Kurt Angle Praises Historic Eddie Guerrero And Chris Benoit Moment

While talking about his match with Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XX on the latest episode of The Kurt Angle Show, the Olympic Gold Medalist highlighted his favorite moment from the night.

At the end of the show, Eddie and Chris Benoit celebrated in the middle of the ring as the two top champions in the WWE.

Given the tragedy surrounding Chris Benoit's death, WWE has purged virtually all mentions of him from the company's history. Angle explained why he doesn't think the ending of WrestleMania XX was soured by Benoit's actions before his death.

"I don't believe so, it was such an incredible moment," Angle said. "You're talking about two undersized guys that didn't have a chance at the business, worked their asses off, and made it to the top in the biggest, most popular company in the world and they're both world champions, it's such a great moment.

"It's one of my favorite moments of all time and I think if fans separate the business from personal and say, 'Man, Benoit throughout, an incredible performance. He and Eddie were the first two undersized World Champions that were champions together,' it was just a great moment. I really believe fans still enjoyed that moment. Some fans might not agree with it because of what Benoit did to his family, but for the most part, it was such a great moment. It was historic."

Since the creation of his podcast, Kurt Angle has revealed several injuries that he's dealt with in WWE, picking out the two worst specifically, and the unbelievable number of times he's broken his neck.

The WWE Hall of Famer continued to talk about his match at WrestleMania XX and revealed the moment he broke his neck against Guerrero, and what his reaction was to the injury. Kurt Angle also said Vince McMahon didn't want the public to know that he had broken his neck again, so they decided to fake another injury and make him the general manager of SmackDown.

"Yes, I was terrified, I couldn't feel my hands," Angle said. "What happened was I did a suplex off the top rope at WrestleMania against Eddie Guerrero and I broke my neck again. This is three times in a year and a half, I was terrified. I called Johnny Laurinaitis and I told him about it. I told him I was going to go home and get x-rays, MRIs, and I'd let him know what was going on. I found out that I broke my neck again.

"They knew the next steps for me, they knew I had to take some time off. I couldn't have surgery again because I was put under twice in a year and I had to wait another six months if I wanted that to occur. WWE, they decided to make me the general manager, and Vince McMahon didn't want the whole world to know that I broke my neck again. He decided to pretend, do a storyline on TV where I messed up my knee, I broke my leg. I was in a wheelchair as the general manager, so that's the direction that I went. Pretending that I hurt my leg, I was going to be general manager for six months, let myself heal, and come back and wrestle again."

Looking back on his career and the regrets he has, Kurt Angle said he should've taken some time off after breaking his neck and not been the general manager in 2004.

"I would've rather went home, and rested and rehabbed," Angle said. "That was the best decision for me, it's just that I didn't want to leave the show. I loved what I was doing, I wanted to continue working whether I was wrestling or not. And Vince McMahon did me a favor by making me the GM. I actually wanted to do the GM role and I think Vince wanted me to stay at home and rest, but I didn't want to do that and I regret it to this day."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Kurt Angle Show with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.