Kurt Angle Recalls Steve Austin Being Wary Of Working With Him After Chris Benoit Match
On a recent episode of The Kurt Angle Show Podcast, the 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist spoke about the most dangerous spot that you can take in wrestling.
In 2001, Angle wrestled Chris Benoit in a steel cage match on RAW. The match involved many high flying spots including an Angle moonsault off the cage, a Benoit diving headbutt off the cage and a german suplex off the middle rope. Angle mentioned which of the three spots were the most dangerous to take and spoke about why they did so many crazy moves during their match.
"The german [suplex] spot was the most dangerous spot we did in that match," Angle said. "That's the toughest one to take, off the top rope backward. The chances you're going to land on your head, probably 99% of the time you're going to land on your head. Taking a chance moves that you do that you don't know if you're going to get injured or not. Chris and I had to prove a point that night, we were upcoming talent, [Stone Cold Steve] Austin was out there watching the match, we were trying to impress Austin. I think we went way too far because we actually scared him away.
"We were trying to show him we wanted to work with him and he's like these guys are crazy bastards, I'm not going to work with them. He even said that later on down the line, we threw everything and the kitchen sink into that match. Chris and I were crazy that night and his flying headbutt off the top, my moonsault, they all could've been finishes. Fortunately we went a little bit further, nobody got hurt but the match turned out to be incredible. It didn't appeal to [Austin] to want to work with us, we had to earn his respect back eventually another way."
Angle continued to talk about injuring himself doing a moonsault off the cage during a match prior to the one with Benoit at Royal Rumble 2003. The Olympic Gold Medalist was known for doing multiple moonsaults off the top of cages, even during his time in TNA.
"I did a moonsault before my match at Royal Rumble 2003, I did a moonsault in a match about 6 weeks prior and I had to have knee surgery," Angle said. "I tore a meniscus in my knee cartilage and I had to have it taken out. It is brutal on your knees and it's also brutal on your toes and your rib cage.
"It's a tough move, it can hurt your neck too because you're arching your head up and whiplashing your head backwards. It's a really tough move to take."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Kurt Angle Show Podcast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.