WWE: Kurt Angle Praises Chris Benoit For In-Ring Work and Talks Brotherly Love With Eddie Guerrero

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle was recently a guest on the Talk is Jericho podcast, where he and Chris discussed a number of interesting topics. All quotes come from WrestlingINC.

On Chris Benoit’s Intensity And Place In History:

“He was, he was. I never had anyone match my intensity the way he did. He was always there, blow for blow, it was just like a mirror. I was wrestling me. Actually, I picked up my intensity when I was working with Chris. But it does kind of suck that a lot of those matches are kind of forgotten, especially Royal Rumble (2003). It just had everything. It had submission trade-offs and this was, I mean, I would see Dean Malenko and [Jericho] do it, trade-off, here and there, in WCW, but this was really the first time and the whole match was based on it.”

“I’m sorry, but he has got to be in the top three of all time. I mean, you can’t deny that. I mean, even Bret Hart will tell you that. I’m not going to excuse any of the things Chris did outside of wrestling, but when he was in that ring, he was possibly the greatest of all time.”

On Brotherly Love With Eddie Guerrero:

“When Eddie was healthy, he could have been #1. I think Eddie was in his prime in WCW and the reason I say that is because he got in a car accident. That car accident did two things for him. It really inhibited what he could do after that. In other words, he had limits. He could still do a lot, but not like he used to. I used to watch him in WCW and be like, ‘wow, this kid’s incredible.’ But he almost couldn’t walk again after that accident, so yeah, yeah. Eddie was banged up when I wrestled him. As good as he was in 2004, 2005, he had to be 10-times better back then. That’s mind-blowing. I mean, he could have been the absolute greatest of all time because when I wrestled him, he was still in that top three we were talking about, so Eddie had it all. He was so entertaining, but he also had all the technique. He was such a great wrestler and he got it. He got finishes. He knew how to structure them.”

Angle then tells the following story:

“We had to jump Eddie out in the ring and I didn’t touch him, but we had these two big goon guys, Mark Jindrak and Luther Reigns! Horshu. They’re beating the hell out of Eddie, so we get heat on him at the end of the show. I’m in the back. I’m waiting for Eddie because I wanted to thank him, but I didn’t touch him. He comes straight up to me and blames me for it. So this is like the fifth time he confronted me about it in about a month, so I shoved him. I just wanted to see what he would do. And he didn’t do anything, so I shoved him again and he double-legs me. I mean, you could’ve sucker punched me, but he double-legs me. And I’m like, ‘he did not just try to double-leg an Olympic gold medalist, so I laid the hips into him and then I started choking him out nice and slow.”

“Now, Eddie and I got in a fight and I wanted to make amends with him and you know Eddie has a temper, so five minutes after that fight, I walk in, I said, ‘I’m sorry, Eddie.’ I say, ‘I’m sorry about what happened.’ He goes, ‘I’m not ready yet.’ Oh, God! So I go, ‘you what?’ He goes, ‘I’m not ready to be sorry,’ so I push him again! I want to fight this poor kid. He doesn’t want to double-leg me again, so he’s just standing there and JBL got in between us. So I tried to call him that night and he wasn’t ready again, but the next week, he came to me and apologized and we both made up. And Eddie and I were brothers. My brother Eric and I, we fought all the time, so I didn’t mind. I mean, I knew Eddie was very much like my brother, Eric, had a temper, and was going to let it fly ever once in a while and we would get over it and we did. Eddie got mad at me a million times, but knowing he was exactly like my brother, Eric, okay, we can forgive each other the next day and move on. But the whole, ‘I’m not ready yet,’ I wanted to kick his butt.”

Rob’s Hot-Take:

The stories regarding Eddie Guerrero were very entertaining and even mentioned things I wasn’t aware of such as his car accident. It makes sense that they were close considering they had some amazing matches and chemistry together. I also agree that no one can take away Benoit’s accomplishments as a performer, although his infamous actions as a human being against him and his own family are reprehensible and literally unforgivable. He will never be in the Hall of Fame, so please no one even bring that up in the comments.