he would have been cool about everything. But I think because he wasn’t, his career ended very quickly, and it’s unfortunate because he was a talented kid.”
Puder was released by WWE in 2005 and spent time with Ohio Valley Wrestling before working for both Ring Of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Kurt Angle had fun working with fellow WWE Hall of Famer
Kurt Angle has been discussing his career on his weekly podcast, The Kurt Angle Show, and has recently shared how much “fun” he had working with wrestling legend Ric Flair.
The pair battled on four occasions, including a TNA House Show, but it was their 2005 feud Angle discussed on his show.
During that year, the pair had a hilarious “woo off” which Jim Ross on commentary called a “woo fest”.
Comparisons have been made between the in-ring ability of both Angle and Flair, but it was their comedic timing that added fan fondness throughout their careers.
H/t to Sportskeeda