Kurt Angle Recalls Vince McMahon Asking Him To Intimidate WWE HOFer

Vince McMahon is someone that likes to get what he wants, and at one point in time, that was for Kurt Angle to intimidate one of the biggest names in wrestling history.

During the latest episode of "The Kurt Angle Show," the Olympic Gold medalist was recapping the WWE King Of The Ring PPV from 2002, which was the year he competed against Hulk Hogan. McMahon had always wanted Angle to win at this show, and he told him, "I want you to make him tap out."

When the WWE Chairman pitched the idea to Hogan, however, he made it clear he wanted Angle to be in the room when the Hulkster found out, as he feared he was "going to talk me out of it." Vince put the two of them facing each other in chairs in a bid to make Angle intimidate the iconic wrestler.

"Vince told me beforehand, 'I want you to get out of your seat and put your nose this close to Hulk Hogan's nose.' I am like, 'Why do you want me to do this? It's Hulk Hogan,'" he said. "What he's trying to do is intimidate Hulk, and you can't intimidate Hulk Hogan, he's a freaking badass."

Angle admitted that if they were going to end up getting into it, he "probably would have won," but the situation never ended up coming down to that. In hindsight, he felt the entire moment "was crazy."

"So, I am getting out of my seat and I am leaning in, and I'm like, 'What the hell am I doing? Why am I doing this?' And Vince says, 'Hulk, Kurt's going over by tap out next week at the PPV,' and Hogan looks at me ... He didn't even say anything, he just put a thumbs up."

The Hulkster was true to his word when the moment arrived, with Angle defeating him via submission on the night, granting him a major victory for him at the time. It remains unknown whether it was all down to the intimidation tactic that McMahon had set or if Hogan was just happy to do business.

"I don't even know if Hulk Hogan realized what it was all about, he might've just thought it was just a meeting and that I wasn't trying to intimidate him," he said. "But the crazy thing is, Vince wanted me to get out of my seat and get real close to his face like I was threatening him – it was ridiculous."

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